claymore
Well-Known Member
Cant wait to see how this one unfolds.
Para....?
Para....?
Tragedy - Forumite fills Wife's diesel car with Unleaded Petrol
- Thread starter claymore
- Start date
sailorman
Well-Known Member
Boat related ??
Twister_Ken
Well-Known Member
Got the tee-shirt, fortunately realised before driving away.
Cost: One full tank of unleaded, one three-figure fee to a man in a van* who came and pumped out the petrol/diesel mix and one full tank of diesel. About £220 in all if memory serves.
"Good job you didn't drive away, mate" says man in van, "your engine would have been wrecked within a few miles."
*Not unusual apparently, the filling station had a stock of his leaflets next to the till.
Cost: One full tank of unleaded, one three-figure fee to a man in a van* who came and pumped out the petrol/diesel mix and one full tank of diesel. About £220 in all if memory serves.
"Good job you didn't drive away, mate" says man in van, "your engine would have been wrecked within a few miles."
*Not unusual apparently, the filling station had a stock of his leaflets next to the till.
dylanwinter
Well-Known Member
for w while we had two white sierras - one diesel, one petrol
bad, v bad, vvv bad
bad, v bad, vvv bad
claymore
Well-Known Member
Absolutely. He was thinking about his boat at the time and not the matter in hand.
fastjedi
Well-Known Member
1. Recovery to get car home
2. Remove fuel delivery hose from fuel injection
3. Connect a bike water bottle with the bottom cut out to the fuel injection system (gravity feed)
4. Extend pipe from tank into a suitable container
5. Fill water bottle with clean Diesel
6. Start car .... fuel pump will empty tank into container
Worked on a 2 week old company Audi A4 TDi
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
No. Richard says it doesn't matter now.
dylanwinter
Well-Known Member
the diesel sierra was used to tow the boat
D
D
WestWittering
Well-Known Member
Managed to put 20litres of petrol into my TD Landcruiser very early one Sunday morning. I was driving from North Norfolk to Dover for a dive trip and realised I would miss the trip if I waited for the man in the orange van and may make it if I chanced it. I filled her to the brim with diesel (good job the car was empty when I started this palaver). Car ran brilliantly.
Great trip - loads of spidge - pottery mainly And nice clean engine too!
Di
Great trip - loads of spidge - pottery mainly
And nice clean engine too!Di
Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
The missus filled our diesel Freelander and drove it for about half a mile before it conked out. 'Man with a van' came out, drained the petrol and put in a gallon of diesel. "Fill it up and go on a long trip to empty the tank as quickly as possible" was his advice. His reasoning was it's the 'rubber' seals in the diesel system that will dissolve in petrol, block filters and gum up the injectors. And don't worry about the injectors or the injector pump. It's only when you fill up with just enough fuel for the engine to run badly that you will do damage.
Six months on the Freelander's running fine.
Six months on the Freelander's running fine.
tudorsailor
Well-Known Member
Found this on another website:
Putting diesel in an unleaded or leaded petrol engine can be bad for the car and should be avoided at all costs. It is worth noting that putting petrol in a diesel is far far worse than putting diesel in a petrol and could seriously damage your engine.
If you have an older car, and have only put a small amount of diesel in (less than 5 litres), then you should just fill the car up with petrol and drive off. The exhaust may be a little smoky but this shouldn’t damage your car. If you accidentally put more than 5 litres of diesel in the petrol tank or drive a modern car then you shouldn’t turn the engine on, and need to call for assistance to drain the tank. If you do start the engine that you may cause more damage and could need engine parts replacing.
Is diesel in petrol a common problem?
Lucky accidentally putting diesel in a petrol engine is very uncommon. The main reason for this is that diesel filling nozzles tend to have a larger diameter than petrol nozzles and so they just won’t fit through the filler cap.
Far more common and damaging is if petrol is added to a diesel car
If it is worse to put petrol into a diesel car, why is it that the petrol nozzle is not the bigger one????
