I was a bit “surprised” to discover that our GM truck, powered by a 4.2L 6cyl gasoline engine, will run just fine with diesel fuel. Perhaps “pissed” is a better word to describe my discovery.

It all began Tuesday afternoon, on my weekly trek to Norman for supplies and to drop off recyclables. Traveling west on Hwy 9, I slowed while approaching SE 24th Street in preparation for making a right turn. Immediately before the intersection was a 20-30 sq. ft. puddle, which caused me to increase my braking slightly more than normal. Uh, check that; entering the puddle caused my braking to decrease significantly, activating the ABS while sliding past the stop line. Luckily the puddle ended there and the brakes quickly slowed me enough to make a quick, wide turn.

Being the wettest black ice I’d ever seen, I glanced at the outside thermometer; seven degrees above freezing! Reasoning that it must have been a partially thawed puddle, I put it behind me.

Dropping off recyclables, I noticed the smell of kerosene, probably coming from one of the collection containers. What an idiot to dump something like that!

Then I caught a whiff at the next couple of stops. My parking spot showed no fresh drips when I backed out of the last one, so it wasn’t a leak from my truck. Did I get something on my coat while recycling? It didn’t seem so. Inside the truck smelled OK.

Fast forward to Wednesday, when I bent my tall ass over for an undercarriage inspection:

No, fellow Okies, that ain’t red dirt. That be No. 2 fuel oil, though it seemed more like Bunker C when cleaning it off.

Step 1:
Wipe as much diesel fuel off of your car as you can. Be sure to use paper towels or an old rag that you do not plan on keeping, as diesel fuel is extremely hard to remove from fabrics.
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Step 2:
Rinse your car as soon as possible. Use a good deal of water to rinse the bulk of the fuel from your car. Do not allow the diesel fuel to sit on your paint too long or it will begin to eat into your paint job.
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Step 3:
Wet your washing mitt and apply soap to the damp mitt. Rub the soapy mitt over the spot where diesel fuel was spilled, rinsing frequently to remove all of the fuel. Use more soap if necessary to get all of the diesel off.
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Step 4:
Run water over the spot to rinse the soap from your car. Check the spot to make sure no traces of diesel fuel remain.
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Step 5:
Apply wax to the spot. Wax the spot well to seal the paint and restore shine to your vehicle’s paint job.
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Step 6:
Look over your vehicle to check for any other spots that might need to be washed. Remove any remaining diesel fuel promptly to ensure you get the longest life possible from your vehicle’s paint.

The above is for all the other drivers in Norman who took some diesel home with them Tuesday afternoon.

And per chance you saw the person responsible for depositing such a valuable resource liberally on the highway, please let me know so I can thank them for the free undercoating treatment I received. Norman Police would like to honor them also.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Okie crime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.