Father just had a homer moment...

The Royal Scam

Just got a call from the father, drives a 09 Freelander diesel and just put in €40 of unleaded in. Noticed it at this point and filled up the rest of the tank (normally €100) with the rest of diesel.
Still trying to get my mechanic on the phone but said I would try you guys, I would trust you all more than my mechanic...:-D
Anyway what do you think, will he be ok. He has driven off and feels ok to him, he is keeping under 2k rpm

Kristopherus

There are a few threads about this very thing. Do a search, you'll get all the info you need.,

Quazzie

The Royal Scam wrote: »

Just got a call from the father, drives a 09 Freelander diesel and just put in €40 of unleaded in. Noticed it at this point and filled up the rest of the tank (normally €100) with the rest of diesel.
Still trying to get my mechanic on the phone but said I would try you guys, I would trust you all more than my mechanic...:-D
Anyway what do you think, will he be ok. He has driven off and feels ok to him, he is keeping under 2k rpm

For every ten litres he goes through I'd be stopping it and filling it with Diesel again, this lowering the ratio.

40% petrol is fairly high, so he might not get that option,

colm_mcm

Not a chance would I leave it in there.

Bpmull

40% mix of petrol is too strong IMO you should drain it and change the fuel filter. Your talking a huge risk driving it. It would be different if he put 5-10 euro in it and 90 euro of diesel.

Oral Surgeon

Why bother asking if he is driving it??!!!

The Royal Scam wrote: »

Just got a call from the father, drives a 09 Freelander diesel and just put in €40 of unleaded in. Noticed it at this point and filled up the rest of the tank (normally €100) with the rest of diesel.
Still trying to get my mechanic on the phone but said I would try you guys, I would trust you all more than my mechanic...:-D
Anyway what do you think, will he be ok. He has driven off and feels ok to him, he is keeping under 2k rpm

alias no.9

Wouldn't risk it, get the tank drained, new fuel filter, etc... You may get away with topping up with diesel but risking the high pressure pump and / or the injectors for the sake of €200 or less is madness.

The Royal Scam

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

Why bother asking if he is driving it??!!!

Thanks for being so helpful...

PrettyBoy

To answer your question, no, it is not OK to drive it. I know he drove it anyway but tell him not to drive it anymore until the fuel tank has been emptied.

Row

alias no.9 wrote: »

Wouldn't risk it, get the tank drained, new fuel filter, etc... You may get away with topping up with diesel but risking the high pressure pump and / or the injectors for the sake of €200 or less is madness.

X 2.


Older diesels could handle a certain amount of diesel/petrol mix but the newer common rail diesels cannot tolerate diesel/petrol mix....:eek:

Get the tank drained and if it has been started then change out the diesel filter...With this done he should be then be good to go...:)

EazyD

Unless the petrol content is at or below 10% of the tanks full capacity and the remaining 90% diesel, I'd never consider driving it until it had been drained. Even then I'd be apprehensive about doing it at all.

The Royal Scam

Ive just called him. Its seems to be driving ok. I got him to pull in somewhere and my mechanic is on his way up to him and he has filters and everything so Im happy out. I did originally tell him not to drive it but men of his generation dont really do logic anyhow.

bear1

I had this happen to me on my diesel Volvo. Some eejit (and it wasn't me) filled the car up with petrol, I think there was a quarter tank of diesel already in it.
I hadn't a clue and drove off. 200km later I stopped in a petrol station to get smokes and when I got back to the car it wouldn't start.
Called a mechanic who came and drained the fuel out of the tank. I was fecking lucky that the car then started up again after filling it with diesel.
But being a 09 I'd be waiting for something to start failing.
40e is what? 30 litres? That's a hell of a lot of petrol for the engine to handle.

bucketybuck

The Royal Scam wrote: »

Ive just called him. Its seems to be driving ok. I got him to pull in somewhere and my mechanic is on his way up to him and he has filters and everything so Im happy out.

I wouldn't be so sure of your happiness. There could very well have been damage already done and he will start to see it as injectors and high pressure pumps fail over the next few weeks.

Oral Surgeon

The Royal Scam wrote: »

Thanks for being so helpful...

My friend just cut his arm off. And he doesn't want to go to hospital, do you think that he will be ok?? All advice welcome!!

pippip

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

My friend just cut his arm off. And he doesn't want to go to hospital, do you think that he will be ok?? All advice welcome!!

Sorry but your attitude stinks!

So you're saying we should all never ask anything if its already happened. Nothing the op could have done as it wasn't them driving. They were only asking what might be the future for the vehicle and advice on that. As you can see, plenty of info added by people without stupid comments like yours.

Oral Surgeon

pippip wrote: »

Sorry but your attitude stinks!

So you're saying we should all never ask anything if its already happened. Nothing the op could have done as it wasn't them driving. They were only asking what might be the future for the vehicle and advice on that. As you can see, plenty of info added by people without stupid comments like yours.

An integral part of giving good advice is knowing that the person is receptive to that advice and will take it on board to make an informed and good decision... That stage was bypassed by the OPs dad hoping for the best....
What's the point??
I'd be first to try to help if the OP said that his dad was waiting in the forecourt wondering what to do.....

pippip

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

An integral part of giving good advice is knowing that the person is receptive to that advice and will take it on board to make an informed and good decision... That stage was bypassed by the OPs dad hoping for the best....
What's the point??
I'd be first to try to help if the OP said that his dad was waiting in the forecourt wondering what to do.....

Its not clear cut as there is that level at which you can get away with the mistake the father did, again the op asking was €40 past this limit.

I know you're a great poster on this forum with great advice which is why i was surprised by your two original posts in this thread.

creedp

pippip wrote: »

Its not clear cut as there is that level at which you can get away with the mistake the father did, again the op asking was €40 past this limit.

I know you're a great poster on this forum with great advice which is why i was surprised by your two original posts in this thread.

Happenned my brother in law with an 09 1.8 S-max. Tank almost empty .. he filled it with petrol by mistake. He drove it for about 3 miles when it started chugging and cut out. He got his mechaninc friend to drain the tank at the side of the road and and put in a few litres of diesel. If took ages to get it stated due the airlocks (don't get me stated with s-maxes and airlocks!) but eventually got it going. BiL filled tank with diesel and didn't service it until regular service was due. Not a bother on the car - that was 2 years ago. So its not cut and dried