Petrol in Diesel Car

[add]

Today my wife accidentally put 6 litres of petrol in our diesel Merc 320cdi. It was on reserve when she went to fill it up, and she stopped as soon as she realised her mistake. She called me and I told her to fill it up to the top with diesel in an effort to dilute the petrol. She filled it up with 60 litres of diesel. I have done a 100 miles since, trying to drive it off, and it seems to be ok. Does anyone know if this will damage it in any way?

Thanks
Adds

 

[GazCaff]

it shouldn't have done any harm. At the worst it may have shortened the life of the fuel pump and injectors by a few days

 

[Deleted member 6183]

You should be OK, as I remember it diesel is heavier than petrol so the petrol might be sitting on top of the diesel. I'd fill with another 10-20 litres of diesel as soon as you can to dilute further.

If it's any consolation to your Mrs, I put 60 litres of unleaded in my diesel company car a few years ago. Cost me a good few quid to get it towed and drained and new filters!

 

[w126uk]

You would think in this day and age it would be impossible to put a petrol nozzle in a diesel car!
I've done it twice! once it cost me £500 quid to have it repaired (astra deisel van) the second time I realised before I started it and had the tank pumped out.
Ive heard that if its just a bit then yes you can dilute it and hope for the best, after all 6 litres is not much more than a gallon is it?
Hope it goes ok,
Duncan

 

[Dieselman]

It might be worth adding a litre or two of your finest vegetable cooking oil as this will lubricate the fuel pump more than diesel.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

^this^

You won't have damaged it, just keep topping it up with diesel for a bit and it'll be fine.

I suggest you stop at every petrol station you see, and top it up a quid or two at a time. A pain to be sure, but much less a pain than buying a new injector pump

 

[timskemp]

Small amounts of petrol in diesel will mix fine, in the days before winter diesel it was common to top your tank with a gallon of petrol to help prevent it waxing. I'd not worry about it, just refill at 1/2 or 3/4 a few times to get rid of the petrol ASAP.

 

[masqueraid]

Happens more often than you would think

 

[crockers]

Now didn't someone suggest the to stop this happening we ought to have triangular nozzles on diesels pumps so that we could recognise them immediately and eventually have triangular access filler caps for them to fit into..........NOW who was it ................yes I remember ...It was MEEEEE..!!!!!:bannana: :bannana: :bannana:

 

[Sp!ke]

http://www.dieselguard.com/

 

[recycled]

http://www.dieselguard.com/

very nice idea. The problem is that even though some people know what fuel their car uses, they do not know actually which pump is dispensing what. and they still pick up the wrong nozzle.

 

[Dieselman]

Judging by the photo it's a very poor idea. If they are going to put diesel in that car they are in for a BIG surprise.

It's a Subaru and there aren't any diesel Scoobies.

 

[esox]

Mrs Esox put petrol in her Peugeot diesel last week.
Towed it home,siphoned the tank and filled with the correct fuel - no probs.

But,seeing five and a half gallons of fuel there in the garage i wasn`t going to waste it was i ?

So,i put it in the W123 230 ce.
Its a bit "woolly" and stumbles for the first half-mile or so but then seems ok....

I also put some in my motorsickle.I wonder how that will fare?

Esox the cheapskate.

 

[recycled]

It's a Subaru and there aren't any diesel Scoobies.

Except he is such a cheap skate he has stuck in a lupo tdi engine in it
hoping no one would notice

 

[recycled]

Or he is just a rubbish marketing man

 

[Iain]

It might be worth adding a litre or two of your finest vegetable cooking oil as this will lubricate the fuel pump more than diesel.

I wouldn't advocate putting anything else but diesel in a CDi

 

[Parrot of Doom]

What, like petrol

A little bit of veg oil in a CDi won't do it any harm, especially only when used to dilute petrol.

 

[Traveller]

I wouldn't advocate putting anything else but diesel in a CDi

As Parrot and one or two others have already said, veggy oil will not harm a diesel engine, it'll probably help to save the o rings in the injector pump after petrol addition.
Castrol R vegetable oil used to be used regularly in 2 stroke racing motor-bikes until latest technologies took over, at up to 12000 revs/min!!!
(not to burn, but to lubricate) ...(but some did burn with the petrol, hence the strong smell)
The only risk in adding "alternative" substances into an engine is that of detonation rather than combustion, whereby severe pinking or detonation can cause damaged or holed piston crowns through the addition of high volatile fuels with a fast burn rate.

 

[fredfloggle]

You would think in this day and age it would be impossible to put a petrol nozzle in a diesel car!
I've done it twice! once it cost me £500 quid to have it repaired (astra deisel van) the second time I realised before I started it and had the tank pumped out.
Ive heard that if its just a bit then yes you can dilute it and hope for the best, after all 6 litres is not much more than a gallon is it?
Hope it goes ok,
Duncan

Twice ? you might consider changing your guide dog ......

 

[fredfloggle]

As Parrot and one or two others have already said, veggy oil will not harm a diesel engine, it'll probably help to save the o rings in the injector pump after petrol addition.
Castrol R vegetable oil used to be used regularly in 2 stroke racing motor-bikes until latest technologies took over, at up to 12000 revs/min!!!
(not to burn, but to lubricate) ...(but some did burn with the petrol, hence the strong smell)
The only risk in adding "alternative" substances into an engine is that of detonation rather than combustion, whereby severe pinking or detonation can cause damaged or holed piston crowns through the addition of high volatile fuels with a fast burn rate.

Not sure about that !! two strokes burnt the lot , not sure where it went if not burnt , there are also additives that retard burn rate , rather than cause detonation - let us be correct in what we state now boys and girls ...