Petrol in a diesel by mistake

spider_pig

Hi I put 50 euro worth of petrol into a hyundai tuscon diesel engine,it had a half tank of diesel in at alrwady.
I didn't notice at the time, the little one was screaming to get out to come in the shop and i was looking at the meter and her and didn't cop on at all. I drove the car from Drogheda down the m1 with no issues until I got to white hall and the revs stared jumping, then it dawned on me, I didn't check before picking up the handle
I have a guy coming out now to drain it as I'm sure that's what's caused it.
I'm just wondering would it be ok or will I be facing a huge repair bill.

California Dreamer

spider_pig wrote: »

Hi I put 50 euro worth of petrol into a hyundai tuscon diesel engine,it had a half tank of diesel in at alrwady.
I didn't notice at the time, the little one was screaming to get out to come in the shop and i was looking at the meter and her and didn't cop on at all. I drove the car from Drogheda down the m1 with no issues until I got to white hall and the revs stared jumping, then it dawned on me, I didn't check before picking up the handle
I have a guy coming out now to drain it as I'm sure that's what's caused it.
I'm just wondering would it be ok or will I be facing a huge repair bill.

I think I paid fuel rescue €180 plus the cost of some fuel to get me to a station. Its an expensive lapse in concentration.

Plus you lose the fuel that was (a) in your car already and (b) the petrol you put in.

donalh087

spider_pig wrote: »

Hi I put 50 euro worth of petrol into a hyundai tuscon diesel engine,it had a half tank of diesel in at alrwady.
I didn't notice at the time, the little one was screaming to get out to come in the shop and i was looking at the meter and her and didn't cop on at all. I drove the car from Drogheda down the m1 with no issues until I got to white hall and the revs stared jumping, then it dawned on me, I didn't check before picking up the handle
I have a guy coming out now to drain it as I'm sure that's what's caused it.
I'm just wondering would it be ok or will I be facing a huge repair bill.

You will probably get away with it (apart from the cost of removing the fuel). Good luck !!

mickuhaha

I would say very little damage was done if any at all drain it via fuel return line, refill and your golden.

JustJoe7240

spider_pig wrote: »

Hi I put 50 euro worth of petrol into a hyundai tuscon diesel engine,it had a half tank of diesel in at alrwady.
I didn't notice at the time, the little one was screaming to get out to come in the shop and i was looking at the meter and her and didn't cop on at all. I drove the car from Drogheda down the m1 with no issues until I got to white hall and the revs stared jumping, then it dawned on me, I didn't check before picking up the handle
I have a guy coming out now to drain it as I'm sure that's what's caused it.
I'm just wondering would it be ok or will I be facing a huge repair bill.

I'd be very surprised if there's any damage, Diesel into a petrol Is far worse than petrol into a diesel.

DJIMI TRARORE

it is possible to top it up with diesel,speaking from experience,tank low-30e of petrol-then filled with diesel,large tank though

Alanstrainor

California Dreamer wrote: »

I think I paid fuel rescue €180 plus the cost of some fuel to get me to a station. Its an expensive lapse in concentration.

Plus you lose the fuel that was (a) in your car already and (b) the petrol you put in.

That sounds like a pretty cheap solution to me!

California Dreamer

Alanstrainor wrote: »

That sounds like a pretty cheap solution to me!

Didnt feel it at the time. Stupid silly mistake and I still double check what pump I am using.

spider_pig

California Dreamer wrote: »

I think I paid fuel rescue €180 plus the cost of some fuel to get me to a station. Its an expensive lapse in concentration.

Plus you lose the fuel that was (a) in your car already and (b) the petrol you put in.

That's who I have coming out €200 with a top up of fuel. It's the first time i have filled up anywhere other then my normal garage which is diesel only, I never thought of anything when grabing the handle

JohnBoy26

JustJoe7240 wrote: »

I'd be very surprised if there's any damage, Diesel into a petrol Is far worse than petrol into a diesel.

It's not. Petrol into diesel is much more damaging.

