Put petrol in diesel car - HELP!!

[XDA]

Hope this is the right place. Mods, please move if not.

My mum has just put £30 of petrol in a 2002 Ford Focus TDCI!

She has driven the car about 4-5 miles home before realising it said petrol on the receipt, after the car started coughing and spluttering....

There was about a quater of a tank of diesel left in the car when she filled up.

Whats the chances of serious and expensive damage? Im aware of the damage petrol does to the main components within the fuel system (pipes, pump lines etc)

Is it a drain it and re-fill it with diesel with fingers and toes crossed option, or is it a garage job?

I dont need any smart arse answers, as my mum currently has alot of personal stuff playing on her mind at the min.

Cheers

[Mr Gear]

http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[P666bhp]

Few tdci transits have had the same done to them at work,just drain and refil with derv.
It's all we do, seems to work ok.
Perhaps try a redex diesel treatment in it??

[RobCrezz]

Dont run it any more.

Drain the tank.

Fill it up with Diesel. Hopefully she has only shortened its life rather than broken anything.

[XDA]

Mr Gear said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Cheers mate - should have did the search myself. Minds in a mess over the car situation.

P666bhp said:

Few tdci transits have had the same done to them at work,just drain and refil with derv.
It's all we do, seems to work ok.
Perhaps try a redex diesel treatment in it??

May drain it, replace the fuel filter and run some redex throught it. Cheers for that.

[bennyboydurham]

I put about £3 of petrol in my diesel 7 series. Thankfully the 7 tank is massive so I just brimmed it up with £95 of Tesco's finest diesel and crossed my fingers. The mix was probably 3l of petrol to 80l of diesel. That was probably 7 months and 15k ago....

[XDA]

RobCrezz said:

Dont run it any more.

Drain the tank.

Fill it up with Diesel. Hopefully she has only shortened its life rather than broken anything.

I have told her not to start it up again. Will drain and see what happens.

Cheers!

[XDA]

Guys - what would you suggest the best thing to do with the petrol once its out of the car? Its mixed with diesel so it wouldnt be wise to put it into one of the petrol cars we have?? All suggestions welcome! Also - can anyone recommend a pumping device to extract the petrol? Thanks.

[Police State]

XDA said:

Guys - what would you suggest the best thing to do with the petrol once its out of the car? Its mixed with diesel so it wouldnt be wise to put it into one of the petrol cars we have?? All suggestions welcome! Also - can anyone recommend a pumping device to extract the petrol? Thanks.

[Seez]

Police State said:

XDA said:

Guys - what would you suggest the best thing to do with the petrol once its out of the car? Its mixed with diesel so it wouldnt be wise to put it into one of the petrol cars we have?? All suggestions welcome! Also - can anyone recommend a pumping device to extract the petrol? Thanks.

+1 above and maybe you can wipe out a speed camera or two with it, or even the town hall, who knows go nuts!

[Dr.Doofenshmirtz]

If you're lucky, the fuel sender will be under the rear seat. Take the seat out, remove the sender and just syphon.
Not sure about what to do with the petrol/diesel mix - would be fine in an old car without a catalytic converter...but not sure if it'd damage a modern car's cat and lambda sensor?

[Jonny671]

eazyrider said:

I have Solodiesel and I must say I'm very pleased with it. Me and my wife both misfuelled on our previous diesel vehicle, so we decided that we need protection for our new car Check their website, you won't be sorry (Mods please delete the link if I'm violating any forum rules)

http://www.solodiesel.eu/

Are you sure you don't work for/own Solodiesel?

1st post, promoting?