Roger Shoaf wrote:


I drive an old Mercedes diesel and I understand that the car will run on
gasoline in a pinch but the performance really sucks. For instance if I was
almost out of diesel and had a 100 miles to get it, I could get a half a
tank of gas to get me to the place where I could buy diesel.

What I am wondering is if Automatic transmission fluid could be used to run
the engine. Also if it could, what would I have to do with the drained used
ATF to burn it. The transmission shop would probably be tickled pink to get
a buck a gallon for the drain oil.



As I understand the old Merc diesels, they will run on about anything
that can be coaxed to burn, from gasoline through vegetable oil or bacon
fat, if you can keep it liquid.

ATF is recomended by some as a fill on the fuel filter each time it is
changed out, and I can tell you from experience, that my VW Jetta burns
it just fine. It is said to add a bit of lubrication, and a bit of peace
of mind, to those that worry about the fuel not being enough...Too
expensive to run all the time, but if I had a source for quantities of
the stuff, I'd be faster looking at that than mucking about with
vegetable oil.
I'd want to be able to filter it all pretty reliably before I dumped
it in, though.
The older machines seem more tolerant of such chicanerey with
"optional" fuels.

I have heard tales of guys using gas in diesel engines on an emergency
basis, adding quantities of engine oil as well in the hopes that it
would help. Mostly loggers needing to "stretch" a tank of gas to make it
all the way back to town.
Falls into the category of, "you can do it, but...."

Better to be running a gas engine on diesel though, such as was done
with many tractors over the ages, where the engine would be started and
warmed up on gas and then switched over to run on diesel (or more
commonly, I gather, kerosene).

At the cost of a diesel engine, I would suggest to the OP that running
his Kubota on gasoline will represent a bargain, for the guy that sells
him the new engine. Kinda offsets the miniscule difference in fuel price.
Around here the price of diesel has balanced out to be pretty much a
balance of dollars to distance travelled. For a given vehicle, the $50
worth of fuel will get you as far, no matter whether it is gas or
diesel. A byproduct of the increased consumer demand for diesel, and the
fact that we ain't gonna walk everywhere, no matter how painful the bite
at the pump...Ugh.

Cheers
Trevor Jones