Advice please...

runtwoshoes

I bought a 4 year old car at the end of October with two year warranty.
At the end of November it began to struggle to accelerate and struggled to start a few times so I took it back to the dealer. They changed the fuel filter but I was still having issues. I took it back in on Friday and they took it to the Mercedes dealer to check it over. They rang me and said they suspect unleaded petrol had been put in it (it’s diesel) and wanted £570 to drain it etc. I’ve only put fuel in it twice since I bought it as I’ve been away. I always fill the tank and can see both my purchases on my bank statement. I can’t believe I would have done this but it’s my word against theirs. My husband has a diesel car so I’m used to that and have never done it. I’m doubting myself now too as I’ve had a lot on recently and been quite stressed plus I’ve checked the symptoms my car is having and they do match up. Should I pay the £570 and see if it fixes it ? I’m not sure what to do next. They left a message on Friday so I’ve not actually spoken to them yet.

Inner_Zone

What do the fuel receipts show? Has anyone else put fuel in it?

debtdebt

Surely your bank statements don't show what fuel has been put in.

Jackmydad

Inner_Zone wrote: »

What do the fuel receipts show? Has anyone else put fuel in it?

You have to wonder if anyone at all has had access to the car while the OP has been away.
Driven it, and then topped up the fuel so it's not noticeable.

born_again

So one month after buying it started to struggle. So that rules out it being something that happened before you bought it.
Could be wrong fuel in garage tank. So did it start straight after filling up?

they suspect unleaded petrol had been put in it (it’s diesel) and wanted £570 to drain it etc.

That's a lot of money to spend on a hunch. Just what else are they doing?

Get car back, drain most of the fuel out. Fill with premium diesel and take it for a good thrash down a motorway to clean it all through.

lexington013

Agree with born again, fill it to the brim with diesel take if for a long run, keep topping it to the brim. Worked for me on 2 occasions with an Audi A4 2.0tdi and a diesel Ford Focus, problem sortedand car ran great after a week.

dogshome

The diagnosis seems a bit fishy
Quite possible to get away with a small amount of petrol in an already nigh full diesel tank, but the OP says it's only been filled twice, and brimmed each time !


A tankful of neat petrol will kill a diesel engine as soon as the diesel in the tank to engine fuel pipes is used up, probably with in a mile after leaving the pump

runtwoshoes

Thanks everyone. No, it doesn’t say what fuel I put in but there’s only me and my husband who use the bank account and he never puts more than £30 in and I always fill it up.
No-one else has access to the car so it would have to be me.
I didn’t have any problems after filling it up. It started to struggle starting when it got cold and then was juddering as I accelerated. I thought it was just the cold weather then it started doing it more often but it was intermittent. Sometimes it was fine.
I think I’ll get it back as suggested and fill it up with diesel. It was almost empty when I took it in.

facade

Fingers crossed it will be ok, but you might find that the previous owner missfueled it, and did as suggested on here- stick more diesel in and run it, then got rid because it has damaged the high pressure pump.


If that is the case, then the fault was pre-existing when you bought it.