Car trouble

T.m2018

Hey guys just looking to see if anyone could be of any help, so the other day I accidentally put petrol into my diesel car. 17e worth of petrol im sure exactly how many litres that equals but I was told by a few people to fill the tank full with diesel and it should level its self out if I keep driving to burn the petrol out. Now I know the most bright thing to have done would have been to have the tank drained professionally but being quoted 200e I just could not afford so filled the tank up with diesel and went on. The car has been driving fine bar when I'm stopped at traffic for example it will just randomly stall and the battery and oil pressure light comes on the dash. It will start after a good 15mins of trying and drive fine again. It has happened a couple of times since. My question is have I completely messed up the engine or could it be a case of the petrol still making it act up?. Just would like to hear if anyone has been through something similar.. Thanks in advance 😊

Needs Must

Keep it filled with diesel, and as you use it, keep topping it up. It should work its way through.

T.m2018

Needs Must wrote: »

Keep it filled with diesel, and as you use it, keep topping it up. It should work its way through.

Yea it's not at full capacity at the minute I'll bring it back up to the max with diesel. Would adding some sort of fuel cleaner into mix help would you reckon? Thanks for replying.

Muckie

Have done this years ago to a VW Jetta.

Kept topping up the car with diesel, eventually car came back to normal.

(old Jettas were a tractor of an engine!)

The petrol acted as a lubricant and was eventually passed the the engine.

Did the check engine light come on at all?

Farfromhome02

I reckon about 11/12 litres petrol
Keep it topped up with diesel,don't let it go below half for a few fill ups
The older diesels could handle it,what year is the car?
You could buy a bottle of dipetane,about ten quid

jmreire

T.m2018 wrote: »

Hey guys just looking to see if anyone could be of any help, so the other day I accidentally put petrol into my diesel car. 17e worth of petrol im sure exactly how many litres that equals but I was told by a few people to fill the tank full with diesel and it should level its self out if I keep driving to burn the petrol out. Now I know the most bright thing to have done would have been to have the tank drained professionally but being quoted 200e I just could not afford so filled the tank up with diesel and went on. The car has been driving fine bar when I'm stopped at traffic for example it will just randomly stall and the battery and oil pressure light comes on the dash. It will start after a good 15mins of trying and drive fine again. It has happened a couple of times since. My question is have I completely messed up the engine or could it be a case of the petrol still making it act up?. Just would like to hear if anyone has been through something similar.. Thanks in advance ��

What make of car is it? And what is the tank capacity? And how many miles have you driven since it happened?

T.m2018

It's a 2010 nissan qushqai 1.5L. It's about 55L i think. No engine light or any lights came on bar the battery and oil pressure light when the car stalled

jmreire

T.m2018 wrote: »

It's a 2010 nissan qushqai 1.5L. It's about 55L i think. No engine light or any lights came on bar the battery and oil pressure light when the car stalled

Those light's would be normal if the engine stalled...But how many miles have you traveled since? And how is it driving now? So maybe 11/12 ltrs into 55 ltr tank,,, roughly 1/4. Would be a bit on the rich mix side, but if you have been diluting it every chance you get since it happened by topping it up, then by now the mix would be pretty weak, and assuming that it's starting and driving fine, it should be OK,

T.m2018

Iv drove roughly 100/120km since. So it's best to keep the tank full so it? It's driving good bar the stalling that's the only problem iv had.

jmreire

T.m2018 wrote: »

Iv drove roughly 100/120km since. So it's best to keep the tank full so it? It's driving good bar the stalling that's the only problem iv had.

Yes, even if you are only putting €20 euro's into it.....It will take more than 100 /150 Klms to clear it, but its moving in the right direction...every litre of diesel added now, dilutes the mix. Best thing you could do now if possible would be to drive it on a long trip...100 or more Klms, continous driving, topping it up as often as possible along the way. Obviously, 200 or even 300 klms would ber better... the more the merrier. At the moment, for the stalling, try and keep the rev's up, and not let it cut out....thats why I would recommend a long continous drive with high rev's to prevent it cutting out. When you are pretty sure that it's running on 100% pure diesel again, say after 5-600 Klms minimum,get the fuel filter changed.

