Just filled my diesel with petrol

Duncan.F

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I only ran it for 20 seconds and then something made me realise and I turned off. I am hoping that its just a drain down and new fuel filter......

Dunc
 
Hmm!! I know your frustation. I did the same about 18 months ago. Filled my Audi A4 with about £12 of petrol. We should have been going up to the Lakes for a few days I was mithered after having my Grandson for 2 days, drove onto the petrol station green nozzle straight into the petrol filler and pulled the trigger only realised it was petrol after adding £12.....it was 3/4 full of diesel beforehand.
I drove it back home about 5minutes The short break got cancelled Audi towed it in, it cost me £230 + new pertrol filter then when I picked it up they recommended that I fill the tank up again to full with diesel another £80!!
It is easily done but now every time I go onto a petrol station I keep saying to myself diesel,diesel,diesel LOL ....except when I fill up my wifes car which is petrol!!
Dave
 
I've done this before on our fiesta tdci. put about £20 in before realising.
Went in and paid for petrol then filled to the brim with another £25 of deisel.

That was 3 months ago with no ill effect.

Roy
 
Depends how much you have put in the tank. A lot of the time you can top up with diesel, and keep topping up and your ok..........
 
It aint really rocket science is it.
All car manufacturers fit a round steering wheel as standard, all they got to do is fit a filler tube on the car which is a specific size which only accepts a specific sized nozzle :shrug:
 
Did mine last year!!! A diesel these days pressurises the fuel lines and prepares the car for starting as soon as you remotely unlock the doors (which is why you dont have to fire the glow plugs manually anymore).
Full tank of petrol, tow in, drain down, new filter and a new tankful of diesel, an expensive mistake, so far no damage to the engine/fuel system as far as I know.

Matt
 
It aint really rocket science is it.
All car manufacturers fit a round steering wheel as standard, all they got to do is fit a filler tube on the car which is a specific size which only accepts a specific sized nozzle :shrug:

Trouble is the lorries that exist/existed before we got loads of cars with diesl engines all have certain size filler and we (diesel drivers) have to live with that so changing the size would have massive implications.
You can get a device to fit to a cars inlet to prevent filling with petrol, about £100 but that is easily recouped if you dont fill with petrol, trouble is we all think about fitting it AFTER we have filled with petrol (once) :)
 
You used to be able to get away with it years ago when diesel engines were designed to run on anything remotely combustible, old land rovers were designed to be able to run on paraffin and engine oil in emergencies.

These days common rail diesels are made to such tight tolerances even a small amount of petrol going through the injector pump is enough for it to lose lubrication and cause damage.

If you switched off after 20 seconds that's unlikely to have happened so you should get away with it
 
Not long ago we had a customers BMW X5 with the same thing. He drove 5 miles. Cost him about £5k to put right. New injectors, pump etc...
You just don't switch the ignition on nowadays. Diesel pumps run with a very fine tolerance and the diesel lubricates them.Petrol acts as a solvent and does the opposite. (in simple terms)
Modern injectors average at about £200 + each nowadays. It can be an expensive exercise.
I hope all goes well for you.

Kev.
 
A while back the guy that services my car had a mercedes sprinter in, 12 months old, the guy had filled it with petrol and driven it until it stopped then realised what he'd done, had it all cleaned out, new filter and vroom it was fine.

next day he was on the M6 doing 80mph when the pump seized, I saw the engine and it was in bits, I was told the fuel pump stopped so suddenly it snapped the cambelt, pistons hit valves at 3000rpm and that was that, so it can be a very expensive mistake.
 
Good news of sorts.....Like me, I bet you dont do it again.
Dave
 
As above, good news in the end.......but in the meantime a little something to make you smile ;) :D
Linky
 
Last edited:
As above, good news in the end.......but in the meantime a little something to make you smile ;) :D
Linky


LOL, very good!! Reminds me of a camping trip with my 15 year old son. We had a camper van with a bed space over the driver, very shallow. I was woken by him turning over and hitting the roof followed by Oh Bo****s. 10 mins later another bang and '******! Another few minutes and another bang as he turned over Oh FF sake!!

