Fuel cans had diesel in them - can I put gasoline in now?

[MichaelD]

I have two 5 gallon fuel cans that had diesel in them. If I leave the caps off for a few weeks so everything can evaporate out, would it be safe to store gasoline in them?

By "safe" I mean safe to put gas that was stored in said cans into my car. I'm thinking the answer is yes b/c after a few weeks exposed to air, there'd only be small traces of diesel left (if any) and with 5 gallons of gas in there, whatever's left would be very dilluted.

Thoughts?

 

[Mutilator]

Personally I think you'd be fine, especially if you rinse those containers out with something first. But I'm no diesel expert.

Edit - Don't they usually have 2 dif types of containers for Gasoline vs Diesel? Different colors or something?

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Mutilator
Personally I think you'd be fine, especially if you rinse those containers out with something first. But I'm no diesel expert.

Edit - Don't they usually have 2 dif types of containers for Gasoline vs Diesel? Different colors or something?

I've seen cans in different colors. Mine are just your usually "red gas can" color.

 

[Gillbot]

The minimal amount of residual diesel should have little affect if you fill them up.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks much. That's good news. I really didn't want to buy new cans.

 

[halik]

You can pee in those cans and your car would still work w/o problem; there was no need to air them out.

Think about it - when you pour the cans into your tank, the amount of diesel compared to the rest of the fuel is miniscule.

 

[bobdole369]

Yup diesel is essentially light oil. Your doing your car a favor kind of. You won't notice anything.