# Gasoline will work in a diesel engine

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasoline-will-work-in-a-diesel-engine/458661
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
**Created:** [August 3, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasoline-will-work-in-a-diesel-engine/458661 "2008-08-03T02:32:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![bgirton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@bgirton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bgirton)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasoline-will-work-in-a-diesel-engine/458661/1 "2008-08-03T02:32:14Z")

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Re:[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdieselvsgas.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdieselvsgas.html)

I believe that gasoline will work in a diesel engine. Gasoline should autoignite just fine when a diesel injector sprays it into a combustion chamber at temperatures and pressures that will ignite diesel. I am curious as to whether detonation would be a problem.

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### Author: ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasoline-will-work-in-a-diesel-engine/458661/2 "2008-08-03T02:40:48Z")

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I edited the title to make it readable.

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### Author: ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasoline-will-work-in-a-diesel-engine/458661/3 "2008-08-03T02:53:54Z")

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It won’t work. Gasoline is SO much more combustible and volatile than diesel oil that it will ignite much, much to early–to the point the engine will simply not run or will run _extremely_ poorly.

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### Author: ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 3, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gasoline-will-work-in-a-diesel-engine/458661/4 "2008-08-03T03:24:50Z")

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[QUOTE=Q.E.D.]  
Gasoline is SO much more combustible and volatile than diesel oil that it will ignite much, much to early…  
[/QUOTE]

From the article:

> [@Una](#):
>
> Since gasoline is designed to be resistant to self-ignition, gasoline in a diesel engine either won’t ignite or will ignite at the wrong time. Some diesel engines run leaner than gasoline engines (meaning that the air-fuel mix has a higher proportion of air than a gasoline engine). That increases the chances that the gasoline won’t ignite…