Help! Petrol in a diesel car- 2 days running it!

lennyloulou

I put petrol in my diesel car on sat morning.. silly me I know! I was distracted with the kids ... anyhow car was hegging and was going until sunday- I didn't realise what I had done until I checked the receipt today- I had put it down to dirty diesel-but the car was not well today.. I dropped it into the garage.. maybe 300e -2000e!
I am so upset...depends tomorrow when they look at the engine and pumps.. could I claim it on my insurance? help/advice please!!!!!

johnty56

How much petrol did you put in it? How much diesel was in it at the time?

Remmy

Whatever you do ,don't drive it

woodoo

You will get a better answer in motors... if its true.

Fr_Dougal

Normally if you top it up with diesel you'll be alright. Is it a modern car, what year?

LizT

Moved to Motors.

kona

Remmy wrote: »

Whatever you do ,don't drive it

Too late!

ChunkyLover_53

1. Calm Down.
2. Your car will be fine, Diesel into Petrol Engine is Very Bad not Petrol into Diesel Engine
3. You're an idiot

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Buy a bus ticket.

kona

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

Normally if you top it up with diesel you'll be alright. Is it a modern car, what year?

No dougal, you won't!

Wicklowandy

ChunkyLover_53 wrote: »

1. Calm Down.
2. Your car will be fine, Diesel into Petrol Engine is Very Bad not Petrol into Diesel Engine
3. You're an idiot

If it's any modern common rail diesel engine car, it certainly is not okay to put anything but good quality diesel in (the diesel contains lubrication that petrol doesn't)

If it's an older indirect injection or mechanical direct injection you can get away with a lot more (once had a 2.5 pajero that wouldn't pass a doe without a good drop of petrol in)

Wait and see what they say, but sorry, if it's modern, expect the worst

Green Hornet

My 2 cents.....I put 12l of petrol into an Accord iDTEC and realised my mistake.....pushed it to the diesel pump and topped up with ca. 40l of diesel.

Drove it a bit and topped up frequently with 5l additions of diesel. When approx. 50% of the initial petrol was gone through the system I added a bottle of lubricant, ran it down, filled with diesel and changed the fuel filter (which was actually fine).

Running perfect ever since (30k miles).

That being said, if I had my time again, I'd have drained it.....

Still, its not always the disaster it's made out to be, but not advisable either. From talking to diesel mechanics, about 20% is pretty much the limit. Below that you'll 'probably' be okay so long as you add appropriate lubricant. Above that is bad....

slimjimmc

lennyloulou wrote: »

I put petrol in my diesel car on sat morning.. silly me I know! I was distracted with the kids ... anyhow car was hegging and was going until sunday- I didn't realise what I had done until I checked the receipt today- I had put it down to dirty diesel-but the car was not well today.. I dropped it into the garage.. maybe 300e -2000e!
I am so upset...depends tomorrow when they look at the engine and pumps.. could I claim it on my insurance? help/advice please!!!!!

Any insurance policy I've ever had expressly stated it will not cover damage caused by mis-fuelling.

dgt

14th post, still no information

What car, what engine, what year???

lennyloulou

good news. garage rang today , told me they had drained it and the overall damage was very small-300e to fix it. am relieved. It is 2010 Renault and goes great! am delighted with the outcome. tanx for all you advice!

YbFocus

lennyloulou wrote: »

good news. garage rang today , told me they had drained it and the overall damage was very small-300e to fix it. am relieved. It is 2010 Renault and goes great! am delighted with the outcome. tanx for all you advice!

If nothing was wrong and all they had to do was drain it, then where'd they get the figure of €300 from?

Supergurrier

I fail to see what the garage could have done bar draining the system and taking your money.

If it was going to cause an injector issue it would have before you went to them

YbFocus

Supergurrier wrote: »

I fail to see what the garage could have done bar draining the system and taking your money.

If it was going to cause an injector issue it would have before you went to them

Exactly man, its too small a sum to fix anything major but far too big to change the filter and drain it!
Don't be so happy until you find out exactly what was done OP it sounds a little bit of a dodge.

Supergurrier

Fuel system drain and terraclean would have fixed it for half that (petrol was already burned out of the system anyway)

Merch

Green Hornet wrote: »

That being said, if I had my time again, I'd have drained it.....

Still, its not always the disaster it's made out to be, but not advisable either. From talking to diesel mechanics, about 20% is pretty much the limit. Below that you'll 'probably' be okay so long as you add appropriate lubricant. Above that is bad....

what is an appropriate lubricant? is there something specific for this purpose?

I've never tried it, but doesnt one pump fuel nozzle not fit the fuel tank of the other fuel type?

Presumably there is a mobile business that do this? it would be much better to suck it all out of the tank, before even moving, once the engine hasnt been turned on, then tapped and bled prior to the filter for peace of mind and bobs your aunty, no?

MarkR

Maybe they drained the tank and replaced the fuel filter?

