Sabotage to fuel system!!!!!

This is something I hate to think about, because I don't see the bad in people.
My roomate has a Dodge Ram 1500, 4WD w/ a fuel injected V8 Engine that has been "chipped" for performance. I'm not sure of the year, but I believe it is around '02.
Here's the problem: He went to work the other day, aprox. 15 Mi. After 4 hours, was allowed to go home. About half way home, the engine started running VERY rough, making pinging and knocking noise. He limped the truck home and parked it.
He started the truck for me later that day. It was difficult to start, did not want to idle at first, but finally did.
Here's the wierd part; the fuel exhaust was really black, and had an extreme smell like charcoal lighter fluid!
The question to you all is this; Is lighter fluid something that can be used to sabotage a fuel system? If so, what kind of damage can it cause? Also, other than draining all the fuel, is there a way of dispersing or dilluting the fluid?
I've never smelled exhaust like this, and I am only guessing that lighter fluid was added.

 

lighter fluid is flammable and is fairly clean so it shouldn't hurt the engine. did he fill up recently, he might have added diesel to the tank instead of gas. the station might have a problem with their tank. siphon some fuel out of the tank and look at the color and what does it smell like, if it smells like kerosene or naptha(lighter fluid) you can probably justs add a fill with 91 octane and be good after the bad fuel is ran out. I would guess that the tanker added kerosene or diesel to the wrong tank at the station by mistake and the truck doesn't like running it because it will be very low octane even mixed with gas.

Murphy was an optimist

 

Lighter fluid smell says DIESEL fuel to me, thats what a gas enging smells like when it is burning(trying to burn) diesel. Check where the exhaust pipes hook to the manifolds to see if there is something like tar running down the pipes. Could someone have put diesel in his truck, maybe he did by mistake. If this is the case enging damage is unlikely, just drive it to burn out the fuel and fill er up with gas.

 

your a faster typist than I am speedwrench

 

How much fuel he have in the tank ? if under half all you can do is get fresh gasoline and it will slowly clear up but if full tank it will be little tough and expect to change fuel filter as well.


Senice you have EFI you may want to change the fuel filter anyway due the Kenorse or Diesel fuel sometime can pick up the gunk.

Merci,Marc

 

Thanks alot Speedwrench and Wire Twister for your superhero fast responses. The guy that owns the truck last added fuel over a week ago, and the driving hasn't been affected untill now. It is totally possible that he (or someone else) added diesel to his tank inadvertantly (or purposely.) In researching this problem on the web, I came across the "mothball" sabotage scenario, which supposedly does the same thing to gasoline? What's your knowlege of putting mothball powder into a fuel tank? Again, thanks for your valuable input.

 

all it will do is gum up a fuel filter, same with sugar.

wire twister you made my day, as in typing class (over 30 years ago) i was the slowest one in the class. and my wife constantly makes fun of my typing.

Belt Sander: an electric sanding tool commonly used to convert minor touch-up jobs into major refinishing jobs.

 

I could be way off base here, but could this truck have jumped the timing belt and everything is out of wack??

 

If you check this post, you will see that it is almost a month old. I suspect the problem has been resolved. I guess the belt could have jumped, but I think that would be rare.