All in his sleep, I was in stitches!

Dunc
 
Can you still get the light sensitive gizmos that stick inside the filler flap so when you open it, they say "Diesel, Diesel, Diesel" until the flap's sut again? I know I've seen stickers to remind you.
 
20 secs should be enough fuel in the line for it not to hurt. Take out the fuel filter and hope it doesnt smell of petrol

going to cost you a tank of fuel as its contaminated and a couple of gallons to flush

Think yourself lucky noticed that quickly
 
My ex's dad has made this error with his Porsche cayman. Me and him went for a quick speed around the country side, went to the closest station, put in some fuel. got half way back and he suddenly got quite angry as he realised he had put in the wrong one.
(cant remember whatsoever what fuel it was though)
 
I confess. I drive a diesel. Nasty dirty oily car! However 65mpg whilst giving it some stick and beats a few away from the lights..........

But never realised Porsche made a diesel other than in their 4x4 thingamajig!

What next - the Ferrari 430 Tdi?
 
Yes it was a full drain down and bleed. New fuel and a then a full tank of the right fuel. We haven't done many miles since but all seems well......so far

Dunc
 
Trouble is the lorries that exist/existed before we got loads of cars with diesl engines all have certain size filler and we (diesel drivers) have to live with that so changing the size would have massive implications.
You can get a device to fit to a cars inlet to prevent filling with petrol, about £100 but that is easily recouped if you dont fill with petrol, trouble is we all think about fitting it AFTER we have filled with petrol (once) :)

Well, they do it the other way around - the diesel nozzle won't fit into a (modern) petrol car.

Also, the current Mondeo TDCI has an anti-petrol device in the filler - something which was hailed as a big leap forward for the fleet and car rental markets (which are the main users of that type of vehicle).

It will come to all the others shortly I'd imagine too.
 
It aint really rocket science is it.
All car manufacturers fit a round steering wheel as standard, all they got to do is fit a filler tube on the car which is a specific size which only accepts a specific sized nozzle :shrug:

they do now

You used to be able to get away with it years ago when diesel engines were designed to run on anything remotely combustible, old land rovers were designed to be able to run on paraffin and engine oil in emergencies.

These days common rail diesels are made to such tight tolerances even a small amount of petrol going through the injector pump is enough for it to lose lubrication and cause damage.

If you switched off after 20 seconds that's unlikely to have happened so you should get away with it

the engines are were the same in series 2/3 landrovers, there was a list of components to change to convert one and it wasn't too hard to do
 
£70 plus VAT and fingers crossed......

Dunc

better than a guy i work with they charged him £400 and all they had done was half drain the tank and fill back up with diesel (this was a dealer). That was 2 years ago and he only got rid of the car about 3 months ago and it never had any problems
 
yup, very easily done - managed it twice now. First time was in my old TDI Golf, my first diesel and hadn't had very long at all. Realised while I was still filling up, was almost a full of petrol I'd put in, but at least I didn't even start it up. Got the car towed home, and with help of local AA guy (P.J. ;) ) got it pumped out. the petrol wasn't wasted though - used it in my 40 year old Cortina. Smoked a fair bit though :lol:

Second time round, I managed to do it the other way around. I'd borrowed the GFs TR4a, and had the old "I used to have one of those" disturbances as I picked up the nozzle. We run the TR on BP ultimate, and while I made sure I'd picked up the blue nozzle, I didn't double check that it was the light blue one (petrol) and not the dark blue one (deisel). DOH!!! Thankfully this time around I'd only put in 13 litres or so before I realised. Emptied the shelves of thier jerry cans, and pumped the fuel out myself before filling up with the proper nozzle. I must be very lucky, she doesn't mention it all that often :lol:
 
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