Keith Winston
02-04-2006, 19:00
Hi there: I would be so grateful for any suggestions or thoughts anyone might give me on this one.
I bought a used '98 G3500 last week. It is in very nice condition, and ran VERY smoothly for the week so far (about 500 miles).
I took it to a service station/inspection station here in MD today, where they took forever (4 hours!) and told me I needed new steering and brakes, $1200. Okay, I figured I'd go and get a second opinion. I drove about 2 miles, and it started hesitating. Though it appeared to have several gallons in the tank, I immediately pulled over and put in 6 gallons of diesel.
Almost immediately, the car started lurching and nearly dying. The engine wouldn't respond to the accelerator: it wouldn't die, but it wouldn't break out of a low idle. I got stuck completely going up slight hills several times. There was almost no power. It never died, but it felt like it was going to at any moment. At one point I saw clouds of perhaps bluish smoke out the back, but I was distracted and am not sure how my livid anger and the tense situation might have colored my perceptions. I stopped it for a while in a parking lot about a mile from my home, convinced I was going to have to walk home, and discovered after quickly checking it over and not seeing any obvious problems, that once it had cooled (I assume that was the key thing), it ran with much more power for a minute or two, before it started fading again. That was enough to get me home in a couple hops.
I figure either 1) the folks at the service station sabotaged it (I'd wanted to watch their work but they took so long I finally went to lunch, and then they did it. But, they seem like very nice folks), 2) the timing was a coincidence, &*!#@ happens, and it could be anything, or 3) the gas station was cross-fueled, and I filled up with gasoline I'm very certain I was at the diesel pump, but I have heard of this happening. What does a diesel engine running on gasoline behave like? Or maybe just lots of water?).
I'm sorry for the great length here, I just wanted to get all the details in one place. Thanks so much for reading this far, and thanks in advance for any help. I will probably try to take the time to get more familiar with the engine in the next few days, so any hints about where to start looking for answers are welcome. The only other thing that happened in the meantime was that I replaced several bulbs, including some brake lights that I wasn't strictly certain were the right bulbs, and burned slightly brightly, but I really can't imagine that has any bearing.
Thanks, Keith
I bought a used '98 G3500 last week. It is in very nice condition, and ran VERY smoothly for the week so far (about 500 miles).
I took it to a service station/inspection station here in MD today, where they took forever (4 hours!) and told me I needed new steering and brakes, $1200. Okay, I figured I'd go and get a second opinion. I drove about 2 miles, and it started hesitating. Though it appeared to have several gallons in the tank, I immediately pulled over and put in 6 gallons of diesel.
Almost immediately, the car started lurching and nearly dying. The engine wouldn't respond to the accelerator: it wouldn't die, but it wouldn't break out of a low idle. I got stuck completely going up slight hills several times. There was almost no power. It never died, but it felt like it was going to at any moment. At one point I saw clouds of perhaps bluish smoke out the back, but I was distracted and am not sure how my livid anger and the tense situation might have colored my perceptions. I stopped it for a while in a parking lot about a mile from my home, convinced I was going to have to walk home, and discovered after quickly checking it over and not seeing any obvious problems, that once it had cooled (I assume that was the key thing), it ran with much more power for a minute or two, before it started fading again. That was enough to get me home in a couple hops.
I figure either 1) the folks at the service station sabotaged it (I'd wanted to watch their work but they took so long I finally went to lunch, and then they did it. But, they seem like very nice folks), 2) the timing was a coincidence, &*!#@ happens, and it could be anything, or 3) the gas station was cross-fueled, and I filled up with gasoline I'm very certain I was at the diesel pump, but I have heard of this happening. What does a diesel engine running on gasoline behave like? Or maybe just lots of water?).
I'm sorry for the great length here, I just wanted to get all the details in one place. Thanks so much for reading this far, and thanks in advance for any help. I will probably try to take the time to get more familiar with the engine in the next few days, so any hints about where to start looking for answers are welcome. The only other thing that happened in the meantime was that I replaced several bulbs, including some brake lights that I wasn't strictly certain were the right bulbs, and burned slightly brightly, but I really can't imagine that has any bearing.
Thanks, Keith