EPAndlee

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

It's not. Petrol into diesel is much more damaging.

Get this problem into the workshop fairly often, the last 3 ended up needing injectors after a while so a costly mistake for the customers

Heres Johnny

A diesel nozzle doesn't fit into a petrol car. Doesn't on mine anyway, it's too big. Why the hell can it happen the other way around? Why not make the top square or something to stop it happening. Can't for the life of me figure out why this is still a thing.

Square peg round hole solution

CianRyan

Heres Johnny wrote: »

A diesel nozzle doesn't fit into a petrol car. Doesn't on mine anyway, it's too big. Why the hell can it happen the other way around? Why not make the top square or something to stop it happening. Can't for the life of me figure out why this is still a thing.

Square peg round hole solution

You’ve answered your own question. Diesel won’t fit into the petrol hole because it’s bigger, there for the diesel hole is bigger than the petrol nozzle aaaand, do you need a picture?


Yeah, different shapes would make it idiot proof but I’d rather not have idiots on the road in the first place.

OP, I drain tanks for this reason all the time in work, that’s a very expensive fee considering less than an hours labor in my main dealer would be cheaper. We don’t do call outs though.
Diesel is a very waxy oil, it is self lubricating for the fuel supply system, petrol is a solvent and strips oil from components, there for having petrol where diesel should be can be very damaging.
If in 6 months you need a few injectors and a new high pressure pump you’ll know why but I hope you’ve gotten away with it because unfortunately, you’re not even nearly alone and it is a very common mistake.

Somehow it’s always the SUV’s.

NIMAN

I remember a mechanic telling me once that some folk put a little bit of the wrong fuel into their engine to 'clean it out'.

But for the life of me can't remember if it was diesel in a petrol or vice versa.

Anyone else hear this?

khaldrogo

JustJoe7240 wrote:

I'd be very surprised if there's any damage, Diesel into a petrol Is far worse than petrol into a diesel.

No it's not.

dr.fuzzenstein

DJIMI TRARORE wrote: »

it is possible to top it up with diesel,speaking from experience,tank low-30e of petrol-then filled with diesel,large tank though

He put in €50 worth of petrol, this is well beyond topping up.

lollsangel

NIMAN wrote: »

I remember a mechanic telling me once that some folk put a little bit of the wrong fuel into their engine to 'clean it out'.

But for the life of me can't remember if it was diesel in a petrol or vice versa.

Anyone else hear this?

I have been told rather than buying my 'expensive' injector cleaning addictives for the car to turn in €5 euro of petrol.....think ill stick with my addictives thouh 😂

dubrov

I did it before and filled an almost empty tank with petrol. I drove the car about 1km and parked it. It wouldn't start later and I copped it then.

I had it towed to the local garage and drained. It cost 70 plus cost of fuel top up (30).

No problems since

NIMAN

lollsangel wrote: »

I have been told rather than buying my 'expensive' injector cleaning addictives for the car to turn in €5 euro of petrol.....think ill stick with my addictives thouh ��

Just did a Google on it, and apparently its not recommended at all.

malinheader

Done it a couple of times petrol into diesel only 20 euro or so before it was noticed. Filled the rest of tank up full with diesel and never had any issues with the car.

lollsangel

NIMAN wrote: »

Just did a Google on it, and apparently its not recommended at all.

Ay common sense would tell you its not a good idea never mind google

NIMAN

lollsangel wrote: »

Ay common sense would tell you its not a good idea never mind google

Maybe true, but don't forget I was originally told it by a mechanic who did it to his own car.

locum-motion

Heres Johnny wrote: »

A diesel nozzle doesn't fit into a petrol car. Doesn't on mine anyway, it's too big. Why the hell can it happen the other way around? Why not make the top square or something to stop it happening. Can't for the life of me figure out why this is still a thing.

Square peg round hole solution

CianRyan wrote: »

You’ve answered your own question. Diesel won’t fit into the petrol hole because it’s bigger, there for the diesel hole is bigger than the petrol nozzle aaaand, do you need a picture?
...

