Petrol in diesel car

[Ubique]

Funny you should mention the 2.7l crossover, I've never had to change one on a 3.0l - thanks!
We still get the 2.7's coming in, it's amazing the number of previously replaced ones that have split again because someone thought it didn't need the centre support bracket.... sometimes the fault of whoever replaced the clutch on the manual versions.

 

[richie00boy]

This is the contents of a fuel rail from a 2018 Tiguan, the owner had misfuelled four months previously and had been (correctly) advised not to drive and was recovered in. They refused the mandated repair and had the tank drained and fuel filter replaced elsewhere. Obviously it's had many tanks of diesel through it since.

Interesting, you would think it not having been driven at all and draining the tank would be enough. So what was the "mandated repair" that should have been done in the first place? Or possibly this car was actually run (albeit maybe a very short time, e.g. into the garage bay) on the mixed fuel?

 

[Morrisman]

Brim it with diesel , it'll be fine .
Misfueling is mostly done by men , I put a FULL tank of petrol in our brand new vw transporter whilst "in drink" about 16 year ago . Mrs C paid , hopped in and said " I didn't realise this van was petrol " . 'kin dear couple of pints that was .

Mate of mine did it with his bike. When he went in to pay the cashier said he’d not seen a diesel bike before. Mate thought he was having a laugh, but no, he’d filled it with diesel. Lucky for him the cashier was switched on.

I did it with my Mondeo, I rarely used to go below 1/4 tank before I filled up, so I’m there filling away, 30 or so litres gone in….and I can smell petrol. Sudden thought, looked around, yes, I was pouring gallons of the stinky stuff in.

In my defence the only place on the whole pump that said what it delivered was small writing high up above head height. Nowhere else on the whole unit mentioned it.

A call to tank doctor, £150 to him, plus the cost of fuel I’d lost, and I was back on the road, glad I’d noticed before driving off…

Several people said “I’d have towed it home, pumped it out and saved the money” Yes, okay if I knew someone who could tow. Knew someone with a pump capable of emptying a tank. And had somewhere to store ten + gallons of diseased petrol.

 

[Ubique]

Interesting, you would think it not having been driven at all and draining the tank would be enough. So what was the "mandated repair" that should have been done in the first place? Or possibly this car was actually run (albeit maybe a very short time, e.g. into the garage bay) on the mixed fuel?

See the bottom of the post you quoted, they'd driven it home, a single number of miles I think. With a lot of vehicles, just turning on the ignition is enough to send mixed fuel up to the HP pump. The mandated repair is essentially the one carried out less the fuel injectors (£600 ea.) if the engine has not been run.

 

[jmp49]

Several people said “I’d have towed it home, pumped it out and saved the money” Yes, okay if I knew someone who could tow. Knew someone with a pump capable of emptying a tank. And had somewhere to store ten + gallons of diseased petrol.

After draining the tank of the clio, I put the contaminated fuel into labelled drums and ran the shed diesel heaters on it over winter, and the rest I dosed with 2 stroke and put it in the jcb which runs on anything vaguely expolosive having a lucas cav inline pump on a old leyland 38dt diesel motor. My wife was so adamant the clio wasnt her mistake she produced receipts for diesel, even though I never questioned her. It just didnt have enough petrol % to be a misfuel as the tank was empty and she filled to the brim. If the garage it was recovered to had ran a fuel contamination test, we'd have had a strong case to sue the forecourt just 5 km up the road for engine repair costs based on the delivery quantity and % of contamination and the fact they didnt suggested to me they were complicit in it, or just didnt want to be party to any action, fob the person off with a massive repair quote so they decide the car's not worth repairing and write it off. And they actually said that to my wife, its not worth repairing, and that was just for the FAP and turbo replacement, let alone all the injection pump and injector pressure issues in the fault code records. Still makes me boil thinking about it.

I remember hearing about someone who misfuelled a diesel with petrol on a garage forecourt with automatic pumps late at night opposite my then place of work, and realizing their mistake, they desperately tried to hoover out the fuel via the fuel filler with the forecourt's vehicle interior vacumn cleaner, and set fire to it, the car, and the fire brigade attended with a few tendars to stop the whole station going up and it was opposite side of the road to some housing and flats above the shops nearby.

 

[bricol]

Vaccing the fuel out . Brilliant!

I smoked the work car park out every evening running a pug 106 on contaminated petrol for a while

 

[Cobbler]

Vaccing the fuel out . Brilliant!

I smoked the work car park out every evening running a pug 106 on contaminated petrol for a while

Same as me, where I worked a contract driver filled the lorry up with petrol. Before the garage came to collect it, I took the plug out of the tank & drained about 20 gallons of petrol & diesel mix. I had an old Vitesse at the time & ran it for a couple of weeks on it, smoked a bit, but ran fine. The mechanics that came to collect the lorry were well pee’d off that the fuel had gone & told me all sorts of tales of woe would result.

 

[Smallfry]

Mix a couple of litres of two stroke oil with diesel in a can and pour it in. Keep brimming it every day for a couple of weeks.

Don't thrash the nuts off it.

Only other option is to drain the tank and refill, but as you have driver it already, not much point, as damage already done.

Bear it in mind you might have to spend a lot of money. But the best bet is We Buy any Car dot com. While its still running

 

[keithski122]

Vaccing the fuel out . Brilliant!

I smoked the work car park out every evening running a pug 106 on contaminated petrol for a while

I ran my rd350 on some salvaged petrol/diesel mix, smoked far more than a normal two stroke.

