"newshound" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 05/03/2021 13:58, Caecilius wrote:
On Thu, 4 Mar 2021 09:15:52 -0800 (PST), fred
wrote:

So what would it do ?

Does kerosene provide sufficient lubrication for the fuel pump? I
beleive these pumps rely on the fuel for lubrication and can fail if
they're not properly lubricated.

It is certainly often claimed that more modern systems have smaller
clearances in pumps and injectors and that there are lubricity additives
in automotive diesel to give these components longer life.

I've seen a report on a motoring programme (not Top Gear) about what happens
if you put diesel in a petrol car or petrol in a diesel. They demonstrated
on old bangers that it didn't matter if they wrecked. Both sort-of ran,
though I think the petrol car smoked badly on diesel and at one stage
belched sparks out out its exhaust pipe.

I dread to think what damage was done to the cars. The report did say that
they couldn't use a more recent HDI (high-pressure direct injection) diesel
because that would suffer immediate and catastrophic damage to the fuel
pump; an older engine with a lower-pressure mechanical pump was fine (up to
a point).

The funny thing is that one of the cars continued to be taxed and MOTed for
about 5 years afterwards. I wonder if the new owner of it knew of its
history ;-)