OK, but a tank of Diesel could do some very bad things to a Gas engine.. for example. Your computer has an issue with the data from the Knock Sensor, either the connection is bad, the sensor is bad, the ECU is bad.. or you have some serious knock going on (which you do say there is noise, not sure if it is knocking, you should be able to tell).. if the ECU THINKS it is getting knocking, it will retard the timing to protect the engine, and stop the knocking.. which will make it gutless, and possible a different kind of noise.. so despite what you mechanic says, I'd be looking at that sensor.. I don't recall them being too expensive.. thought the rarely fail.. so check the wiring harness... it is not impossible for a wiring problem, and mice can chew threw wires overnight in some cases and case chaos.. or many other things.