Petrol in my diesel car

Lizheen wrote: »

Yesterday evening, I put €20 of petrol in my diesel Fluence. Phoned a friend, was advised to fill it "to the gills" with diesel, and so I got €46 of diesel in.

Drove it around 25 miles to an event; then later 25 back.

Drove to a petrol station half a mile away and got another €5 of diesel into it today.

Am I still in danger? Should I take it to a garage on Monday? Am I likely to have done damage?

Thanks for any advice

What year and engine of car will help. Older cars can be more forgiving

The fill it to the gills idea works if you have put a couple of litres in it and the tank is empty doesn't work so well when you put 14 litres in it thats a strong ratio especially when you consider its a modern common rail diesel engine. I would be getting it drained now and hope you haven't damaged the high pressure pump or injectors driving it around. I certainly wouldn't be starting the engine again get one of the mobile crowds out.

Lizheen wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

Not assuming anyone has a crystal ball here but if I have damaged the injector, firstly, how will that problem manifest itself - or will a garage be able to check it over and know where things are at; and secondly - ballpark - what area are we talking about in terms of the repair bill?

The important thing is don’t start it anymore get it drained and fresh diesel put in and a new filter. Injector wise may take some time to manifest but you are talking about the engine running rough or and warning on the dash. Cost wise obviously would depend what exactly goes wrong.

Tbh too late now but never take any car advice of that friend as they must not have even the slightest clue anyone with even the tiny interest in car mechanics would know it’s madness to chance trying to dillute 20 euro worth of petrol even older diesels would struggle with that mix.

honda boi wrote: »

The mother in law put like €20 petrol in her 2003 1.9tdi Octavia.
Drove it a few km to my house and told us,I said your better off getting it drained.
She was like ahhh be grand and went back to the garage a few km away and filled it with diesel.
Car is still going strong today,no damage nothing this was over a year ago.
Damn Octavia's are hard to kill!!!
But I'd say in this 2011 car won't be so forgiving

The 1.9 TDi is old school technology so would be more tolerable to miss fueling. 1.5 dCi engine would be more modern and way less tolerable.

mikeecho wrote: »

Op, if there's damage done, there's damage done, cross that bridge if it comes.

In the mean time, you need to add some lubricant, some might recommend two stroke oil, but I would add lots of dipetane, and keep it topped up with diesel.

...hey . That's just me, others will disagree.

Petrol + lubricating oil doesnt equal diesel the op needs to cut their losses and get the tank drained. I get the point of the oil but modern diesels are so fussy trying to add oil to off set the petrol won’t end well.

I've done this in my 1.9tdi 2010 octavia. The car stopped within about 300metres. I had put in 25euro petrol and nothing else.
My gut feeling is that because only 1/5th of your fuel is petrol and the car has not stopped yet that you would get away with by keeping it topped with diesel.
However, the optimal thing to do is go to a mechanic and get it drained and get the fuel filter changed also.

We've an 11 reg Fluence, Mrs put petrol into not long after we bought it & drove it a few kilometres, don't drive it anymore, get it drained, new fuel filter, they are dear enough, fill it up with diesel, fingers crossed you'll be fine, we had no issues afterwards

mikeecho wrote: »

Fluency has a 67L tank
So 1L = 1.5%

Op put in €20 petrol, @ €1.459/l
That would be 13.7L (x 1.5) = 20%

So 1/5 of the tank was petrol, not a 1/3

The price of petrol now you'd be lucky to get the needle to stir for 20 Euro.

My father borrowed my car one day and rather delightedly said “ I put petrol in it for you”. Thinking he was being a wonderful daddy... I said “”ya mean diesel Dad”

We both went pale as we rang the local station to confirm it actually was petrol. He had a petrol car so simply didn’t think.

Luckily he wasn’t too generous and only put €20 in.
The tank was almost empty when the petrol went in, so we filled it to the gills with diesel (it took over €50), brought it down in drums.
Touch wood since. That was about a year ago.
Ten year, Old car, 2lr engine.

Augeo wrote: »

Get it to a garage by tow truck. Needs to be drained etc. I wouldn't run the engine & you've quite likely damaged it by now but might get away with it.

Your friend is clueless BTW.

For the love of Jehovah, don't be such a bloody drama queen as this. Get a tow truck to the garage.....!!!!!!!

The right thing to do is probably to drive it to the garage and get it drained of fuel and possibly change the filters too....... However, personally, I would just drive it away, you'll be grand.

But a tow truck to the garage....... Ah here........