Petrol in diesel fuel tank - what should I do?
Discussion
t in t'carb. Oh back here again after seeking advice from the internet. I've just inherited 10 gallons of mixed petrol and diesel from a customer of a friend who put diesel in their petrol car (huge Ford Galaxy). Rather than let it go to waste, I'm going to put it in my diesel 306 snotter. We think that he added £50 worth of V-Power diesel thinking it was V-Power petrol. We think he only had a few dribbles left but in that tank???
That's a lot of "we thinks". I will update you on theblown engine result 
Bet you didn't see that coming
That's a lot of "we thinks". I will update you on the
Bet you didn't see that coming
LordFlathead said:
Oh back here again after seeking advice from the internet. I've just inherited 10 gallons of mixed petrol and diesel from a customer of a friend who put diesel in their petrol car (huge Ford Galaxy). Rather than let it go to waste, I'm going to put it in my diesel 306 snotter. We think that he added £50 worth of V-Power diesel thinking it was V-Power petrol. We think he only had a few dribbles left but in that tank???
That's a lot of "we thinks". I will update you on theblown engine result
Bet you didn't see that coming
That sound like 90% petrol to me, I'd rather put it in an old petrol car than a diesel. That's a lot of "we thinks". I will update you on the
Bet you didn't see that coming
Its your car though and we will all benefit from your experience.
Well that was interesting
Stuck a gerry can in which = 5 gallons / 20 litres.
Got about a mile down the road and the car started to make good of the name kangaroo juice
A little later and there was no boost. Feeling a little fragile I stopped at the last set of lights before entering the M4 for Maidenhead. Utterly not expecting the military quality smoke cloak that encompassed the four lane dual carriageway. I think the light went green but unable to see for sure I started to move forward using better judgement and 'the force'. The car was somewhat unresponsive and after I had buried the pedal in the carpet realised that the problem was not minor at all. Power had diminished from what was a fun affair to that of a 3 cylinder Mini with blown rings. Naturally I was in the outside lane and forever popular as I was undertaken by electric Milk-floats, peds and a gaggle of Pious's all set for the airport. At the next set of lights (on the roundabout before the motorway) I plucked up courage and revved the nuts out of it with the understanding that it would either get on with it or explode... sadly it did nether and just rattled up the sliproad onto the M4, flat out at to the tune of 68mph. I managed to venture into the middle lane at one point but there was no point in 'going for it' as the amount of smoke being ejected was so dense that there may not even be a road regarding the view from the motorists behind me.
I managed to make it to Maidenhead and Chugaboom crawled into a petrol station. I had a dilemma: do I stop the engine and hope for a restart or just leave it running? Given that the engine was totally unresponsive I opted for the latter. Stuck £20 in the tank and then proceeded to pay but sadly on entering the shop the cashier was on stock-taking duties. I mentioned my urgency and gave my excuses and a few seconds later I was outside en-route to Chugaboom. Sadly I was too late and she had died. I ogled at the fuel guage which looked a tad optimistic after my cheap fill up then cranked the key of chance hoping for a start. After about 4 glowplug restarts, it started to breath but did not let me rev more than 1500rpm's. I turned it off and waited a few mintues then caned the arse out of it and it ran a lot better (but no-way right!).
On the way home I added another 20 liters of diesel and only just now is my performance coming back again. It is far from correct but I don't care. I've got my car back again.
If someone offers you cheap derv because it has been contaminated with diesel, walk away. If your engine survives it your nerves won't.
Personally I would rather deep-fry my testicles in burning oil than try and save a few quid using contaminated fuel
Stuck a gerry can in which = 5 gallons / 20 litres.
