I’ve beat myself up plenty

[Seriously]

Long story short, put 7 liters petrol
In diesel tank ( yes I know all the reasons why this should not happen but sick kids In car etc... ) terrible mistake pulled forward ( I know) filled tank with diesel 65 liter tank. Drove the day felt scared though car was ok but nerves got me, drove to Nissan garage ( live in Switzerland) mechanic gave a wave and stated not a problem. We do this with our vehicles in winter. ( not the arctic ) I asked many question, nope don’t worry. Should I insist on drain, filter??? Or typical reply???

[GreenV8S]

Assuming the tank wasn't totally empty when you put the petrol in and only ran the initial petrol/diesel mix for a few seconds, I think the risk of damage is minimal. Topping up the rest of the tank with diesel solved the problem and I don't see any risk of further damage at that point.

If you did suffer any damage during those initial few seconds, the resulting swarf will have gone through the whole fuel system by now so you have nothing at all to lose by continuing to run it. I doubt you'll have a problem, but if you do it'll let you know eventually.

[Penelope Stopit]

Seriously said:

Long story short, put 7 liters petrol
In diesel tank ( yes I know all the reasons why this should not happen but sick kids In car etc... ) terrible mistake pulled forward ( I know) filled tank with diesel 65 liter tank. Drove the day felt scared though car was ok but nerves got me, drove to Nissan garage ( live in Switzerland) mechanic gave a wave and stated not a problem. We do this with our vehicles in winter. ( not the arctic ) I asked many question, nope don’t worry. Should I insist on drain, filter??? Or typical reply???

All should be good

You could now keep topping up the tank with diesel every 100 to 200 kilometers

[2gins]

As said above. 7 litres in a 60 L tank isn't a great deal and this will drop to virtually nothing as you run more derv through the system. You've had the all clear from the professionals for peace of mind.

Ignore the idiots, this place goes downhill

[Olas]

add a litre of tcw3 rated two-stroke oil to make up for the lubrication missing from the petrol you added, to protect pump&injectors.

fill the tank to the brim with diesel every time oyu go past a fu3l station as a means of diluting the petrol as much as possible.

[Seriously]

2gins said:

As said above. 7 litres in a 60 L tank isn't a great deal and this will drop to virtually nothing as you run more derv through the system. You've had the all clear from the professionals for peace of mind.

Ignore the idiots, this place goes downhill

Thanks for your genuine reply and kindness. My dad was a mechanic and normally I would have called him, but can’t do that anymore. As an expat car stuff is difficult to discuss in a language I barely know. So i was genuinely being a mechanics girl and looking for a genuine reply ( whether I liked it or not) so I expected the rude also... but thank you again 2gins

[ChampionRabbit]

As others have said, just keep topping it up with diesel as soon as the tank shows space to allow. Considering what passes for fuel in some of the poorer regions of the world, a bit of petrol in the diesel tank is highly unlikely to cause any issues really.
I work as a non-auto mechanic, and plenty of fairly happy diesel engines I encounter are running on filthy fuel.

[Seriously]

ChampionRabbit said:

As others have said, just keep topping it up with diesel as soon as the tank shows space to allow. Considering what passes for fuel in some of the poorer regions of the world, a bit of petrol in the diesel tank is highly unlikely to cause any issues really.
I work as a non-auto mechanic, and plenty of fairly happy diesel engines I encounter are running on filthy fuel.

Out of curiosity ( genuine question) what’s a non auto mechanic, I’ve never heard of this... I’m serious, not having go. I feel silly for not knowing.

[Seriously]

ChampionRabbit said:

As others have said, just keep topping it up with diesel as soon as the tank shows space to allow. Considering what passes for fuel in some of the poorer regions of the world, a bit of petrol in the diesel tank is highly unlikely to cause any issues really.
I work as a non-auto mechanic, and plenty of fairly happy diesel engines I encounter are running on filthy fuel.

[sunbeam alpine]

Seriously said:

ChampionRabbit said:

As others have said, just keep topping it up with diesel as soon as the tank shows space to allow. Considering what passes for fuel in some of the poorer regions of the world, a bit of petrol in the diesel tank is highly unlikely to cause any issues really.
I work as a non-auto mechanic, and plenty of fairly happy diesel engines I encounter are running on filthy fuel.

Out of curiosity ( genuine question) what’s a non auto mechanic, I’ve never heard of this... I’m serious, not having go. I feel silly for not knowing.

I would imagine that he works on diesel engines, but not in cars - maybe lorries, boats...

Just to reiterate - refill every chance you get - it will further dilute the petrol.

[E-bmw]

Mechanics work on many many things that aren't necessarily auto related.

Marine mechanics

Offshore oil & gas mechanics

Generation mechanics

etc. etc.

[Bill]

Ha! Amateur! I brimmed my motorhome from empty with petrol and then drove it down the autoroute until it died. That was not a great holiday...

[Smokehead]

Bill said:

Ha! Amateur! I brimmed my motorhome from empty with petrol and then drove it down the autoroute until it died. That was not a great holiday...

Did the same with my diesel Merc, brimmed with 99 and set off down the motorway. Was on the phone to Mercedes 5 minutes later. Expensive tank of petrol!

[Seriously]

Bill said:

Ha! Amateur! I brimmed my motorhome from empty with petrol and then drove it down the autoroute until it died. That was not a great holiday...

Ouch!

[Seriously]

sunbeam alpine said:

Seriously said:

ChampionRabbit said:

As others have said, just keep topping it up with diesel as soon as the tank shows space to allow. Considering what passes for fuel in some of the poorer regions of the world, a bit of petrol in the diesel tank is highly unlikely to cause any issues really.
I work as a non-auto mechanic, and plenty of fairly happy diesel engines I encounter are running on filthy fuel.

Out of curiosity ( genuine question) what’s a non auto mechanic, I’ve never heard of this... I’m serious, not having go. I feel silly for not knowing.

I would imagine that he works on diesel engines, but not in cars - maybe lorries, boats...

Just to reiterate - refill every chance you get - it will further dilute the petrol.

Oh right of course. I wish more kids ( tea here here) would go into these areas just now.

[Bill]

Smokehead said:

Did the same with my diesel Merc, brimmed with 99 and set off down the motorway. Was on the phone to Mercedes 5 minutes later. Expensive tank of petrol!

And now I get reminded every fill up when the kids all shout "DIESEL DADDY!!"

[Hereward]

In the US the diesel nozzles are Green and the gasoline nozzles are Black.

[Seriously]

May be helpful to know...So the first few weeks after I did this I had unbelievable gas mileage, took forever to run it down a bit. I did continue to brim it up every few days. It’s been two months and today it wouldn’t start. We jumped it with cables and it started so hopefully just a battery issue. Can’t get to shop anyway compliments of corona virus. Will update again as this may be helpful to someone out there.

[VanDiesel99]

I'm reminded of this, discovered in the Netherlands in approx 2009.

What a good idea, still not infallible, but a simple measure which I'm sure has made many 'think' and avoid mis-fuelling.

I only ever saw the system this once (apologies for rubbish pic) and have never seen it since having visited NL a number of times.

We favour Harwich to Hook of Holland by the way, far preferable for us to Dover/Dunkerque.

[Seriously]

So continuing .... the car is now having chassis system control fault errors and not starting... no idea if related...