Oh Lord, diesel into a petrol car...

[Matt UK]

Yup, I got that phone call and hence find myself starting this thread...

Car is a petrol V6.
The tank was empty and she put in £20 diesel. Drives off and conks out a mile further and calls me.

I tow her back to the garage and put in £60 SUL.
After 10 mins trying the engine finally catches, belches out some smoke and after 10 mins rough idle settles down.
I drove it 20 miles home and it seems OK.

Now I'm hoping the ECU just thinks it's a batch of rubbish petrol and over the next few tank fulls it will dilute to nothing.

What do we think?

[Defcon5]

What is the car? As you say, it should be ok. May be worth changing the fuel filter, and keep it on SUL for a while to clean the injectors

[gog440]

Sorry to say this but i think you should have got it back to the garage and had the tank drained, lines flushed through and all the fuel filters replaced, by running it you could have done some major damage

[davethebunny]

gog440 said:

Sorry to say this but i think you should have got it back to the garage and had the tank drained, lines flushed through and all the fuel filters replaced, by running it you could have done some major damage

How?

Not like petrol into diesel which may* bugger the pump.

• not in my experience.

[Stu R]

Chances are it'll be fine, but it could take a while and some engines / fuel and ignition systems are more sensitive to it than others.

Could be worth swapping the fuel filter for a new one too, keep the tank absolutely brimmed for a while.

I very much doubt any permanent damage has been done, it's petrol into diesel which has the higher potential for smashing your bank balance to bits.

Edited by Stu R on Saturday 27th November 15:44

[Small Car]

Mrs put diesel in an 04 A4 2.0 FSI once. About a gallon in an empty tank. The car stopped. We topped it up with unleaded. After three battery charges of starting we got it running and has never missed a beat since. Thank lordy.

[davethebunny]

how long has it been since petrol cars have had the little hole so you can't get the diesel nozzle in btw?

[Small Car]

Little hole won't stop the wifey getting a can of spare DIESEL in to it. Even though it is in a black can marked DIESEL and the 7 other cans are green with unleaded. I was away on business at the time and 'that call' got me very wound up from 2,000 miles away!

[Eggman]

I wouldn't be too worried - unlike Chicken Licken above

[Major Fallout]

Its only oil, just keep topping it up.

[jagracer]

Keep it brimmed then change the filter in a few weeks.

[RichTT]

Driving back up from Salisbury to Fife missus put £13 of super diesel into our petrol A3. Thankfully i noticed but to be on the safe side called for a recovery and had the tank drained. Thankfully an almost closing time made it an £80 cash in hand job, just waiting for the RAC recovery bill to come through the post. Better safe than sorry.

[maniac0796]

I'm sorry, but how special do you have to be to put diesel in a modern petrol car?

The nozzle will not fit in the hole!

[jagracer]

maniac0796 said:

I'm sorry, but how special do you have to be to put diesel in a modern petrol car?

The nozzle will not fit in the hole!

What age was it then? It's an easy mistake that us mere mortals sometimes make.

[redstu]

Ok the cost is low but why would you replace the fuel filter? As to any damage I can't see that being likely, it may have coked it up a bit but that should burn off.

[Defcon5]

redstu said:

Ok the cost is low but why would you replace the fuel filter? As to any damage I can't see that being likely, it may have coked it up a bit but that should burn off.

How would it burn? It wont even get hot

[s3fella]

As others have said how could this have happened? What car was this, and how old?

[Matt UK]

s3fella said:

As others have said how could this have happened? What car was this, and how old?

It's a 2002 Lexus RX300. She's only had it a short while having running diesel cars before hand and it's the first time she had to put fuel in.

My fault really as I tend to sort out car stuff and should have filled it up last weekend. Hey ho, these things happen.

I took it out tonight. It's a bit down on power but runs smoothly with no knocks or bangs. Just hoping the engine has gone into "we're in the congo and running on crap fuel" mode and will sort it's self out.

I thought about getting a call out and the whole flushing it routine. If it had been petrol in a diesel I would have. But at 2am I took a chance and hopefully nothing too bad will happen.

[Matt UK]

maniac0796 said:

I'm sorry, but how special do you have to be to put diesel in a modern petrol car?

Don't worry she is 'special'

I can forgive the odd 'blonde' moment

[jagracer]

redstu said:

Ok the cost is low but why would you replace the fuel filter? As to any damage I can't see that being likely, it may have coked it up a bit but that should burn off.

Because it'll get clogged up with diesel, how would it coke up?