There is a very significant difference between a compression ignition engine (diesel) and a spark ignition engine (gas/kerosene/distallate, etc).
Basically, the problem with trying to use diesel in a spark ignition engine is a result of the high temperatures required to vaporize diesel. A spark ignition engine depends on a creating a flammable mixture of fuel vapor and air in the carburetor. Gasoline will vaporize sufficiently to create a flammable mixture at a relatively low temperature. Heavier fuels such as kerosene require the engine to be at operating temperatures to ensure that the fuel vaporizes sufficiently to form a flammable mixture. That's why old dual fuel tractors always started on gasoline & then switched to the heavier (and cheaper) fuels once the engine was hot.
Diesel, on the other hand, does not vaporize well enough to create a flammable mixture in a carburetor. Diesel engines depend on the air temperature in the cylinder being high enough to auto-ignite when a fine mist of diesel is sprayed into the cylinder. This temperature is achieved by the rapid compression of the air in the cylinder and the heat of the surrounding metal. That's why most diesels have some sort of supplemental heat to start, usually in the form of glow plugs in modern engines. Other starting methods include the use of a gasoline pony motor to spin the diesel fast enough and long enough to get the cylinder walls hot. The old IH gas start diesels had a third valve in each cylinder which opened up to a bigger combustion chamber containing a spark plug, and a set of shutters to connect a carburetor to the intake manifold. Once the engine was up to speed and warmed up, the third valve was closed to increase compression and the engine switched to diesel.
Hope this helps a little. I understand there are military engines that will run on just about anything, including diesel and jet fuel, but I'm not familiar with how they work.
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