Got about a mile down the road and the car started to make good of the name kangaroo juice
A little later and there was no boost. Feeling a little fragile I stopped at the last set of lights before entering the M4 for Maidenhead. Utterly not expecting the military quality smoke cloak that encompassed the four lane dual carriageway. I think the light went green but unable to see for sure I started to move forward using better judgement and 'the force'. The car was somewhat unresponsive and after I had buried the pedal in the carpet realised that the problem was not minor at all. Power had diminished from what was a fun affair to that of a 3 cylinder Mini with blown rings. Naturally I was in the outside lane and forever popular as I was undertaken by electric Milk-floats, peds and a gaggle of Pious's all set for the airport. At the next set of lights (on the roundabout before the motorway) I plucked up courage and revved the nuts out of it with the understanding that it would either get on with it or explode... sadly it did nether and just rattled up the sliproad onto the M4, flat out at to the tune of 68mph. I managed to venture into the middle lane at one point but there was no point in 'going for it' as the amount of smoke being ejected was so dense that there may not even be a road regarding the view from the motorists behind me.
I managed to make it to Maidenhead and Chugaboom crawled into a petrol station. I had a dilemma: do I stop the engine and hope for a restart or just leave it running? Given that the engine was totally unresponsive I opted for the latter. Stuck £20 in the tank and then proceeded to pay but sadly on entering the shop the cashier was on stock-taking duties. I mentioned my urgency and gave my excuses and a few seconds later I was outside en-route to Chugaboom. Sadly I was too late and she had died. I ogled at the fuel guage which looked a tad optimistic after my cheap fill up then cranked the key of chance hoping for a start. After about 4 glowplug restarts, it started to breath but did not let me rev more than 1500rpm's. I turned it off and waited a few mintues then caned the arse out of it and it ran a lot better (but no-way right!).
On the way home I added another 20 liters of diesel and only just now is my performance coming back again. It is far from correct but I don't care. I've got my car back again.
If someone offers you cheap derv because it has been contaminated with diesel, walk away. If your engine survives it your nerves won't.
Personally I would rather deep-fry my testicles in burning oil than try and save a few quid using contaminated fuel
Hi there.
This morning I rather absent mindedly put about 0.06 litres (thats 60ml) of petrol (8 pence!) into an empty Passat tank. Luckily I came to my senses rather quickly! I remembered being told diluting it works so I immediately filled the rest with diesel, nearly 70 litres.
I was also told by a friend to stick some Redex diesel in, since it has lubricating properties that would help counter the fact petrol does not lubricate the injectors, so promptly did this.
I was still a bit worried so took to the net and found some mixed results from varying sources and amounts of petrol put in, and also found that on newer engines it can be catastrophic - my car is a 2009 Bluemotion TDi.
Should I really be worried with such a tiny amount of petrol? It comes to like 0.085% of the tank contents if a friend worked it out right!
thanks.
This morning I rather absent mindedly put about 0.06 litres (thats 60ml) of petrol (8 pence!) into an empty Passat tank. Luckily I came to my senses rather quickly! I remembered being told diluting it works so I immediately filled the rest with diesel, nearly 70 litres.
I was also told by a friend to stick some Redex diesel in, since it has lubricating properties that would help counter the fact petrol does not lubricate the injectors, so promptly did this.
I was still a bit worried so took to the net and found some mixed results from varying sources and amounts of petrol put in, and also found that on newer engines it can be catastrophic - my car is a 2009 Bluemotion TDi.
Should I really be worried with such a tiny amount of petrol? It comes to like 0.085% of the tank contents if a friend worked it out right!
thanks.
bornacorn said:
Hi there.
This morning I rather absent mindedly put about 0.06 litres (thats 60ml) of petrol (8 pence!) into an empty Passat tank. Luckily I came to my senses rather quickly! I remembered being told diluting it works so I immediately filled the rest with diesel, nearly 70 litres.
I was also told by a friend to stick some Redex diesel in, since it has lubricating properties that would help counter the fact petrol does not lubricate the injectors, so promptly did this.
I was still a bit worried so took to the net and found some mixed results from varying sources and amounts of petrol put in, and also found that on newer engines it can be catastrophic - my car is a 2009 Bluemotion TDi.
Should I really be worried with such a tiny amount of petrol? It comes to like 0.085% of the tank contents if a friend worked it out right!
thanks.
You have nothing to worry about.This morning I rather absent mindedly put about 0.06 litres (thats 60ml) of petrol (8 pence!) into an empty Passat tank. Luckily I came to my senses rather quickly! I remembered being told diluting it works so I immediately filled the rest with diesel, nearly 70 litres.