TS
Putting diesel in an unleaded or leaded petrol engine can be bad for the car and should be avoided at all costs. It is worth noting that putting petrol in a diesel is far far worse than putting diesel in a petrol and could seriously damage your engine.
If you have an older car, and have only put a small amount of diesel in (less than 5 litres), then you should just fill the car up with petrol and drive off. The exhaust may be a little smoky but this shouldn’t damage your car. If you accidentally put more than 5 litres of diesel in the petrol tank or drive a modern car then you shouldn’t turn the engine on, and need to call for assistance to drain the tank. If you do start the engine that you may cause more damage and could need engine parts replacing.
Is diesel in petrol a common problem?
Lucky accidentally putting diesel in a petrol engine is very uncommon. The main reason for this is that diesel filling nozzles tend to have a larger diameter than petrol nozzles and so they just won’t fit through the filler cap.
Far more common and damaging is if petrol is added to a diesel car
If it is worse to put petrol into a diesel car, why is it that the petrol nozzle is not the bigger one????
TS
NDG
Well-Known Member
After all this time you'd have thought the industry would have introduced different fittings for different fuels. Square pegs and round holes and all that.
alant
Well-Known Member
Have done that on a Golf - filled tank & drove away followed by clouds of smoke. Went back to garage, disconnected the full pipe & siphoned all the diesel out. Managed to get it to a nearby petrol pump & completely filled tank, restarted & all ok, in fact sweeter running than before, apparently a bit like adding Reddex! No damage & running well long after.
Bru
Well-Known Member
Not at all unusual. At least one a week on average
1. Recovery to get car home
2. Remove fuel delivery hose from fuel injection
3. Connect a bike water bottle with the bottom cut out to the fuel injection system (gravity feed)
4. Extend pipe from tank into a suitable container
5. Fill water bottle with clean Diesel
6. Start car .... fuel pump will empty tank into container
Worked on a 2 week old company Audi A4 TDi
Indeed but for the love of all that is holy please don't start doing this at the pumps on the forecourt - oh yes, somebody did just that a while back. The man in a van has all sorts of safety precautions and certifications (and no Mr. AA van man, you haven't so your option is to tow it away. Same applies to you too Mr. Local Recovery Cowboy) and without 'em it's a> illegal and b> dangerous and c> really ****ing annoying for the bloke in charge of the service station!
Not sure about the petrol into diesel being worse than diesel into petrol. My understanding has always been the opposite
AFAIK, even a small quantity of diesel in a modern petrol car will, amongst other things, clog the injectors and knacker the catalytic converter (I may be totally wrong but that's what I've always understood to be the case)
Whereas personal experience indicates that even relatively high percentages of petrol in diesel don't necessarily mullah the engine. I wouldn't advise a customer to drive off the forecourt in those circumstances (they might sue me when the engine goes bang five miles down the road!) but I have, I will confess, put about 10 or 12 litres into a nearly empty tank on a van and after chucking 60 litres of the proper stuff on top taken a chance on it without any apparent harm (it was a hire van anyway so I didn't care
)
fergie_mac66
Well-Known Member
+1Not at all unusual. At least one a week on average
Indeed but for the love of all that is holy please don't start doing this at the pumps on the forecourt - oh yes, somebody did just that a while back. The man in a van has all sorts of safety precautions and certifications (and no Mr. AA van man, you haven't so your option is to tow it away. Same applies to you too Mr. Local Recovery Cowboy) and without 'em it's a> illegal and b> dangerous and c> really ****ing annoying for the bloke in charge of the service station!
