Through the years, via various home improvement projects, years of watching “This Old House” and “The New Yankee Workshop”, old Dad, aka. Grandpa, aka KampK, has gotten pretty good at most any home improvement projects. I have built high end furniture, crib, bunk beds, dressers, a couple of garages, cabinets, laid floors, installed windows, doors and painted more rooms than I ever wanted to. This year’s vacation project at my daughter’s house, a new bathroom subfloor, linoleum, installation of a new vanity, sink, (and eventually a new toilet – but that’s another story in itself
) was well underway when I decided it was time to refuel our 2006 GMC 3500 Sierra Duramax/Allison dual rear wheel truck fondly nick named “The Beast”. The “Beast” was purchased in the last few months to be able to pull “Beauty”, our 2011 Montana 3400 RL 5th wheel trailer. We liked the Fischers nick names so we adopted / stole them as well. We have made the 375 mile trip from New Hampshire to New York many times and this was the maiden voyage for “Beast”.
Either the bathroom project, a senior moment, or most likely just a stupid moment was on my mind and I thought sure I had seen our much needed “Diesel” sign at the local convenience store where we have shopped for years. The pump was the standard 3 x 1 pump (3 grades of gasoline with a black pump hose, and 1 separate Green handled pump hose) and I proceeded to pump 75 bucks worth of what I had thought was the cheapest diesel fuel we had seen in the area. If you haven’t guessed by now, you have to know it was gasoline that got “mixed” in the truck. (After returning a couple of days later it turned out that the convenience store did not even carry diesel nor did they even have a “Diesel” sign. Talk about feeling stupid! )
The 30 gallon tank was about ¼ diesel and now ¾ gasoline. The 2 mile trip back to the house was uneventful, and after “Beast” resting for a couple of hours, it was time for yet another trip to the local Wal-Mart or Lowes for yet another plumbing part for the bathroom remodel project. It was cold outside and I have gotten in the habit of plugging in the block heater whenever available just to make the ole girl start a little easier (she likes being plugged in
). After unplugging the extension cord and jumping inside and an always friendly pat on the dashboard, “Beast’s” engine turned over just spinning and spinning, but absolutely no fire whatsoever.
My first thought was “bad fuel”. Being a new diesel owner, I was not aware that you could manually pump the fuel filter to re-prime it. So back inside and of course a call to “AAA” to see what they could do to either get her going or get her repaired. “AAA” arrived in a most timely manner and it was decided she needed to go to the truck hospital, the local GMC dealer about 10 miles away. Watching that 1 ton dually with crew cab and 8’ bed go up on that flatbed was quiet an experience in itself. After having her for 2 days, and long story short, the nearly $700 bill for draining of the fuel tank, flushing and cleaning the lines, replacing the fuel filter and a sensor and getting her running again was a bit of a shock to say the least.
So, as we drive by these “high” diesel price displays on every station we see now, I am constantly reminded that “high prices” are in the eye of the beholder. Here is my take on the recent fuel escapade.
$75 dollars of gasoline + $700 dollars of (let’s call it a “stupid tax”
) + $75 dollars of good diesel fuel comes to $850 dollars for approximately 20 gallons of fuel. According to this country boy’s math that is $42.50 per gallon. Now when I “see” the “Diesel” sign, after walking over and actually touching it to make sure it’s real, I’ll pay the $4.35 diesel fuel prices anytime!!
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