Petrol in a diesel engine - help

chateauneufdupape

Hi,

My wife has put 10 litres of unleaded petrol in a diesel car. The car had little diesel left. Are we best filling it up with diesel and running it through or should we have it drained?

Lynxette

Is it running at all?

maninthestreet

Have it drained. But driving the car even a short distance may cause severe damage to the engine.

happylife

yes you should stop the car and get it drained.

Cost a friend who did the same about £100. It will probably after draining and depending if you have drove the car with the petrol in the engine (which should cause a mis-firing and stall) need flushing out. (probably another £20 of Diesel to flush it through)

Why can't they have different Petrol Pump ends for Diesel to make it impossible to do this ???

Lynxette

Having done this a few times before (the curse of driving a diesel company car and a petrol personal car that are very similar!) I can recommend two things.
If the car starts go down to a garage (Do NOT take the affected car - You will do a lot of damage) and get enough diesel to cover the petrol on a ratio of at least 1:3 (So for every litre of petrol, put 3 litres of diesel in). If possible, fill to the brim. Although the car won't enjoy it, it should be fine - Keep it topped up for at least another 80 or so miles, depending on the size of your tank.
If the car does not start then you'll need it drained and preferably flushed. This costs a lot, trust me. :P

My father once put £40 of petrol into a diesel engine that was almost empty, and although we had to hand-pump the diesel-petrol mix through the engine for about an hour, it eventually started again and there was no long-standing damage. Saved a lot of money on having a 1.8 engine flushed, trust me. :P

chateauneufdupape

Thanks for the quick replies. She has not started it. The AA are going to tow her to a garage for it to be drained. I found this article which scared me into doing anything but draining it.

http://motortorque.askaprice.com/articles/auto-0711/help-ive-put-petrol-in-a-diesel-engine-frequently-asked-questions.asp

Any ideas on where to get it drained and flushed. I live in Chester.

Lynxette

Gunna cost you a bomb, I'm afraid. x.x;

maninthestreet

After you've had the tank and pipes flushed out, buy and fit one of these:

http://www.misfuelpreventiondevice.com/

Nile

I'll move this thread to the 'Motoring & Public Transport' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Nile

gazza975526570

Lynxette wrote: »

Gunna cost you a bomb, I'm afraid. x.x;

If indeed it does if you have fully comprehensive insurance you can make a claim for it.

anewman

If you are mechanically minded look along the fuel line for a part that's undoable, you may be able to undo a pipe at the fuel filter (after depressurising) and run the pump somehow to empty it into a tank.