I was also told by a friend to stick some Redex diesel in, since it has lubricating properties that would help counter the fact petrol does not lubricate the injectors, so promptly did this.
I was still a bit worried so took to the net and found some mixed results from varying sources and amounts of petrol put in, and also found that on newer engines it can be catastrophic - my car is a 2009 Bluemotion TDi.
Should I really be worried with such a tiny amount of petrol? It comes to like 0.085% of the tank contents if a friend worked it out right!
thanks.
bornacorn said:
Hi there.
This morning I rather absent mindedly put about 0.06 litres (thats 60ml) of petrol (8 pence!) into an empty Passat tank. Luckily I came to my senses rather quickly! I remembered being told diluting it works so I immediately filled the rest with diesel, nearly 70 litres.
I was also told by a friend to stick some Redex diesel in, since it has lubricating properties that would help counter the fact petrol does not lubricate the injectors, so promptly did this.
I was still a bit worried so took to the net and found some mixed results from varying sources and amounts of petrol put in, and also found that on newer engines it can be catastrophic - my car is a 2009 Bluemotion TDi.
Should I really be worried with such a tiny amount of petrol? It comes to like 0.085% of the tank contents if a friend worked it out right!
thanks.
Over at the Type Accord forum "we" swear by adding 2 stroke pre-mix into the diesel. Lubricates those expensive diesel parts, that need lubricating, and makes the engine run much smoother. This morning I rather absent mindedly put about 0.06 litres (thats 60ml) of petrol (8 pence!) into an empty Passat tank. Luckily I came to my senses rather quickly! I remembered being told diluting it works so I immediately filled the rest with diesel, nearly 70 litres.
I was also told by a friend to stick some Redex diesel in, since it has lubricating properties that would help counter the fact petrol does not lubricate the injectors, so promptly did this.
I was still a bit worried so took to the net and found some mixed results from varying sources and amounts of petrol put in, and also found that on newer engines it can be catastrophic - my car is a 2009 Bluemotion TDi.
Should I really be worried with such a tiny amount of petrol? It comes to like 0.085% of the tank contents if a friend worked it out right!
thanks.
I actually do have Professional Liability Insurance, to the tune of £1 Million, but as you ain't paying me for my advice, I'm not offering any opinion other than to say that 8p of fuel in a tank that takes £80 plus quid sounds like 0.1% which is fairly close to 0.085%, so your friend is in the right ball park.
If I were you, I'd add a whole bottle of 2 stroke pre-mix, and I'd fill by jerry can with the expensive diesel, and after 50 miles add a litre of fuel, and every 50 miles for a 500 miles, then I'd run it to 1/2 full, and keep filling up with the expensive diesel and a little 2 stroke. That's what I'd do, but only you can say what you'd do.
Dawg said:
I've just put £3 worth of petrol into the absolutely empty tank of my GF's 07 yaris. Quickly changed pumps and filled it to the top with £50 Diesel. I'm trying the diluting technique - do I need to do anything else? Guy at the petrol station reckoned it'd be fine..
No need to do anything else, it'll be fine.I recently put a FULL TANK of petrol in to one of my diesels.
- Ultra annoying as I was in a BP, noticed the price of super-undleaded then "opted" for the cheaper regular unleaded. LOL....
Anyhow, drove out of the petrol station... 3 miles later felt a *very* slight missfire at around 80 ish. Backed off to see if I could repeat it ...and it did. Then I consciously realised what I had done.
No mobile phone battery, pitch black night on a very busy dual carriage way. Choice was to stop or to crawl along. Thinking of the walk I'd have had if I'd have stopped, opted to crawl. Made it around another 2 miles where I pulled off on the next slip, and found a pub car park which the car inched in to, just.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Broken down... but at a pub. Bonus Ended up leaving the car there for over a week!
AA were useless. (Also rude and to be honest quite aggressive - I gave them the suitable feedback)
- They wanted £200+VAT to drain and re-fill at the roadside.
