petrol in a diesel car?

Sesshoumaru

What's the worst that could happen if you put 3.85 litres of petrol into a Q5 2.0TDI? If you topped it up completely with diesel and drove off would there be a possibility of damaging the engine?

Sky King

It'll be grand. No prob. I know a lad that does it before his NCT every time.

Sky King

Sky King wrote: »

It'll be grand. No prob. I know a lad that does it before his NCT every time.

It mightn't be grand on a modern diesel, a litre or two into an old one is generally ok depending on the fuel pump.

Antomus Prime

It wont do anything, it may be a bit smokier than usual for a while or even a jumpy take off but 4 liters is nothing, don't worry about it

tossy

Sky King wrote: »

It'll be grand. No prob. I know a lad that does it before his NCT every time.

I think i'm regretting this already but.....Why?

Sesshoumaru

RoverJames wrote: »

It mightn't be grand on a modern diesel, a litre or two into an old one is generally ok depending on the fuel pump.

My father had done it in my old Audi 2.5TDI and he said it was grand and I had heard of other people doing the same by mistake and having no issues. But when I was on the phone to my friend a few minutes ago, while I told her it would probably be grand... if she wanted certainty she should probably call someone like the AA and have the car drained. Is that advise too cautious? If it was my own car and I didn't feel like I might owe someone some responsibility for damage to their car I'd probably just top her up and drive off.

Littlehorny

Yeah i worked in a Volkswagon dealership once and put about 5 litres into a brand new golf, realised my mistake and one of the senior mechanics just filled it to the brim with diesel and it was grand.

EPM

The tolerances of modern diesels are quite slim, and although a small amount it will reduce the diesels natural lubrication abilities. I've read a post on another site regarding something similar in that engine and it went wrong. I'll see if I can find it and post back if I can with the details.

Sesshoumaru

Thanks for the advise, she rang Audi and spoke to a mechanic. He said as long as it was under 5 litres just fill I to the brim with diesel and it would be grand. Maybe he plucked that figure from the air? But she felt reassured and happier to just go with filling it to the brim with diesel!

garbanzo

Made the same bloody error yesterday filling the car, hence this post. Kids were messing, distracted etc. etc. Only bought a disesel car last Aug and had a bet with my wife that she would be the one to make the misfuelling error. Needess to say I have said nothing to her yet and have sworn the kids to silence.

The lad in the station said as it was about 4 litres of petrol i whould fill it to the brim with diesel and I should be grand. He said it happens a few times a day. I checked the AA Ireland website and it said similar. Without sounding like someone from Liveline why the hell don't they fit different size nozzels to petrol/diesel pumps to prevent this happening. I know, I know ...the pumps differentiate clearly which is petrol and which is diesel but it is an easy mistake to make, as I found out.

Blazer

Isn't the petrol pump nozzle too big for the diesel intake?
I've heard of people putting diesel into petrol cars as the pump fits in no bother but not as far as I know the petrol pump?
I know I mistakenly put in the petrol pump the other day but luckily the nozzle didn't fit into my tank.

heate

It's a €50,000 car a fuel system clean out is what €100-250.
I'd have the system drained and give it a good run on a fresh tank of fuel!
The car is designed to run on one fuel and one fuel only and I would assume all of the fuel associated parts are specific to the diesel engine i.e wouldn't take too kindly to any petrol

Antomus Prime

Blazer wrote: »

Isn't the petrol pump nozzle too big for the diesel intake?
I've heard of people putting diesel into petrol cars as the pump fits in no bother but not as far as I know the petrol pump?
I know I mistakenly put in the petrol pump the other day but luckily the nozzle didn't fit into my tank.

Thats actually a good point, diesel pumps will fit into petrol tanks but not the other way around.....

heate wrote: »

It's a €50,000 car a fuel system clean out is what €100-250.
I'd have the system drained and give it a good run on a fresh tank of fuel!
The car is designed to run on one fuel and one fuel only and I would assume all of the fuel associated parts are specific to the diesel engine i.e wouldn't take too kindly to any petrol

less than 4 liters isnt going to do any damage, there's no need to go out and spen over €100 to get it cleaned out. If you're that paranoid about it then syphoning out the fuel will cost nothing and make sure theres only trace amounts of petrol left in it. But again, it's less than 4 liters in a tank that holds 100... less than 4%..... it wont do any damage whatsoever

Antomus Prime

Antomus Prime wrote: »

Thats actually a good point, diesel pumps will fit into petrol tanks but not the other way around.....
............

A diesel pump won't fit into my petrol car.

EPM

75l tank in those...