Not sure about the petrol into diesel being worse than diesel into petrol. My understanding has always been the opposite
AFAIK, even a small quantity of diesel in a modern petrol car will, amongst other things, clog the injectors and knacker the catalytic converter (I may be totally wrong but that's what I've always understood to be the case)
Whereas personal experience indicates that even relatively high percentages of petrol in diesel don't necessarily mullah the engine. I wouldn't advise a customer to drive off the forecourt in those circumstances (they might sue me when the engine goes bang five miles down the road!) but I have, I will confess, put about 10 or 12 litres into a nearly empty tank on a van and after chucking 60 litres of the proper stuff on top taken a chance on it without any apparent harm (it was a hire van anyway so I didn't care
most petrol cars have a smaller fill hole Than a diesl pump nozzle will not go into the the car filler pipe for just that reason .petrol not good for the seals in a diesel so best get it out quick and fill up with diesel again it dilutes out.
Sailfree
Well-Known Member
The more I read about this I am of the opinion that a small % of petrol in diesel is tolerated. In cold climates a small amount of petrol is often added to a full tank of diesel to prevent diesel waxing.
The only 100% correct answer is do not mix them at all which also supports a money making industry draining contaminated tanks.
I am aware of one petrol engine run on an amount of fuel contaminated with diesel (layed down a smoke screen) and still going strong many miles later and another diesel engine been run in winter with up to 6% petrol and again still going strong.
When this (Correction for Claymore - similar thread!) thread was posted about 2yrs ago one experienced mechanic suggested some car designs are more tolerant than others and IIRC diesel Renaults with pumps in the tanks were intolerant of even small amounts of petrol.
Its impossible to find the facts as most just quote 100% safe answer but never take a BMW/Audi/ Merc and possibly others back to the main dealer to have incorrect fuel drained as it stays on the central computer records and affects PX value.
The only 100% correct answer is do not mix them at all which also supports a money making industry draining contaminated tanks.
I am aware of one petrol engine run on an amount of fuel contaminated with diesel (layed down a smoke screen) and still going strong many miles later and another diesel engine been run in winter with up to 6% petrol and again still going strong.
When this (Correction for Claymore - similar thread!) thread was posted about 2yrs ago one experienced mechanic suggested some car designs are more tolerant than others and IIRC diesel Renaults with pumps in the tanks were intolerant of even small amounts of petrol.
Its impossible to find the facts as most just quote 100% safe answer but never take a BMW/Audi/ Merc and possibly others back to the main dealer to have incorrect fuel drained as it stays on the central computer records and affects PX value.
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claymore
Well-Known Member
How could this thread have been posted 2 years ago? The silly auld goat only did it yesterday.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
I did it once - petrol in a diesel. The ECU stopped the car about 100m away from the garage where I did it, and (as the OP found) it cost me about £200 to get it drained and sorted. Incidentally, quite a lot of the charge was fees for disposal of waste oil!
Point is, a modern computer controlled engine probably won't allow you to run with the wrong fuel.
Incidentally, the RAC chap who recovered my vehicle strongly advised against taking the car in to the manufacturer's repair shop - he reckoned if I'd done that they'd have insisted on replacing the high pressure fuel pump, at ridiculous cost. The car was in warranty, but of course that doesn't cover stupidity!
Point is, a modern computer controlled engine probably won't allow you to run with the wrong fuel.
Incidentally, the RAC chap who recovered my vehicle strongly advised against taking the car in to the manufacturer's repair shop - he reckoned if I'd done that they'd have insisted on replacing the high pressure fuel pump, at ridiculous cost. The car was in warranty, but of course that doesn't cover stupidity!
TeamSpirit
Well-Known Member
Week before we part x our old land rover for a new one SWIMBO put petrol instead of diesel in the tank, drove out of the garage and conked out, cost £200 for roadside pump out and diluted with fresh diesel immediately, ran better than ever for the week and clean the injectors out a treat.
Cymrogwyllt
Well-Known Member
The handbook for one diesel car I owned recommended the addition of up to 25% petrol in severe weather. Frod escort 1600 DI. Year old. Pig to start at the best of times. It got so bad that I regularly found a bunch of pupils waiting to push start me at the end of the day.