Petrol in a diesel car question ..

Colash

Ok I have a 2009 citreon berlingo 1.6hdi . I was at the fuel pumps earlier and put 9 euros worth of petrol in by mistake. There was already a quarter tank of diesal in the tank at that stage . I stopped as soon as I realised my mistake and quickly put 50 euros worth of diesal in which brought the gauge to 3quarters full . The engine is running fine . No smoke or stuttering . I'm worried though I may have messed things up . What do ye think ,?

Stheno

Loads of threads on this if you do a search opinions tend to vary, you'd may be fine given there was diesel in it, and you topped it up with lots more diesel so you've possibly 10% petrol in the tank.

Have you driven it much since?

I did the same myself in a C5 but it was older.

Red Nissan

The mix is probably OK. [???]

However, the recommended procedure was to get yourself towed away, have the tank drained and disposed of, fuel filter changed and refilled with diesel.

Petrol in diesels is a seriously damaging event. However, a small amount might actually do a little cleaning inside, but I wouldn't really know about mix.

Colash

Stheno wrote: »

Loads of threads on this if you do a search opinions tend to vary, you'd may be fine given there was diesel in it, and you topped it up with lots more diesel so you've possibly 10% petrol in the tank.

Have you driven it much since?

I did the same myself in a C5 but it was older.

I've driven 20 plus miles . A mechanic told me it would be fine plus he said throw some two stroke oil into the tank for extra lubrication as petrol has no lubricating properties in it . I'm bricking it as I know a repair on this would be costly . I'm thinking I should just keep topping up with diesal daily to keep the ratio good

Stheno

Colash wrote: »

I've driven 20 plus miles . A mechanic told me it would be fine plus he said throw some two stroke oil into the tank for extra lubrication as petrol has no lubricating properties in it . I'm bricking it as I know a repair on this would be costly . I'm thinking I should just keep topping up with diesal daily to keep the ratio good

Would you not think you'd be better off getting the tank drained to be on the safe side?

Colash

Stheno wrote: »

Would you not think you'd be better off getting the tank drained to be on the safe side?

Is it a bit late at this stage seeing as I've driven a bit and probably ran some petrol through ?

Sam Kade

You should drive until the tank is drained then refill.

biko

Yeah some 2 stroke and keep it brimmed with diesel for a week or so (fuel up every day).

Colash

biko wrote: »

Yeah some 2 stroke and keep it brimmed with diesel for a week or so (fuel up every day).

Thanks for advice mate .

biko

I think the ratio is something like 1:200 - so for a normal car something like 250ml per tank fill.
Then keep adding 250ml with every empty tank in the future until bottle is finished.
Remember the 1:200 ratio if you don't fill with an empty tank.

Some folks use 2stroke as a fuel additive always and say the ending benefits for it. It doesn't seem to harm it anyway.

Colash

biko wrote: »

I think the ratio is something like 1:200 - so for a normal car something like 250ml per tank fill.
Then keep adding 250ml with every empty tank in the future until bottle is finished.
Remember the 1:200 ratio if you don't fill with an empty tank.

Some folks use 2stroke as a fuel additive always and say the ending benefits for it. It doesn't seem to harm it anyway.

I've thrown in 250ml of two stroke and another ten litres of diesal so I'm hoping I've more than diluted the petrol

timmy4u2

Colash wrote: »

I've thrown in 250ml of two stroke and another ten litres of diesal so I'm hoping I've more than diluted the petrol

You will never really dilute the petrol, just camoufladge its more abrasive effects.
I would not worry about that little amount. One fill of diesel will be more than enough.
Sure the half of the diesel motorists who do not know about dipetane are turning up for their NCT with a belly full of petrol in the diesel to get a lower co reading.

Colash

timmy4u2 wrote: »

You will never really dilute the petrol, just camoufladge its more abrasive effects.
I would not worry about that little amount. One fill of diesel will be more than enough.
Sure the half of the diesel motorists who do not know about dipetane are turning up for their NCT with a belly full of petrol in the diesel to get a lower co reading.

Thanks man . You have put my mind at ease

Esel

Colash wrote: »

Is it a bit late at this stage seeing as I've driven a bit and probably ran some petrol through ?

20+ miles is not a lot though. If it was me, I would be going the drain and new fuel filter route.

Gumbo

Esel wrote: »

20+ miles is not a lot though. If it was me, I would be going the drain and new fuel filter route.

For 6 litres of petrol, is that not a bit extreme?