They'd also only tow me to the nearest garage as it was "my fault" - and not being the sort to let just any grease monkey loose on my cars, politely declined.
Green Flag collected promptly and flat bed to a Local garage (Slightly over their mile allowance but that was no bother nor did it even incur extra cost - the bloke was a petrol head too which always helps). Local garage drained, flushed and refilled for £99.
Good as new.
G.
- Ultra annoying as I was in a BP, noticed the price of super-undleaded then "opted" for the cheaper regular unleaded. LOL....
Anyhow, drove out of the petrol station... 3 miles later felt a *very* slight missfire at around 80 ish. Backed off to see if I could repeat it ...and it did. Then I consciously realised what I had done.
No mobile phone battery, pitch black night on a very busy dual carriage way. Choice was to stop or to crawl along. Thinking of the walk I'd have had if I'd have stopped, opted to crawl. Made it around another 2 miles where I pulled off on the next slip, and found a pub car park which the car inched in to, just.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Broken down... but at a pub. Bonus
Ended up leaving the car there for over a week!AA were useless. (Also rude and to be honest quite aggressive - I gave them the suitable feedback)
- They wanted £200+VAT to drain and re-fill at the roadside.
They'd also only tow me to the nearest garage as it was "my fault" - and not being the sort to let just any grease monkey loose on my cars, politely declined.
Green Flag collected promptly and flat bed to a Local garage (Slightly over their mile allowance but that was no bother nor did it even incur extra cost - the bloke was a petrol head too which always helps). Local garage drained, flushed and refilled for £99.
Good as new.
G.
Observer said:
I stupidly picked up the wrong fuel hose filling my Merc turbo-diesel this morning. Put in 4.5 litres petrol (65 litre tank) before I realised the mistake. I then topped off the tank with diesel and have driven home approx. 3 miles. What should I do now?
Am I right in thinking the petrol will float on top of the diesel and that the fuel pump will draw reasonably clean diesel from the bottom of the tank as long as there is plenty of fuel?
Will the petrol slowly mix with the diesel or do I need to take the car to have the tank emptied or similar?
If so, would it be OK to drive or do I need a transporter?
The car has 115 thousand miles on the clock so I don't have to worry about invalidating a warranty. I just want the easiest and cheapest solution.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
I have to admit I recently done the above mistake in my Audi 2.5tdi V6, I luckily realised before starting the engine and I used a company that came to my location and drained the fuel there for me and reassured me with some great information.. I thought I'd post as they have some great guides for petrol in a diesel misfuelling situations and for diesel in a petrol... If you're worried about your vehicle after putting in the wrong fuel.Am I right in thinking the petrol will float on top of the diesel and that the fuel pump will draw reasonably clean diesel from the bottom of the tank as long as there is plenty of fuel?
Will the petrol slowly mix with the diesel or do I need to take the car to have the tank emptied or similar?
If so, would it be OK to drive or do I need a transporter?
The car has 115 thousand miles on the clock so I don't have to worry about invalidating a warranty. I just want the easiest and cheapest solution.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
s p a c e m a n said:
Petrol burns from a naked flame but diesel is much harder to ignite and requires a much higher temperature, so throw a match into your fuel tank and just the petrol will burn off leaving the diesel behind.
Probably safer to find a Russian tramp and a length of hose and let him drink until he hits the diesel. Many moons ago my wife filled her pug 206 right to the neck from near enough empty with petrol. Only realised when the car spluttered and then promptly died. Mr AA was called and drained the tank, popped some diesel in and she took a fair bit of starting but eventually coughed into life. He advised immediately filling right up and to keep the tank full as diesels apparently have no breathers to get rid of vapour (not sure about this, I'm no mechanic) and apart from diluting the petrol residue it would push all of the petrol vapour out.
The car was noisy for about 20 miles but then returned to normal and she ran it for another 2 years without a problem.
She was very lucky, it really can do massive amounts of damage.
The car was noisy for about 20 miles but then returned to normal and she ran it for another 2 years without a problem.
She was very lucky, it really can do massive amounts of damage.
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