Farfromhome02

T.m2018 wrote: »

Iv drove roughly 100/120km since. So it's best to keep the tank full so it? It's driving good bar the stalling that's the only problem iv had.

Ye keep briming the tank,will keep diluting what's left in there,let us know how it goes

T.m2018

I'll do that so. Any excuse for a spontaneous road trip down the country sure haha. thank you very much for your help very much appreciated 😊

colm_mcm

You should really be draining the tank and lines and changing the fuel filter. Your fuel pump and injectors aren’t designed to have petrol running through them. Sorry to be pissing on your parade but “drive her on” is pretty poor advice IMO.

Wildly Boaring

colm_mcm wrote: »

You should really be draining the tank and lines and changing the fuel filter. Your fuel pump and injectors aren’t designed to have petrol running through them. Sorry to be pissing on your parade but “drive her on” is pretty poor advice IMO.

Amen.

Drain it.

These are not the diesel engines of old. They are sophisticated engines.

For the sake of towing to a garage and paying a lad 80 to 100 for a couple of hours to drain it rather than risk listening to advice from those with nothing to lose.

I did same 5 years ago. Drained and was perfect after

jmreire

colm_mcm wrote: »

You should really be draining the tank and lines and changing the fuel filter. Your fuel pump and injectors aren’t designed to have petrol running through them. Sorry to be pissing on your parade but “drive her on” is pretty poor advice IMO.

The op has already said that he presently cannot afford to do that. Sure The ideal thing is to drain the tank, remove the filter, blow out the lines Fit new filter and refill with clean diesel, bleed the system and off you go.Thats the ideal, but when that option is not available to you, what do you do? Happened me once before, but the ratio was much smaller, 5ltrs in a 60 ltr tank, so I topped it up ( after discovering my mistake at the pump ) with diesel, and drove / topped up, drove / topped up, and it has been more than 1 year since it happened...never a problem with it since. As a matter of fact, I have added kerosene ( 5 ltrs per 100 Ltrs diesel ) in trucks to prevent the diesel from gelling in freezing temperatures.....and no problems after wards from that. On a 1.9 VAG diesel, I routinely added 400 ml 2T oil to a full tank of diesel. I did this after it went into LIMP mode a few times... the 2T cured that particular problem. I agree that with modern engines, they are not tolerent of bad fuel, but like I said, the OP had no choice except to drive it, and clear it ASAP.

Wildly Boaring

jmreire wrote: »

The op has already said that he presently cannot afford to do that. Sure The ideal thing is to drain the tank, remove the filter, blow out the lines Fit new filter and refill with clean diesel, bleed the system and off you go.Thats the ideal, but when that option is not available to you, what do you do? Happened me once before, but the ratio was much smaller, 5ltrs in a 60 ltr tank, so I topped it up ( after discovering my mistake at the pump ) with diesel, and drove / topped up, drove / topped up, and it has been more than 1 year since it happened...never a problem with it since. As a matter of fact, I have added kerosene ( 5 ltrs per 100 Ltrs diesel ) in trucks to prevent the diesel from gelling in freezing temperatures.....and no problems after wards from that. On a 1.9 VAG diesel, I routinely added 400 ml 2T oil to a full tank of diesel. I did this after it went into LIMP mode a few times... the 2T cured that particular problem. I agree that with modern engines, they are not tolerent of bad fuel, but like I said, the OP had no choice except to drive it, and clear it ASAP.

Personally I would pay to drain it even though some damage us obviously done by now.
If OP cannot afford this then OP sure as **** cant afford a new engine.

Car us not an old PD diesel or a truck

Driving on is a bad plan

jmreire

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Personally I would pay to drain it even though some damage us obviously done by now.
If OP cannot afford this then OP sure as **** cant afford a new engine.

Car us not an old PD diesel or a truck

Driving on is a bad plan

The car I add the 2 stroke oil into is a AWX 1.9,so yes it's an old one. But other car is a 162 1.6 Octavia. It would have been abot 18 mths old at the time. Like wise, the trucks I added the kerosene to were pretty new ( at that time ) but the engines would not have been as hi-tec as they are at present, but neither were they " Bangers".....and they had very small milage, 70/90'000 klms, but none of them gave any problems afterwards. The Op has already driven between 100/120 Klms since he first discovered his mistake, so if there is damage,, then it's already done, and only time will tell.

