Help: Petrol in diesel car.

rondon

Just filled my 2010 diesel renault clio with half a tank of petrol.
Tank was half full with diesel already.
Drove about 15mile or so. Car is now sitting in renault garage.

Is it knackered?

KylieWyley

about as much as this one

Hotwheels

Not necessarily, they'll have to drain the system and replace fuel filters etc, and try starting...

Nasty mistake to make, hope it ends well for you

KylieWyley wrote: »

about as much as this one

bazz26

Hard to tell but modern diesel engines are complex and expensive to repair. At a guess your probably talking new injectors at the very least. Hindsight is great but if you had realised it before you started the car then it might just cost you the price of a flush of the petrol from the tank.

-Corkie-

Expensive job though. You wont do it again when you get the bill..

sdanseo

At least you didn't put Diesel in a petrol car

doOh

You will probably get a bill for couple thousand yoyos ...

VinnyTGM

sdonn wrote: »

At least you didn't put Diesel in a petrol car

Is it not worse to put petrol in a diesel?

If your lucky you might get away with a flush, new filter and injectors, if the petrol ate through the seals in the engine than you might be in trouble.

MagicMarker

Ouch, expensive mistake!

Could have been worse, could have been a 2011 Clio. :pac:

tomcollins97

How did u manage to do that - pretty stupid mistake

Alanstrainor

tomcollins97 wrote: »

How did u manage to do that - pretty stupid mistake

Jeez give the OP a break.

bazz26

tomcollins97 wrote: »

How did u manage to do that - pretty stupid mistake

My guess is the OP was probably driving petrol cars for years and this is their first diesel car. Such is life, people make mistakes, sh1t happens.... Did you ever do something you didn't mean to do?

rondon

Well it wasn't actually me who filled it.
Pulled up at petrol pump. Which had both a petrol and diesel pump on it. Told dude at pump to put 20 in it.
He decided to ignore the sticker which said Diesel Only on the cap.
But yeah i should have specified diesel.
Didnt realise till i was out the road and it started chugging.

MagicMarker

I went in to a garage recently where the unleaded pump had a black handle, I had to double check to make sure it was petrol! Every where else I've ever been it's been green = unleaded & black = diesel. In those circumstances I could understand a mistake being made, dunno if that's what happened to the OP though.

Bigcheeze

Garage should pay for it.

MagicMarker

rondon wrote: »

Well it wasn't actually me who filled it.
Pulled up at petrol pump. Which had both a petrol and diesel pump on it. Told dude at pump to put 20 in it.
He decided to ignore the sticker which said Diesel Only on the cap.
But yeah i should have specified diesel.
Didnt realise till i was out the road and it started chugging.

This was an employee? Was this in Ireland? Never had anyone fill my car for me before!

Well, if that's the case, I hope you don't plan on paying for repairs yourself?

Bigcheeze

Are the nozzles not different widths to stop this happening?

Laisurg

tomcollins97 wrote: »

How did u manage to do that - pretty stupid mistake

Because your perfect and you never made a single mistake in your entire life right?

karl tyrrell

it should be ok just keep it topped up all the time i did it mine just stuttered a bit

Skuxx

rondon wrote: »

Well it wasn't actually me who filled it.
Pulled up at petrol pump. Which had both a petrol and diesel pump on it. Told dude at pump to put 20 in it.
He decided to ignore the sticker which said Diesel Only on the cap.
But yeah i should have specified diesel.
Didnt realise till i was out the road and it started chugging.

Did you go back to the garage about this. If they are supplying staff to fill peoples cars its a risk they are taking that this might happen and should be responsible for it! Probly the reason hardly any garages have people doing it anymore!

YouTookMyName

VinnyTGM wrote: »

Is it not worse to put petrol in a diesel?

Depends on the amount of petrol/diesel mix. You can get away with 1 litre of petrol to 5/6 litres of diesel.

Skuxx

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Are the nozzles not different widths to stop this happening?

The diesel nozzle is bigger than the petrol one so basically a diesel nozzle won't fit into a petrol car, but the petrol nozzle being smaller will fit into a diesel car!

tomcollins97

Laisurg wrote: »

Because your perfect and you never made a single mistake in your entire life right?

you know me so well:D

KylieWyley

rondon wrote: »

Well it wasn't actually me who filled it.
Pulled up at petrol pump. Which had both a petrol and diesel pump on it. Told dude at pump to put 20 in it.
He decided to ignore the sticker which said Diesel Only on the cap.
But yeah i should have specified diesel.
Didnt realise till i was out the road and it started chugging.

Hopefully you immediately brought this to the manager's attention. I'd hope they have the decency to pay for the repairs!

