Put the wrong fuel in! Can anyone help?

[jamesgreen]

Hi all, my names James, i'm new here.

I have just purchased a CLA 220 Diesel with pretty much every option apart from the panoramic roof. I work most days so i only drive it occasionally, but when i do it is such a treat. Last night on my way home from a meal out with my wife i stupidly put petrol in it. £50 pounds worth to be exact so around 43 litres or so. I then proceeded to drive it home and it wasn't until i pulled up on the drive that i noticed it judder slightly, i immediately knew what i had done!
So after feeling like an idiot all evening, i'm now trying to find a solution. I've looked online and it says that if i take it to Mercedes they will charge me an arm and a leg, and if they find out about it i can loose my warranty? Is this correct?

Is there a way that i can drain it myself so that Mercedes will never find out about it when it next goes in to them?

 

[grober]

The major problem with putting petrol in a diesel car is that diesel is essentaily self lubricating meaning that all moving parts it comes in contact with rely on that property. Chiefly the high pressure pump and injectors. You may or may not have got away with it.
Misfuelling: what to do if you put the wrong fuel in your car | Carbuyer

 

[Trickythemerc]

You could attempt to pump out the tank with a pela type vac pump. The bigger problem would be how to dispose of the petrol/diesel mixture. You may be better off to call one of the specialist wrong fuel companies and let them do it, you will need a new fuel filter. As for any damage to the fuel system, that's in the hands of the diesel gods. Basically you wont know until you drive it.

 

[brucemillar]

If you take to Mercedes they will void any warranty unless you agree to their resolution and charges.

Call a miss fueling company and see if they can advise/resolve.

How far was your drive home? How much was in the tank prior to filling up? This is key as it may impact on how much, if any, mixed fuel reached the engine.

Some on here say that they emptied the tank out and had no adverse issues. Some have gone to Mercedes and paid large amounts of money to have the pipes and fuel system replaced.

Oh.. Once you tell Mercedes what has happened. It is likely that you cannot un-tell them. They will log it on their warranty data base for all to see.

 

[Mike Walker]

Been there and done that sadly. Long story short follows:-

Put £20 of petrol in my 220CDI then realised what I had done and stopped.
Had to put key in ignition to move car from pump by pushing.
Trailered to MB Main Dealer who emptied tank etc etc - cost £500
Recently had health check by MB Dealer who noticed an oil leak under engine. Took car to my favoured Indy who worked on it but couldn't get car to restart. Replaced all 4 injectors with refurbed ones and car now runs fine. Petrol had affected previous injectors but only recently become apparent. Cost including labour etc £1600. New injectors are circa £450 each allegedly.

Expensive lesson!

Good luck.

Found out that Green Flag will remove petrol at point of incident for much less than MB will do it but you have to be a member.

 

[BTB 500]

50 litre tank, and 43 litres of petrol added. So as above the key factor will be how far you drove, since at best the fuel mix was only 14% diesel.

 

[st13phil]

Ouch!

My guess is that if you put in 43 litres then the tank was quite empty before you filled up, so the concentration level of petrol is way above 70%

I would do as Trickythemerc suggests, and get one of the specialist misfuelling companies to come out to sort it for you, not least because of the problem of disposal of the contaminated fuel. Whether or not there's any long-term damage only time will tell, but sure as eggs are eggs, if MB get a sniff of it the warranty on the fuel system will be voided.

If you're lucky, there will be no further consequences once it's been drained and flushed and a new filter fitted. If there are further issues then you're just going to have to take them on the chin (and wallet), I'm afraid.

 

[roadhog]

Do you have (non MB) break down cover? Both the AA and the RAC have dedicated misfuel units these day, possibly others as well.
As said, do not take it to MB as they'll want to rebuild your car for you. Depending on how far you drove and based on the fact you only noticed any ill effects on arriving home my guess would be that draining the fuel and changing the filter may well see you back on the road.

Then invest in something like this to prevent future mishaps:
clicky me softly

 

[BTB 500]

My guess is that if you put in 43 litres then the tank was quite empty before you filled up, so the concentration level of petrol is way above 70%

As mentioned it's a 50 litre tank, so the resulting mix would have been at least 86% petrol.

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

I stupidly did this, in my old A3 TDi

Although when I did it, I put £30 worth in from empty and only managed to get barely 100 yards down the road before the car completely died

Called a local fuel error company and think I paid £120, took about half an hour to drain the tank and then fill back up with £20 of diesel which they bring with them

After I handed the money over the guy said to me 'next time that happens and you haven't filled past halfway, just stop and fill the rest with diesel, it'll filter out'

No filter replacements or anything were required. After he left I turned the car over and went on my embarrassed merry way

 

[st13phil]

Our posts crossed, Bill. I was guessing it may have a 60L tank so was more optimistic!


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[whitenemesis]

I fear it's never immediately apparent how much damage has been caused to all those petrol washed diesel specific components. It can be weeks down the line before something finally gives in as the wear tolerances are exceeded

Fingers crossed for you ...

 

[gr1nch]

Good lessons for those who haven't (yet). Wouldn't the petrol sit on top of the diesel (which is the denser liquid) long enough to get the OP home? I'm assuming the two fuels wouldn't be in completely mixed state immediately after refill.

Interesting article here on the fuels -
http://www.acea.be/news/article/differences-between-diesel-and-petrol

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* 2017 W222 S350d SWB AMG Line Premium Plus
* Ashford, Kent & Mons, Belgium
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[MancMike]

They'll be mixed by the turbulence of the fuel being blasted in, and won't separate.

 

[Trickythemerc]

With 43 litres in a 50 litre tank the diesel would be lost in the petrol on contact. I am amazed it drove home at that ratio. Perhaps he lived round the corner from the petrol station. There would have been maybe a litre or so of diesel in the lines and filter.

 

[Yugguy]

My missus did a similar thing to our diesel Focus. She set off and it juddered after about a mile. She stopped immediately and realised what she'd done. Called the breakdown, paid 100 quid for a flush and it was still fine when we sold it 5 years later.

 

[BoristheBounce]

I managed to do this in my Audi A6 a few years ago.

Tank was empty and I filled it up so I would guess a 95% petrol bias.

I then headed up the motorway oblivious until it started to splutter, however I managed to get it off the motorway and park it up somewhere safe until I could get it recovered.

Part of the group of companies I work for does open cast coal mining so they recovered it took it to the workshops and emptied the tank.

We re-filled it with diesel and off I went, I did another 30,000 miles in it without repercussion.

Lets hope its this simple for you.

 

[MancMike]

Without wanting to sound in any way condescending, how does this actually happen?

There's several people here who've done it. Are you drivers who regularly have access to a mixture (pardon the pun) of petrol and diesel vehicles and simply get mixed up on which one you're in, or do you consciously conclude the fuel type being correct for that car when reaching for the pump and later realise the blunder?

It's never happened to me so far, so I'm genuinely curious how it happens or what's going through your mind during that fill-up.

 

[paneraiseeker]

Didn't think you were able to do this anymore due to the size of the petrol & diesel filler caps being different in size.

 

[Trickythemerc]

The nozzle on the petrol pump is smaller than the diesel pump, so it's easy to do.