Farfromhome02

jmreire wrote: »

The car I add the 2 stroke oil into is a AWX 1.9,so yes it's an old one. But other car is a 162 1.6 Octavia. It would have been abot 18 mths old at the time. Like wise, the trucks I added the kerosene to were pretty new ( at that time ) but the engines would not have been as hi-tec as they are at present, but neither were they " Bangers".....and they had very small milage, 70/90'000 klms, but none of them gave any problems afterwards. The Op has already driven between 100/120 Klms since he first discovered his mistake, so if there is damage,, then it's already done, and only time will tell.

I'd agree with that,damage if any is already done
Make your own choice
We only have suggestions
Ideal world drain it

jmreire

Farfromhome02 wrote: »

I'd agree with that,damage if any is already done
Make your own choice
We only have suggestions
Ideal world drain it

Thats about the size of it..the OP is in a bad situation. I hope that it will work out OK for him.

EPAndlee

Work with these engines everyday and get in at least two cars a week with petrol in them, drain the system and a new filter it should be grand. Seeing as you drove it for a good distance don't be surprised if you get injector trouble down the line

jmreire

EPAndlee wrote: »

Work with these engines everyday and get in at least two cars a week with petrol in them, drain the system and a new filter it should be grand. Seeing as you drove it for a good distance don't be surprised if you get injector trouble down the line

Its a surprising common problem....I ofter wondered how the hell can some one go and put the wrong fuel into their cars...the pump's are clearly marked...Petrol and Diesel... and then I went and did it myself..:mad:

Wildly Boaring

jmreire wrote: »

Its a surprising common problem....I ofter wondered how the hell can some one go and put the wrong fuel into their cars...the pump's are clearly marked...Petrol and Diesel... and then I went and did it myself..:mad:

Snap. Had €30 gone in when heart sank

jmreire

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Snap. Had €30 gone in when heart sank

Oh I know that feeling !!! and generally..the only person you will tell about it is the mechanic...no one likes to admit that they did something as stupid as putting the wrong fuel in their tank!!! :rolleyes:
But in this day and age of HiTec...you would think that it would be impossible to do it, but sadly, this is not the case....

EPAndlee

jmreire wrote: »

Its a surprising common problem....I ofter wondered how the hell can some one go and put the wrong fuel into their cars...the pump's are clearly marked...Petrol and Diesel... and then I went and did it myself..:mad:

I always assumed it was down to just not paying attention or just been used to having a petrol car

The Bishop Basher

jmreire wrote: »

Its a surprising common problem....I ofter wondered how the hell can some one go and put the wrong fuel into their cars...the pump's are clearly marked...Petrol and Diesel... and then I went and did it myself..:mad:

Also been that soldier..

Was trying out a second tank of the new Topaz diesel and somehow managed to brim it with unleaded.

To be fair the guy arrived within 30 mins and I was driving home an hour later, €120 and 2 full tanks of fuel lighter.

I won’t lie, I did spend a few minutes trying to figure out what I was going to do with 60 liters of unleaded but thought better of it in the end..

If you think it can’t happen to you, it can.

jmreire

EPAndlee wrote: »

I always assumed it was down to just not paying attention or just been used to having a petrol car

Yes that can be the case allright. Using a borowed car etc. But not in my case....Been driving diesels for years and years.. Then on one fill, with the tank only aboout 1/4 full, I pumped in about 20 ltrs of diesel, so far so good. Then I got my 400ml 2t bottle and emptied it into the tank. But when I pressed the trigger on the gun..it had shut down, so I had to pay for what I had put in the tank, and then start again with the filling...but I picked the wrong gun !!!:eek: 33 Ltrs... So in any case, it started up fine, and drove about 1 .5 Kls home, where it stopped about 150 mtrs from the house.. so I managed to coast it in the gate and parked it. Then having a sudden suspicion, I checked the two receipts...1st one, 20 Ltrs Diesel....2nd one, 33 Ltrs Petrol.. and thats when I joined the ranks of the petrol into diesel club....

