1999 Honda Accord I am an idiot and now I have a question.

MJJMIKE

MEMBER
1999 HONDA ACCORD
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
180,000 MILES

So first off I want to claim to the act that I will wear the idiot hat proudly before I get into asking this question. I was low on gas in my Honda, aslo low on cash and had to get to work this morning which "out of town." So, I knew I had gas in the little gas tank for the lawnmower in the shop, so I decided to use that. (You feel it, hear comes the stupid part) Anyway, I grabbed it, nearly emptied it into my car which ended up being between 3-4 gallons. It was a 5 gl tank, it wasn't full and I didn't really use every bit of what was in there. So I cranked my car, shut the shop up and when I got back out to my car, it had shut off which NEVER happens. So after cranking it and hearing my car I realized after investigating, I had put KEROSENE in it. GOD I am embarrassed.

So, my friend says 3 options.

1. Take the tank down and drain it (couldn't do that)
2. Undo the fuel line at the injectors and turn on the car and let the pump, pump out all the fuel. Well I could not find what line to disconnect.
3. Since it wasn't a lot of kerosene, to go get some premium gas and put in it to dilute the kerosene so it would run until all the fuel and kerosene had ran out. So I did that. I put some premium in it and got some Lucas gas treatment to put in it as well. It crunk up, I revedthe engine up and it smoked and spit and sputtered and cut off about three to four times and then I reved it up again and slowly idled back down and it kept running. And now it runs at a regular idle pace.

So I drove it to work which is about 60 miles one way and the "check engine" light is on which I guess I could expect and it runs pretty normal. But the question I guess I have and what is worrying me. Now. Normally driving and stuff it runs and sounds fine, but if I accelerate or put it under a load doing so, I hear a. Uuhm.I guess it would be best described as a rattle/knocking sound coming from the engine. Now it's nothing terribly loud, but it does rattle some kind of bad while I am accelerating, like something is loose and it's falling apart under there. What is that? Did the kerosene permantly screw something up under there?

Well that's pretty much my question. What's that rattling /knocking sound? Thanks for your time.

1 Reply

BRUCE HUNT

MECHANIC
3,754 POSTS

I believe that you are not that bad. Pull the codes on the computer and I would wager they somehow point to the emission system. It was not expecting that mixture of fumes. The vehicle is also not able to get the full combustion of the mix. Remember, the injectors think it is gas and not a mixture. I think 3 gallons in to that system is a lot of kerosene. I would personally if I wore that hat you say you are wearing take the car for a good long drive and take the tank down way under a quarter. Then go to the service station and fill it up. Have the code reset. Drive some more and let it work its way down again to the quarter tank and fill. You should be ok.