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Old 4th Sep 2007, 10:03
  #24 (permalink)  
ericferret
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: England
Posts: 1,463
Received 34 Likes on 20 Posts
Did a similar thing myself the other week, grabbed a tin of engine oil in a rush and topped up the tank.

Should have been Mobil Jet 2, I used Mobil 254.

Cans are identical in size and colouring.

Main reason for the error was rushing combined with the fact that I didn't know we had 254 on stock and in true human fashion I assumed. I didn't notice until I went to dispose of the the can.

In the civil world lots of fluids are supplied in standard us quart/litre cans.
The idea being they are sealed and can't be contaminated and waste is reduced.

Manufacturers have their own colours so identification is normally easier (normally)!!

However on a dark night with a crappy line van and cans rolling everywhere it has not been unheard of for a can of skydrol to go into an engine oil tank. That can really spoil your day as it attacks seals not designed for it.

I remember about 30 years ago going to top up a Gazelle engine from a correctly labelled can 0X ?? out of the oil store. and noticing that the can was not sealed I tipped a little on my hand to check and lo it was bright red OM15. Obviously someone had used an empty engine oil can to drain a hydraulic system and then had not disposed of it.

No amount of label reading will save you from that.
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