Wildly Boaring

EPAndlee wrote: »

I always assumed it was down to just not paying attention or just been used to having a petrol car

Something like that

Used the same shop to fill Jerry can for site I was running.

Was filling can with petrol every second morning.


Years ago a friend was working for local shell station. Shell exec called in company Saab. Pretty new. Young fella told to fill it up..... brimmed it with petrol

T.m2018

Oh I agree 100% on this. But sadly funds are actually into the minus right now loans left right and centre 😌. I'm aware the massive risks I'm taking was just seeing if anyone in a similar situation managed to escape permanent damage after doing what I had done. I'm holding on to that little bit of hope and wishful thinking so fingers crossed. Light a candle for me this Christmas haha.

jmreire

T.m2018 wrote: »

Oh I agree 100% on this. But sadly funds are actually into the minus right now loans left right and centre ��. I'm aware the massive risks I'm taking was just seeing if anyone in a similar situation managed to escape permanent damage after doing what I had done. I'm holding on to that little bit of hope and wishful thinking so fingers crossed. Light a candle for me this Christmas haha.

You are not alone T.m2018...been there ( several times....:( ) and done that ( and more )
Good Luck with it.....keep us posted on how it works out, OK?

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you !!!:):):)

newmember2

Was used to filling the bike up with petrol. This day I was in the TDI Bora - working and stressed off my tits. Filled it up from empty and walking into the shop realised I'd left my wallet at home. Guy behind the counter wanted my phone which I was explaining I couldn't give him as I needed it for work, but that he had me on camera and my car reg and I'd be back with the money. He wasn't having any of this but eventually after much protest on his part, he had to accept there was nothing he could really do, so I left. Drove 100 yards up the road and the car conked out in the middle of a busy main road. Was wondering what was up with the car when it dawned on me, I'd filled the tank with petrol. Had to get it pumped and yer man get's a free full tank of petrol on top of his fee!
Was thankful getting the car back off him later though with €20 worth of diesel in it.

jmreire

Rennaws wrote: »

Also been that soldier..

Was trying out a second tank of the new Topaz diesel and somehow managed to brim it with unleaded.

To be fair the guy arrived within 30 mins and I was driving home an hour later, €120 and 2 full tanks of fuel lighter.

I won’t lie, I did spend a few minutes trying to figure out what I was going to do with 60 liters of unleaded but thought better of it in the end..

If you think it can’t happen to you, it can.

Yes, and in your case, to add insult to injury...the unleaded would have been contaminated with the diesel....not sure what you could do with that.

jmreire

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Something like that

Used the same shop to fill Jerry can for site I was running.

Was filling can with petrol every second morning.


Years ago a friend was working for local shell station. Shell exec called in company Saab. Pretty new. Young fella told to fill it up..... brimmed it with petrol

If you think that is bad, there is a video circulating on the net of a woman trying to put fuel into her EV........I just hope that any spillage around the charge point will have evaporated completely.....before they try to recharge it !!!

jmreire

newmember? wrote: »

Was used to filling the bike up with petrol. This day I was in the TDI Bora - working and stressed off my tits. Filled it up from empty and walking into the shop realised I'd left my wallet at home. Guy behind the counter wanted my phone which I was explaining I couldn't give him as I needed it for work, but that he had me on camera and my car reg and I'd be back with the money. He wasn't having any of this but eventually after much protest on his part, he had to accept there was nothing he could really do, so I left. Drove 100 yards up the road and the car conked out in the middle of a busy main road. Was wondering what was up with the car when it dawned on me, I'd filled the tank with petrol. Had to get it pumped and yer man get's a free full tank of petrol on top of his fee!
Was thankful getting the car back off him later though with €20 worth of diesel in it.

Was that a monday morning job, or maybe Fri 13th????

porsche boy

Just F.Y.I.

Diesel oil is a lubricant, petrol is the exact opposite. The lubricative qualities aids to operation of the fuel pump & injectors. Petrol can have a detrimental effect on seals within the fuel pump & injectors. The fact you have to spend 15 mins trying to start it suggests some damage has already been done.
If you have access to a Bluetooth EOBD reader I'd say you should keep on eye on the fuel rail pressure when this occurs. You may be loosing rail pressure from damaged seals in the fuel pump.