Cheensbo

Merch wrote: »

what is an appropriate lubricant? is there something specific for this purpose?

I've never tried it, but doesnt one pump fuel nozzle not fit the fuel tank of the other fuel type?

Presumably there is a mobile business that do this? it would be much better to suck it all out of the tank, before even moving, once the engine hasnt been turned on, then tapped and bled prior to the filter for peace of mind and bobs your aunty, no?

2 stroke oil/lots of dipetane is often recommended.. Im sure there's others but id use either of those..

There are mobile companies that do it but can charge quite a lot for the trouble.. most of the time its possible to disconnect the fuel line and use the ignition to pump the tank empty to an awaiting can/barrell etc..

MarkR wrote: »

Maybe they drained the tank and replaced the fuel filter?

A solid gold fuel filter :eek:

Still seems very expensive to me, unless they recovered the car for the OP too?

YbFocus

Cheensbo wrote: »

Still seems very expensive to me, unless they recovered the car for the OP too?

No man she says she drove it in, I'm at a loss as to how the bill added up to that....

The AA have a mobile fuel drain and there are others around. They all charge around the e300 mark for the service. Renault garage charges the same.
I know as done it a couple of times after changing from a petrol to diesel car. Only extra thing the Renault dealer does is change the filter.

ted1

Deleted User wrote: »

I know as done it a couple of times after changing from a petrol to diesel car. QUOTE]a couple of times...... really..

T-Maxx

Remember that the drained petrol is now considered poluted and it has to be disposed of as hazmat.

(In reality though I'm sure it goes straight from one tank into another.);)

Merch

Deleted User wrote: »

The AA have a mobile fuel drain and there are others around. They all charge around the e300 mark for the service. Renault garage charges the same.
I know as done it a couple of times after changing from a petrol to diesel car. Only extra thing the Renault dealer does is change the filter.

ouch,
At that price, I'd prefer drain it myself, but I dont suppose it would be handy.
I dont think its too easy to just stick a tube down there and suck it out, especially if you dont have the equipment to start with,
but Id rather look into it than even turn the engine over.

I suppose that in most diesel cars its just an electric pump to the filter/engine where it is boosted to pressure with another pump and that presumably there would be no issue with disconnecting a fuel line at the filter to pump it out using the electric pump as someone suggested.
All the same, I dont think a service station would be willing to allow a person do this on their forecourt for safety reasons, so it'd be a matter of getting it towed away too.

For the inconvenience the cost could be worth it, but it still seems a lot.

Stinicker

T-Maxx wrote: »

Remember that the drained petrol is now considered poluted and it has to be disposed of as hazmat.

(In reality though I'm sure it goes straight from one tank into another.);)

Anyone running an old Diesel Mercedes or Veg Oil would happily use it as fuel.

Nissan doctor

@OP,

The High pressure fuel pump on the renault 1.5dci engines are fragile enough as it is and if you were driving around for 2 days with petrol running through it(even diluted) then don't be surprised if the pump fails, very possibly within a short time.

Merch

T-Maxx wrote: »

Remember that the drained petrol is now considered poluted and it has to be disposed of as hazmat.

(In reality though I'm sure it goes straight from one tank into another.);)

sure could be used in 2 stroke engines? lawnmower etc, some bike engines?

Top Dog

Merch wrote: »

I've never tried it, but doesnt one pump fuel nozzle not fit the fuel tank of the other fuel type?

Petrol nozzle fits in a diesel filler anyway - done it many times

Not sure about the other way round though as I've never put diesel in a petrol engined motor.

Cheensbo wrote: »

Still seems very expensive to me, unless they recovered the car for the OP too?

Remove tank
Drain
Clean thoroughly
Re-fit tank
Clean out all fuel lines
Replace fuel filter
Dispose of contaminated fuel

Maybe its just me, but €300 doesn't sound that much to me if they did a proper thorough job of it.

Cheensbo

Top Dog wrote: »

Petrol nozzle fits in a diesel filler anyway - done it many times

Not sure about the other way round though as I've never put diesel in a petrol engined motor.


Remove tank
Drain
Clean thoroughly
Re-fit tank
Clean out all fuel lines
Replace fuel filter
Dispose of contaminated fuel

Maybe its just me, but €300 doesn't sound that much to me if they did a proper thorough job of it.

Suppose not, but whether all of that was done or not is the question I guess...

Top Dog

Cheensbo wrote: »

Suppose not, but whether all of that was done or not is the question I guess...

Indeed - the million dollar question.

Or in this case - the €300 question :pac:

stoneill

Just keep diluting with diesel - it'll be fine.

Nissan doctor

stoneill wrote: »

Just keep diluting with diesel - it'll be fine.

Poor advice when talking about common rail engines.

R.O.R

Have some recent experience of the worst case scenario that can happen to a modern Diesel when it's been filled with petrol.

A €300 bill is a very light escape in comparison.