Put petrol in a diesel car

ripplyuk

My partner has just rang me. He's put about £19 worth of petrol in his diesel car and then drove about 10 miles in it. He doesn't want to pay to have the tank drained and has decided to try and siphon off the petrol as much as possible. He's not sure how to do this but is thinking of just buying a plastic tube. Is this possible to do?

He's hoping that if he gets most of it out and then fills up on diesel, it will be diluted enough to prevent major damage. The car is still running fine.

WellKnownSid

Not quite sure where he plans to drain off the up to 65 litres of petrol mixed with diesel that could now be sitting in his tank, but I'm sure the emergency services will be along to clean up his remains when it inevitably goes horribly wrong.

wiltsguy_2

£19 is about 19 litres in his tank, providing that the tank was low when he put that in, so will need a drum to put it in of some kind. If he gets a tube and puts it to the tank it will syphon out easily.

Then i would recomend filling it up to the brim with diesel to dilute whats left and cross your fingers!

In extreme cold climates it has been known to put a little petrol with your diesel to stop it from freezing.

My wife once put £10 of petrol in her diesel, then topped up with diesel after realising her 'mistake' never had any issues.

safest option is to call them drain team out

neilmcl

Where does he plan on draining the fuel to?

BeenThroughItAll

Not to mention, he'll need to get past the almost-inevitable anti-syphon restriction in the filler neck.

ripplyuk

I've told him to ring a garage but the car's so old and on its last legs anyway that he doesn't want to spend any money on it. He's planning to siphon it into a drum, which will probably just sit in his yard until he works out what to do with it. The only thing putting him off is the thought of getting a mouth full of diesel trying to siphon it.

Hopefully if he keeps topping up with diesel, it'll be ok.

BeenThroughItAll

ripplyuk wrote: »

I've told him to ring a garage but the car's so old and on its last legs anyway that he doesn't want to spend any money on it. He's planning to siphon it into a drum, which will probably just sit in his yard until he works out what to do with it. The only thing putting him off is the thought of getting a mouth full of diesel trying to siphon it.

Hopefully if he keeps topping up with diesel, it'll be ok.

He probably won't be able to syphon it out, per my post above.

AA would disconnect a fuel pipe either at the tank or in the engine bay and vacuum the fuel out that way. That's the only sensible way to do it.

csgohan4

maybe time to get a new car if he's not prepared to treat it properly

WellKnownSid

ripplyuk wrote: »

He's planning to siphon it into a drum, which will probably just sit in his yard until he works out what to do with it.

It would need to be into a bunded tank. It's contaminated fuel, so will need to be disposed of properly.

ripplyuk wrote: »

The only thing putting him off is the thought of getting a mouth full of diesel trying to siphon it.

Not the fact that additives in diesel and petrol are toxic? What he's planning to do is extremely hazardous on many levels... for both himself and others.

Ebe_Scrooge

Putting the safety aspect aside for now ( not that I disagree with anything that's been said ) - it's worth adding a glug of 2-stroke oil to the fresh tank of diesel. This can help to re-lubricate things that have been un-lubricated by the petrol.


The problem lies in the fact that diesel is a lubricant as well as a fuel. Things like the injector pump rely on the lubrication provided by the diesel. Petrol is one of the best de-greasers there is, so it strips away all the lubricant. Adding a shot of 2-stroke can help to mitigate any damage. It's no guarantee, but there's no harm in trying.

BeenThroughItAll

Ebe_Scrooge wrote: »

Putting the safety aspect aside for now ( not that I disagree with anything that's been said ) - it's worth adding a glug of 2-stroke oil to the fresh tank of diesel. This can help to re-lubricate things that have been un-lubricated by the petrol.


The problem lies in the fact that diesel is a lubricant as well as a fuel. Things like the injector pump rely on the lubrication provided by the diesel. Petrol is one of the best de-greasers there is, so it strips away all the lubricant. Adding a shot of 2-stroke can help to mitigate any damage. It's no guarantee, but there's no harm in trying.

It'd also be useful to know what the car is. If it's an old Citroen ZX with a 1.9XUD in, for example, it'll probably be fine due to the simple mechanicals (based on my colleague's 200K+ ZX which has been misfuelled at least four times now). If it's a 2015 Porsche Cayenne Diesel, he may have issues.