Over Filling a Diesel E220, Dangerous?

[catman]

Hi all, a Relative over-filled his car by accident, as the pump cut-off didn't work.

Apparently, he was told that it was very dangerous to do on this car, so he contacted Mercedes.

He said that they came round and connected some equipment to his car and then drained some diesel off and then said that it would be ok to drive.

I've not heard of this problem before, so I thought that I would ask for information here!

Thanks

Tim

[anonymous-user]

Eh? Are you talking about out overfilling the oil, or diesel?

If diesel, first I've heard of it, I drove 40k miles running mine to the dregs of the tank, then filling until I could see the fuel at the top of the filler neck - why visit Shell any more frequently than I need to is my thinking - and it did my car no harm.

[onesickpuppy]

A bit of hosepipe, a bucket and a good sook is all the equipment required.

But I think it's bullst.

[catman]

It sounds like nonsense to me too, but why would Mercedes come out for no reason? I just don't get it, but thought that I was missing something.

Tim

[anonymous-user]

I have no idea, but why did he call them out?

I filled mine to the brim on many occasions over the 3yrs I owned it, on the very odd occasion the pump didn't cut off some diesel spilled onto the paintwork of the rear wing, nothing a soapy sponge didn't clear up.

I really can't see why anyone would think this 'dangerous'?

[Ari]

Dangerous how..?

[Deva Link]

Ari said:

Dangerous how..?

It's dangerous to motorcyclists.

I could only guess that maybe the tank doesn't vent properly if too full. Obviously there's also the problem of fuel expanding and overflowing (or maybe bursting the tank if it doesn't vent) if parked immediately after refueling.

The Mercedes handbook does wann that overfilling is dangerous and could damage the fuel system.

[va1o]

Isn't this just venting the fuel tank? I do it every week, don't really see the issue

[tonys]

It would probably have been cheaper and quicker to drive it for a few miles

[va1o]

tonys said:

It would probably have been cheaper and quicker to drive it for a few miles

Exactly. I can't get my head around why you wouldn't just do that!

[catman]

He said that they didn't charge him for coming out and that driving it would be when the damage would be done.

I believe that he was warned about this at the time of purchase, although I'm not certain.

Tim

[mbtech01]

When the recovery chap connected his equipment to drain the fuel where did he drain the fuel - Into his van's fuel tank ! Yes i do agree that there are dangers to overfilling your tank & fuel escaping out of the vent & dropping onto the road etc but surely when filling the car up you would have noticed fuel dropping over the floor & your feet if your really unlucky. If this was the case then yes you were possibly right to have a small amount drained of but i bet you weren't given it back in a 5.0 ltr can etc to use at a later date. As said why not just drive the car gently for a few miles not throwing it round corners etc & allowing the fuel to settle down in the tank.

[catman]

mbtech01 said:

When the recovery chap connected his equipment to drain the fuel where did he drain the fuel - Into his van's fuel tank ! Yes i do agree that there are dangers to overfilling your tank & fuel escaping out of the vent & dropping onto the road etc but surely when filling the car up you would have noticed fuel dropping over the floor & your feet if your really unlucky. If this was the case then yes you were possibly right to have a small amount drained of but i bet you weren't given it back in a 5.0 ltr can etc to use at a later date. As said why not just drive the car gently for a few miles not throwing it round corners etc & allowing the fuel to settle down in the tank.

I explained this in my previous post! He was told that it would damage His car. Nothing to do with diesel spilling on the road.

Tim

[Ari]

Damage it how? The engine can only take fuel through the fuel pipe, and that doesn't care how full the tank it's feeding from is.

[steve-V8s]

Don’t know if a diesel fuel rail works the same as a petrol one where High pressure fuel is supplied to the rail and the surplus fuel goes back to the tank. There are two fuel lines a supply and return. May be if the tank is completely full and is not able to breathe properly it could become pressurised by the returning fuel.

[catman]

Ari said:

Damage it how? The engine can only take fuel through the fuel pipe, and that doesn't care how full the tank it's feeding from is.

You're asking the same question as me. Obviously, I don't know, or I wouldn't be posting.

I was hoping that someone could give me a definitive answer, but so far, only one poster has said that the hand-book mentions something similar.

Thanks

Tim

[tonys]

Perhaps it has something to do with the subject in this link (second post):

http://www.slkworld.com/slk-r170-general-discussio...

I can't think why diesel should be any different to petrol; I've often brimmed my wife's diesel (Cdi) in the 90,000 miles it's done and, to date, not been aware of any issues.

[catman]

Hi, thanks for the link, it sounds like it can cause some problems, which has surprised me a bit.

Tim