wrong fuel n car, can i use the in tank pump to move it out?

[johnjohn10]

hello, so yes i put the wrong fuel in my 2008 2 litre tdci galaxy and drove for a bout a mile then it stalled. the tank was nearly empty i put 27 litres of petrol in. i can do a bit of automotive work and have figured out i need to get the fuel out of the tank the hoses the filter and filter housing, i dont want to take the seats out and go through the top of the tank if i can avoid it, so can i use the in tank pump to move the fuel out by disconnecting the fuel feed line at the filter and draining into a can or would the lack of lubricant because its petrol in a deisel car damage the in tank pump? ive seen a couple of people doing this online and been told that the pump would be ok but im not certain and would like to be certain as i dont want to break the pump. also if it is the case that the lack of lubricity would damage the in tank fuel pump, would me adding the appropriate amount of self mixing 2 stroke oil to the petrol that is in the tank before moving it through the pump and out the hose be a good plan? also does anyone know where the in tank fuel pump relay is so i can bypass it?

thank you.

Edited by johnjohn10 on Wednesday 9th December 12:09

[dapper]

There is a good video from Chris Fix about this area of things. Might be worth a watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRM-n15tuXs

[GreenV8S]

Can you drain any via the filler?

I think the main risk is to the diesel injection pump so using the in-tank lifter pump seems a safe way to drainto me. However, if you've already run it until it stalled then you may well have damaged the injector pump by now, in which case you could be facing expensive repairs. Draining and refilling the tank and trying to start the engine risks making that damage much worse. If that was me I'd close the doors and get it recovered to somebody familiar with fixing petrol-in-diesel problems. That's your best bet to minimise the final repair bill.

[johnjohn10]

Figured out this model doesn't have a in tank pump, took the fuel feed to filter off and turned key to see how much woukd come out to prime engine, nothing. Also another guy told me he doesn't think this model has in tank pump. I think no fuel out when key to on position verifies this. How does the engine draw the fuel? Draws when engine cranked?

[GreenV8S]

I don't know anything about that car, but there are people selling in-tank fuel pumps for that model on ebay, so it seems to me you may well have one. I still don't think that using it will solve your problem.

[johnjohn10]

What about drawing the fuel up through the feed line at the filter by connecting a manual fuel transfer pump tightly to the hose? Would there be any thing stopping to flow from the tank?

[johnjohn10]

Yes I e seen those too but I think it's a different variant, if you get real specific 08 2.0 tdci the pump disappears and its just a sender unit.

[johnjohn10]

And no fuel was fed when I turnes the key to on.

[Gary C]

johnjohn10 said:

And no fuel was fed when I turnes the key to on.

Because the pump is already dead from pumping petrol ?

[johnjohn10]

Here's a link with stories of the exact same circumstances and no long term damage, I've seen this repeated in several different threads.

https://www.kevblog.co.uk/i-put-petrol-in-my-diese...

[300bhp/ton]

Gary C said:

johnjohn10 said:

And no fuel was fed when I turnes the key to on.

Because the pump is already dead from pumping petrol ?

Highly doubtful. As in lottery winning chances doubtful - IMO

[johnjohn10]

300bhp/ton said:

Gary C said:

johnjohn10 said:

And no fuel was fed when I turnes the key to on.

Because the pump is already dead from pumping petrol ?

Highly doubtful. As in lottery winning chances doubtful - IMO

Yes would have been very little petrol pumped a liter or so maybe the engine stalled right away as soon as the residual deisel in the lines and filter housing was used up.

[johnjohn10]

What about my idea of drawing the fuel up manually with a transfer pump? Would there be anything stopping it moving?

[GreenV8S]

johnjohn10 said:

What about my idea of drawing the fuel up manually with a transfer pump? Would there be anything stopping it moving?

How high is the filter? Unless it's above the fuel level, I'd have thought fuel would simply drain out when you disconnected the line. If there's no pump in the way there would be nothing stopping you from pumping the petrol out via the fuel line using an external pump, assuming you can get the pump to prime. By the same token, you may well be able to siphon it out via the filler.

[Penelope Stopit]

GreenV8S said:

johnjohn10 said:

What about my idea of drawing the fuel up manually with a transfer pump? Would there be anything stopping it moving?

How high is the filter? Unless it's above the fuel level, I'd have thought fuel would simply drain out when you disconnected the line. If there's no pump in the way there would be nothing stopping you from pumping the petrol out via the fuel line using an external pump, assuming you can get the pump to prime. By the same token, you may well be able to siphon it out via the filler.

This

Siphon as much as you can out and fill it to the brim with the correct fuel, a little petrol will do no harm

Keep brimming it with the correct fuel over the next several trips whenever you are near a filling station

[GreenV8S]

Penelope Stopit said:

a little petrol will do no harm

True, but it isn't the petrol that does the harm. It's the metal swarf that was produced by running neat petrol through the injection system until the engine stalled.

[sherman]

Phone the aa or rac they literally have vans of kit for this exact problem.

[bungz]

There is certainly no lifter pump in the tank of a 1.8 tdci version of the Mk4.

Your best bet would be to take the feed off the fuel filter and use some sort of pump that creates vacum

https://www.screwfix.com/p/hilka-pro-craft-multi-p...

That might take a while but would imagine would work well enough.

Id try prime all the rails with diesel too when you prime the new fuel filter.

A few spare liters in the tank with a full tank of diesel wouldn't be a problem.

[johnjohn10]

The fuel came up through line at the filter with a hand pump perfectly, it worked great! 30 liters pumped out. The tanks empty lines are clear. I have to get the filter housing top off needed a new 27mm socket will get it today, new filter also, fill it all with diesel and draw the fuel up and bleed it with the hand pump attached to the fuel return line. Then yeah hopefully no swarf, I know there's a risk, but I've now read many people with exact same circumstances with no long term damage, so maybe not 100 percent always swarf? The car really just stalled instantly there was no rough running went from fine to off that quickly so I don't think it even ran on petrol at all, I did crank it a few times before realising what I had done, not much though. Well here's hoping. Will let you all know later, thank you for the input.

Edited by johnjohn10 on Thursday 10th December 13:49

[johnjohn10]

sherman said:

Phone the aa or rac they literally have vans of kit for this exact problem.

Aa won't help you, was my first call, health and safety. They tow you or refer you to a wrong fuel specialist.