Bigcheeze

alan1990 wrote: »

The diesel nozzle is bigger than the petrol one so basically a diesel nozzle won't fit into a petrol car, but the petrol nozzle being smaller will fit into a diesel car!

Probably make sense to make them different shapes. Bit difficult to change it now.

rondon

Went back to garage yes, but manager wasn't there. Rang him there earlier. He was apologetic and all, money wasn't really discussed. Told him i'd be ringing him Monday evening when I find out full extent of the damage. I sorta know the fellow from going to the garage a few times. He said he's seen it happen before and not much damage happening...but he would say that wouldn't he.

Thanks for all your replies...the useful input ones anyway.

Lex Luthor

Pursue all costs with garage. They are 100% liable.

garv123

my father stopped to put diesel in the family car. diesel passat, but he usually drives a little Peugeot 206 petrol to work and what not and wasnt thinking and put a tenner petrol into the passat. realised his mistake. threw in a tenner diesel on top of it and off he went, the only problems were when starting the car it took the second attempt to kick in.

put yeah op you should be able to get the damage covered from the station.

Kenny Powers

i did this once it was a 05 astra old model 50e worth of petrol in it drove from Portlaoise back to Dublin before I realised something was up cost 500 to have it drained etc its still on the road now problems

cillo2000

I bought my mum a 1.4 D4D aruis last week, I asked the dealer was there anything in the car that would prevent someone from filling it up with petrol. He gave the usual car dealer answer saying that there's a device to prevent it, but then said it could still be possible but difficult.

As this is her first diesel car I'm kinda nervous, I know fords have a device to stop mis-fueling but I can't find anything about Toyota. Looking at the fuel opening, there doesn't seem to be anything that would prevent a diesel hose fitting in... Does anyone know?

If not I guess I'll get her one of those fuel angels devices..

bmw535d

this could all be prevented if those genius engineers coped on that if they changed diesel nozzles to square ones along time ago, car manufactures could design the car to suit, saving alot of people from making this mistake when the nozzle doesn't fit, bigger or smaller round nozzles doesn't work as they still fit in a bit.

biko

Get yourself a diesel sticker

tobsey

http://www.misfuellingprevention.co.uk/

This crowd were on Dragon's Den and even got investment from them. I've never heard of anyone using one though so I don't know first hand how well they work. They seem to be £30 but they don't deliver outside the UK. I'm thinking of getting one sent to a relative and have them shipped over. Might cost 50 or 60 euro altogether but a lot cheaper than repairs later.

feelites

my friend filled a petrol into his company van and nothing really happened
just drained and worked good after

Dolph Starbeam

biko wrote: »

Get yourself a diesel sticker

Have to lol a bit at the TRD sticker on a diesel :pac:

Vertakill

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Are the nozzles not different widths to stop this happening?

They are. I still managed to put diesel in my current petrol car too!
I had a JDM Colt and our petrol pumps used to struggle to stay pumping in the car so I used to have to pull the nozzle out a little bit before pulling the trigger.

That kinda went through my head as I pumped about 20 euro of diesel into a 350z... luckily I copped it before starting the car.
Friend of a friend had a custom made pump for this situation (his dad had 1 petrol & 1 diesel van and did this weekly!).
Car battery + pump + tubing and the petrol/diesel mix was being sucked out of the car faster than I had pumped it in to begin with!

Brimmed it with petrol (which is nearly 100euro!) and, bar the initial billowing black smoke all over the forecourt of the petrol station from my exhausts, everythings been grand since..

Guy at the kiosk had a card for a guy that did call outs. He wouldn't be able to come out for 2 hours and he was charging 180 euro to drain car.... lol.

And yes, I am an idiot!

garv123

cillo2000 wrote: »

I bought my mum a 1.4 D4D aruis last week, I asked the dealer was there anything in the car that would prevent someone from filling it up with petrol. He gave the usual car dealer answer saying that there's a device to prevent it, but then said it could still be possible but difficult.

As this is her first diesel car I'm kinda nervous, I know fords have a device to stop mis-fueling but I can't find anything about Toyota. Looking at the fuel opening, there doesn't seem to be anything that would prevent a diesel hose fitting in... Does anyone know?

If not I guess I'll get her one of those fuel angels devices..

i dont think so im afraid. diesel hose is too big to fit in pertol cars but not the other way around. get a diesel sticker and stick it inside the cover as a reminder

cillo2000

I mailed the fuel angel guys and they will deliever one to Ireland at no extra cost:

"Thanks for the email. Please order from the website and I will send it to you in Ireland at no extra cost(please note this is a one time offer)."

Works out at €43, I'll update once I get it.