Petrol in Diesel Car
Discussion
I had about 56 miles of diesel left in my 2014 Vauxhall Mokka and stupidly picked up the petrol nozzle (not concentrating) and topped it up to 169 miles with petrol before I realised it was petrol and stopped filling. I managed to drive the 4 miles home ok. I know I shouldn’t have driven it but I desperately needed to get back to my kid. Should I get a fuel drain? Top it up with diesel? Is this my car ruined? Any help appreciated!
hkt2024 said:
I had about 56 miles of diesel left in my 2014 Vauxhall Mokka and stupidly picked up the petrol nozzle (not concentrating) and topped it up to 169 miles with petrol before I realised it was petrol and stopped filling. I managed to drive the 4 miles home ok. I know I shouldn’t have driven it but I desperately needed to get back to my kid. Should I get a fuel drain? Top it up with diesel? Is this my car ruined? Any help appreciated!
Advice from experience. A few years ago my wife put £30 of petrol in our then 2015 Insignia diesel. She brimmed it with diesel ASAP, and never experienced any later issue. Just what happened to her, YMMV.Bold edited, for fat fingers.
Edited by Fermit on Thursday 23 May 19:26
Fermit said:
hkt2024 said:
I had about 56 miles of diesel left in my 2014 Vauxhall Mokka and stupidly picked up the petrol nozzle (not concentrating) and topped it up to 169 miles with petrol before I realised it was petrol and stopped filling. I managed to drive the 4 miles home ok. I know I shouldn’t have driven it but I desperately needed to get back to my kid. Should I get a fuel drain? Top it up with diesel? Is this my car ruined? Any help appreciated!
Advice from experience. A few years ago my wife put £30 of petrol in our then 2015 Insignia diesel. She brimmed it with petrol ASAP, and never experienced any later issue. Just what happened to her, YMMV.
OP - This is what I would do - get a friend to drive you to get diesel (don't drive the car any further) and fill it with diesel. Then when the tank is about 3/4 full refuel again with diesel. Each time you do this the petrol will be diluted and hopefully you won't have any damage.
Years ago people would add a small amount of petrom to diesel in the winter to prevent the diesel becoming waxy.
ks! Petrol, yes, that's what I meant.Even if you top up fully with Diesel it will be something like 40/50% petrol mixture so i'd be inclined to get it drained, whether you, with or without the help of a mechanically minded, friend can manage this only you know.
The fuel is basically useless for you now, but said friend might be able to make use of it (gradually adding the mix to a petrol car a few litres every refill) so worth his time helping you out here.
Preferably don't drive it to the fuel station until there's more Diesel percentage in the tank than presently.
The fuel is basically useless for you now, but said friend might be able to make use of it (gradually adding the mix to a petrol car a few litres every refill) so worth his time helping you out here.
Preferably don't drive it to the fuel station until there's more Diesel percentage in the tank than presently.
Previous gen Vauxhalls it was quite easy to get to the fuel, under the rear seat (usually) is a plastic cover which just clips off, directly under that opening resides the sender unit, might be half a dozen screw bolts (8mm socket) or instead a large taper ring which you tap round or use a suitable large pair of grips to undo and the sender lifts up enough to get a syphon pipe in without disconnecting anything.
Can't help with later models but hopefully are of similar design.
The sender will have a large O ring seal, thanks to the petrol vapours it will probably now be bone dry, to get the sender reseated easily a wipe of spit on the O ring usually does the trick.
Can't help with later models but hopefully are of similar design.
The sender will have a large O ring seal, thanks to the petrol vapours it will probably now be bone dry, to get the sender reseated easily a wipe of spit on the O ring usually does the trick.
Terminator X said:
I put diesel in my petrol
That way round is far less problematic. It may cause the engine to run badly (or not at all) until the fuel is replaced, but is unlikely to do any expensive damage.Petrol in a diesel car can destroy the high pressure fuel pump, circulating metal swarf through the rest of the fuel system and requiring every single component to be replaced. It can easily cost thousands of pounds to repair.
GreenV8S said:
Terminator X said:
I put diesel in my petrol
That way round is far less problematic. It may cause the engine to run badly (or not at all) until the fuel is replaced, but is unlikely to do any expensive damage.Petrol in a diesel car can destroy the high pressure fuel pump, circulating metal swarf through the rest of the fuel system and requiring every single component to be replaced. It can easily cost thousands of pounds to repair.
Furthermore, more recent cars have a restrictor that even stops putting a (narrow) petrol nozzle into (wider) diesel filler neck.
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