TankGuy

Yep i was distracted a few months ago trying fill my car a punto and lifted the diesel pump, luckily it did not fit my car.

So it is the diesel that is the larger nosel.

Antomus Prime

RoverJames wrote: »

A diesel pump won't fit into my petrol car.

Maybe its the other way around, but one fits one and the other doesnt fit the other, i might have them confused

EPM wrote: »

75l tank in those...

This says 100l

mathepac

+ the 7.5 litre reserve which is always there to be topped up if you keep the little 'tit' in the filler neck depressed towards the ground ...

Say 3 to 5% by total volume. Is it worth chancing it for the sake of say €100 - 150 to drain the tank?

Antomus Prime

mathepac wrote: »

+ the 7.5 litre reserve which is always there to be topped up if you keep the little 'tit' in the filler neck depressed towards the ground ...

Say 3 to 5% by total volume. Is it worth chancing it for the sake of say €100 - 150 to drain the tank?

Well I'd say yes, esp when people here are saying its happened to them, myself included, and there was never any hassle with the car afterwards. But it's a personal choice....

But did it happen in a modern diesel in a €40k car?

Antomus Prime

RoverJames wrote: »

But did it happen in a modern diesel in a €40k car?

No mine's a 02 Mondeo tddi, but for the sake of 4 liters i wouldnt spend €100 minimum to get the tank cleaned. I'd either fill it up and just drive it, or if it didnt feel right i'd siphon the tank myself. Ive heard of people doing it plenty of times in both older and newer cars and there was never damage done to any of them. But Thats just my experience, im not telling the OP what to do, just giving my 2 cents on what ive experienced

EPM

Antomus Prime wrote: »

This says 100l

Audi Technical specs, page 59.

That means a higher concentration of petrol. I really wouldnt risk it.

Rowley Birkin QC

Would the petrol sit on top of the diesel or do the two mix?

Would a simple fix to be to brim it and siphon out 5-6 litres from the top of the tank?

Not saying this is a solution for this instance but as an el cheapo solution for future reference?

Antomus Prime

Antomus Prime wrote: »

No mine's a 02 Mondeo tddi, but for the sake of 4 liters i wouldnt spend €100 minimum to get the tank cleaned. I'd either fill it up and just drive it, or if it didnt feel right i'd siphon the tank myself. Ive heard of people doing it plenty of times in both older and newer cars and there was never damage done to any of them. But Thats just my experience, im not telling the OP what to do, just giving my 2 cents on what ive experienced

Well for the sake of a couple of thousand in potential damage if you were driving a modern common rail car worth €40,000 you might be slower to do so On an older yoke I wouldn't have an issue but not on a modern diesel.

This was your advice btw........

Antomus Prime wrote: »

It wont do anything, it may be a bit smokier than usual for a while or even a jumpy take off but 4 liters is nothing, don't worry about it

Rowley Birkin QC wrote: »

...........

Would a simple fix to be to brim it and siphon out 5-6 litres from the top of the tank? ............

No

Antomus Prime

RoverJames wrote: »

Well for the sake of a couple of thousand in potential damage if you were driving a modern common rail car worth €40,000 you might be slower to do so On an older yoke I wouldn't have an issue but not on a modern diesel.

This was your advice btw........

Yeah my advice going on what I've experienced, as I said I'm not telling him what to do, just sharing my experience is all.

DieselPower

we often add petrol to the tank of green diesel in winter time if it is summer grade diesel left over, apparently it stops it from gelling/freezing in harsh conditions, machines run grand on it however these are low pressure diesel engines in comparison to new turbo diesels.

Bernardas

I heard about how one guy put home heating oil to hes Grand Cherokee ( diesel ) full tank.And two botles of vegetble oil.Normal practice in Siberia ( Russia ) when guys put kerosine togheter with diesel.That prevents diesel from freezing and good starts on cold morning ( actualy -40 cold there ) and call this fuel Winter Diesel.Actualy mostly they does not turn off engines at night.Its was normal practice in army on aircraft base in Ukraine.When guys used kerosine for planes !!! Togheter with diesel.And you worry about 5 litres of petrol ? Relax !

shawnee

Yeah , have done all that stuff in 80s golf and older diesels. Try it on one of the finicky turbo bastards of today and you''ll probably end up with a series of lights in the dash and a pretty hefty bill to turn em off and sort the problems

nmacc

This came up for discussion the oter evening with a friend who put 75 litres of petrol in his 06 1.9 VW Transporter. It was sorted but the general advice was that a maximum of 10% petrol could be tolerated. Obviously that's dependent on make & model, but 5% should cover most cases.