 

[Robotstar5]

The more usual trick at the MoT was to fill the fuel filter with kerosene - just to get it through the emissions test. Same with waxing - add some kero. Risk was ‘customer and exercise’ mob testing, but back then they often jusg dippied the tank.

Ubique’s explanation re common rail systems is an education to me - and makes me even happier that my EV can’t be wrongly fuelled!

Mechanic sucks in through teeth then says "been using the wrong sort of volts mate"

 

[Robotstar5]

Same as me, where I worked a contract driver filled the lorry up with petrol. Before the garage came to collect it, I took the plug out of the tank & drained about 20 gallons of petrol & diesel mix. I had an old Vitesse at the time & ran it for a couple of weeks on it, smoked a bit, but ran fine. The mechanics that came to collect the lorry were well pee’d off that the fuel had gone & told me all sorts of tales of woe would result.

I had similar in the 90's, a neighbour was having her central heating replaced and the old hot water tank had been taken out, I asked if I could have the heating element to use in my system, she said "just take the tank and get it out when you have time", the next time I saw her she said "the plumber wasn't too happy as he had planned to weigh it in"

 

[charlysays]

Wow the stuff @Ubique has said about modern diesels is terrifying.
It's a crying shame that the once bomb proof diesel has become such a fussy fragile flower.
I will keep my mercedes om605 engines going as long as I can!!
Just need to get one in my scimitar asap now. been saying that for years, then the Essex V6 burble stalls the project but I think it's annoyed me enough recently to warrant pulling it out and fitting the Merc lump in there.

 

[Ubique]

I wouldn't say the entire range of diesel engines have become 'fragile', it just requires attention at the filling station. With improvements in fuel economy and reduction in emissions, the 'modern' diesel engine is better all round compared to your comparatively wheezy, smelly, lethargic OM605, they'll outperform most common petrol engines of the same era in terms of fuel economy and output - but with improvements, come increased conditional requirements for maintenance and use - use the correct lubricants and fuels for a start.

When sat in traffic, you certainly know when you're behind an ancient petrol or diesel engined vehicle just by the noxious smell - even if they're working well, the same goes for more modern vehicles that have powetrain defects (or have been 'mapped') - I've had a few conversations with owners of vehicles around removal of DPF's - they often claim 'you can't tell', well yes you can - just by looking at the exhaust pipe.

 

[cheb]

The most noticeable performance difference between my mk5 Transit and my mk7 was the latter's ability to accelerate up hills. Both were base models too. Might not sound much but it made the long trips south easier, especially with a load on through the highlands.

 

[pedrobedro]

Put a glug (technical term) of two stroke oil in and fill it up with diesel then run it till it's nearly empty.

 

[Bobupndown]

put it in the jcb which runs on anything vaguely expolosive

 

[charlysays]

I wouldn't say the entire range of diesel engines have become 'fragile', it just requires attention at the filling station. With improvements in fuel economy and reduction in emissions, the 'modern' diesel engine is better all round compared to your comparatively wheezy, smelly, lethargic OM605, they'll outperform most common petrol engines of the same era in terms of fuel economy and output - but with improvements, come increased conditional requirements for maintenance and use - use the correct lubricants and fuels for a start.

When sat in traffic, you certainly know when you're behind an ancient petrol or diesel engined vehicle just by the noxious smell - even if they're working well, the same goes for more modern vehicles that have powetrain defects (or have been 'mapped') - I've had a few conversations with owners of vehicles around removal of DPF's - they often claim 'you can't tell', well yes you can - just by looking at the exhaust pipe.

If chucking a fairly small amount of petrol into them can cause such catastrophic damage when it would have no detrimental effect on an engine from 25 years ago, it does seem like diesels have become fragile to me.
I totally agree that Euro 1 and euro 2 engines or older ones again are not a good thing in a busy city centre, especially during rush hour. However where I live in rural Wales the nearest set of traffic lights is 20 miles away. The only people I know who have suffered air quality related health issues live immediately downwind of the oil refineries.
I bought my Merc C250 TD for £200 in 2017 and have clocked up 80k miles on recycled chip fat and water injection. I clocked up 100k miles on veg oil in a previous C250 TD which eventually died due to flooding damage with the engine living on in another vehicle. It takes me less than an hour a week to process the fuel and the raw ingredients are largely free. I do about 15-20k miles per year and it's remapped to 200hp. I can't see how a modern diesel is better all round compared to what I'm accustomed to!

 

[Farside]

If chucking a fairly small amount of petrol into them can cause such catastrophic damage when it would have no detrimental effect on an engine from 25 years ago, it does seem like diesels have become fragile to me.
I totally agree that Euro 1 and euro 2 engines or older ones again are not a good thing in a busy city centre, especially during rush hour. However where I live in rural Wales the nearest set of traffic lights is 20 miles away. The only people I know who have suffered air quality related health issues live immediately downwind of the oil refineries.
I bought my Merc C250 TD for £200 in 2017 and have clocked up 80k miles on recycled chip fat and water injection. I clocked up 100k miles on veg oil in a previous C250 TD which eventually died due to flooding damage with the engine living on in another vehicle. It takes me less than an hour a week to process the fuel and the raw ingredients are largely free. I do about 15-20k miles per year and it's remapped to 200hp. I can't see how a modern diesel is better all round compared to what I'm accustomed to!

Plus, anyone sitting behind you is getting a lovely chipshop aroma.
My Mk6 Tranny did a lot of miles on vegoil and bio-d.
Mined ewe, it had the Bosch plunger pump, not one of the common rail jobbies.