If some petrol goes into a diesel car every now and again, it's unlikely to be disastrous.

However, if the diesel nozzle was the smaller one and the petrol hole was the bigger one, then diesel would go into a petrol car every now and again. It's much more likely to cause serious damage.


So, given that the whole 'big/small nozzle and big/small hole' thing can only work in one direction (as pointed out by Cian), they've opted to make it the less harmful of the two possibilities.

sliabh 1956

I put Petrol into a Ford Transit Diesel one time got it drained no long term problems

bazz26

There is no one size fits all approach to damage suffered by misfueling. Old school diesel engines could take misfueling mostly without issues. But modern diesel engines with high pressure common rail fuel injection systems misfueling can be detrimental to them. The fact the OP unbeknown to them, continued to drive the Tucson until it starting misfiring would suggest there maybe a costly repair on the horizon, at best their fuel pump might just be fubbered but at worse their injectors might be too.

peasant

locum-motion wrote: »

...then diesel would go into a petrol car every now and again. It's much more likely to cause serious damage.

Really?

Diesel in a petrol engine will stop the engine from running, but to my knowledge (I could be wrong, please tell me if I am) it does not cause permanent mechanical damage.

Petrol in a modern diesel however will stop lubricating the very precise modern high pressure fuel delivery systems and actually break expensive things permanently.

All a matter of dosage and mixture of course, but to my mind petrol instead of diesel is much more likely to be terribly expensive than the other way round

Anjobe

peasant wrote: »

Really?

Diesel in a petrol engine will stop the engine from running, but to my knowledge (I could be wrong, please tell me if I am) it does not cause permanent mechanical damage.

Petrol in a modern diesel however will stop lubricating the very precise modern high pressure fuel delivery systems and actually break expensive things permanently.

All a matter of dosage and mixture of course, but to my mind petrol instead of diesel is much more likely to be terribly expensive than the other way round

Remember the "petrol stretching" story from a couple of years ago - people reporting their (petrol) engines being ruined after just a single fill of contaminated fuel. The cause of that was a batch of petrol contaminated with road diesel, wasn't it?

sliabh 1956

The Ford Transit that I put the petrol into happened a good few years ago the engines then were more robust no doubt less frills in those days

Farfromhome02

Older diesel engines could cope with petrol
Modern stuff is all overengineered s****

spider_pig

It seems grand at the moment, it's a 172 reg so hopefully no damage done.
The garage had 4 pumps all bunched together which I think played a small part in me grabing the wrong handle.
I went to a different garage last night to refuel and the diesel and petrol handles were on separate ends of the pump which makes it harder to make the mistake, both circle k garages.

CianRyan

peasant wrote: »

Really?

Diesel in a petrol engine will stop the engine from running, but to my knowledge (I could be wrong, please tell me if I am) it does not cause permanent mechanical damage.

Petrol in a modern diesel however will stop lubricating the very precise modern high pressure fuel delivery systems and actually break expensive things permanently.

All a matter of dosage and mixture of course, but to my mind petrol instead of diesel is much more likely to be terribly expensive than the other way round

Well diesel won't ignite in a petrol engine, it has to be highly compressed, which is why diesel engines run much higher compression and tend to knock (and have much more reinforcements). When diesel gets injected in a petrol engine, it's going to be thrown right out the exhaust valve, probably not get burnt in the DPF and ruin oxygen sensors while stripping precious metals from the cat'. At the very least, you're talking €300 for two new wideband Lambda probes and €500-€800 for a new cat if you're going main dealer.
Petrol in a diesel, I know of a since defunct BMW garage charging people well over €3000 for 6 new injectors and a HP diesel pump in the likes of an X5 on a fairly routine basis.

If you were really unlucky with diesel in a petrol, you could face hydrolocking your engine. (trying to compress a build up of fluids which ends ups cracking a block/head/piston/bending conrods etc...)
It's all bad though, so just pay attention.

Quackster

A misfuel prevention cap would be a sound investment for any diesel owner. Eliminates the risk of this happening.