YbFocus

Even a hdi should be fine with that, considering there's about 40 litres in there too.
15% mix.
If she was going to start detonation or anything it would have instantly enough.

vermin99

Colash wrote: »

Ok I have a 2009 citreon berlingo 1.6hdi . I was at the fuel pumps earlier and put 9 euros worth of petrol in by mistake. There was already a quarter tank of diesal in the tank at that stage . I stopped as soon as I realised my mistake and quickly put 50 euros worth of diesal in which brought the gauge to 3quarters full . The engine is running fine . No smoke or stuttering . I'm worried though I may have messed things up . What do ye think ,?

Drive the van hard for about a week to clear her out also don't let the diesil come to near running out as in less than a quarter tank ,that's when they start mixing. If ya keep doing this it should eventually burn off all the petrol . If ya do feel she is mixing forany reason stop the car and have a look cause once a mix gos past the injectors the price of repairing gains . Trust me diesil in a petrol car is a whole lot worse

vermin99

Colash wrote: »

Ok I have a 2009 citreon berlingo 1.6hdi . I was at the fuel pumps earlier and put 9 euros worth of petrol in by mistake. There was already a quarter tank of diesal in the tank at that stage . I stopped as soon as I realised my mistake and quickly put 50 euros worth of diesal in which brought the gauge to 3quarters full . The engine is running fine . No smoke or stuttering . I'm worried though I may have messed things up . What do ye think ,?

Drive the van hard for about a week to clear her out also don't let the diesil come to near running out as in less than a quarter tank ,that's when they start mixing. If ya keep doing this it should eventually burn off all the petrol . If ya do feel she is mixing forany reason stop the car and have a look cause once a mix gos past the injectors the price of repairing gains . Trust me diesil in a petrol car is a whole lot worse

Esel

kceire wrote: »

For 6 litres of petrol, is that not a bit extreme?

With a 4 year-old van, I would prefer to be safe than sorry. I would rather throw away €65 worth of 'fuel' and pay for the cost of that and fitting a new filter, especially if, as I assume is the case, the van is the OP's means of earning a living.

Colash

Esel wrote: »

With a 4 year-old van, I would prefer to be safe than sorry. I would rather throw away €65 worth of 'fuel' and pay for the cost of that and fitting a new filter, especially if, as I assume is the case, the van is the OP's means of earning a living.

I'm still very cautious about driving it to be honest . But I've put another 20 euros of diesel into it today and all seems to be going grand . It hasn't hiccuped once since the petrol incident . I think I may have got away with it this time . Ps , I've done 60-70 miles since it happened .

timmy4u2

Colash wrote: »

I'm still very cautious about driving it to be honest . But I've put another 20 euros of diesel into it today and all seems to be going grand . It hasn't hiccuped once since the petrol incident . I think I may have got away with it this time . Ps , I've done 60-70 miles since it happened .

Relax you will not have problems. These psa engines have their own serious problems if not regularly serviced and with the correct 5/30 low saps fully syntetic oil.
I would worry more ab our ut that aspect than anything else.

visual

No need to change diesel fuel filter because the mix of petrol diesel and two stroke oil will pass through it.

Green Hornet

visual wrote: »

No need to change diesel fuel filter because the mix of petrol diesel and two stroke oil will pass through it.

I think the reasoning behind changing the filter is that petrol can shift some crap and it'll get caught in the filter.

pepe the prawn

Drive on, it won't do it any harm once you've it filled with diesel. As your mechanic said, throw a drop of two stroke oil into the tank.

Colash

Update on this . The van is running perfect since this happened . Covered over 100 miles and I haven't let it drop below half tank since it happened . I keep topping it up by 10 or 20 euro here and there to keep the diesal ratio greater . A small bit smokier than normal but I don't mind that .thanks for all the advice

Zcott

I did the same with a 307 running the same engine. Ran faultlessly.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

I think that if it were much more petrol there would have been a bigger problem, but at 15% maximum then even the modern ultra high intolerance diesels are usually fine!

Colash

A man may have to invent something to prevent this from happening again roll on dragons Den !!!

timmy4u2

Colash wrote: »

Update on this . The van is running perfect since this happened . Covered over 100 miles and I haven't let it drop below half tank since it happened . I keep topping it up by 10 or 20 euro here and there to keep the diesal ratio greater . A small bit smokier than normal but I don't mind that .thanks for all the advice

And you will not either. Just make sure it is regularly serviced with 5/30 low saps oil to make sure the inherent problems dont rear their ugly heads.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Colash wrote: »

A man may have to invent something to prevent this from happening again roll on dragons Den !!!

I don't understand why they don't just make it so only petrol nozzles work in petrols and vice versa