Petrol in Me Tank

[fastrack1966]

Don't ask me how when youve picked yourselves up from laughing but I have two gallons of unleaded in the tank of my 2 Litre Diesel Turbo '93.
It got me home only complaining a bit since there was still diesel in there when the petrol went in so I hope nothing drastic has happened. This is my idea of the remedy:
1) Drain the fuel tank. Is it true theres no drain plug? I could syphon it but can't I unplug the rubber bit of the fuel pipe where it enters the tank?
2) Discard the fuel filter, its due anyway. Fill the new one with DIESEL.
Pump and pump on the bleeder until something smelling like diesel comes out at the injectors.
3) Buy a gallon of DIESEL in a can.
4) Call the AA because their batteries are better than mine.

Thanks in advance for help on any ommissions I've made. Is the filling station diesel pump the one with the big black handle?

Brian J

[SimonR]

Well done!

It's true that there's no drain plug so it's probably best to undo the filler and drain it out of there.

Removing the tank is not too much of a drama, just a few bolts, the two pipes and an electrical connection.

[E_T_V]

Don't try running the car with petrol in a diesel tank as engine damage will be very likley.

Drain the petrol out by either removing the tank, or you might simply get away with undoing the fuel pipe in the engine bay, extending it to low level (i.e. below the tank) and syphoning it out. One there is liquid flowing out of the pipe it won't stop until the tank is virtually empty. When this is the case then fill the tank as full as you can with diesel to dilute any remaining petrol as far as possible then take the next tank full of fuel quite gently.

[E_T_V]

If you are a member of the AA/RAC/etc then it might be worth giving them a call and if they'll come out and fix it for free then that is what Id do. They are used to people having this problem.

A friend at work filled the works minibus up with petrol and then tried to drive it. It needed a whole new engine afterwards :(

[tony]

if your diesel tank was low when you put the petrol in , fill the car up to the brim, and run as normal
i ran a cargo truck in winter, i allways put a couple of gallon of petrol in with the diesel to stop it freezing .

[C191JOE]

PLEASE remember that petrol fumes are heaviear than air and will descend.
work in a well-ventialted area, but frankly for safety reasons, I'd call the AA/RAC

[ben rawlings]

i woulnt worrie about it....my mum after driving what is now my ledbury maestro used my dads maestro td and she put unleaded in it. (luckily she realised before to much)
top her up with dielsel and drive her hard for the next couple of days.....thats what we did. no damage occurred and quite frankly (i dont know why) but the unleaded made the td rather nippy....

[Rich]

I have seen the case the other way round, with a tank full of Diesel in a 1.3. After the car went bang and stopped in a cloud of smoke on the motorway requiring a tow home (BTW this was not my car, it was poor old F48 MPM). Drained the diesel out, filled it with unleaded. Got it running, very lumpy, loads of smoke, then it stopped and wouldn't start. Put in new plugs, started it and once it had warmed up you would never have known it had happened.

I thought the fuel fillers were designed so a diesel pump would fit into a petrol filler, but not a petrol pump into a diesel filler?

Regardless, I reckon, drain the fuel from the tank, clean and empty any fuel from the lift pump, remove and clear fuel from the lines between the fuel filter and injector pump, remove the injector pipes, and clear the fuel from them, remove the fuel filter, fill new one with diesel and replace.

Now you can start from scratch with a full tank of diesel, re-prime the fuel system. Once running again take it easy, and keep topping the tank up when you get down to lets say 3/4 until you have used at least a tank full (ie changed the fuel in the tank) with this method.

You should be fine, the diesel engine is solid and tractor like, the only risk I can see is damaging the injector pump, but even then, the Bosch pumps are pretty robust.

Dont do it again!! :laugh:

Rich

[E_T_V]

Yes adding diesel to a petrol car isn't too bad as basically the fuel doesn't burn and the car stops, or it burns slowly and smokes like a chimney!

However adding petrol to a diesel car has worse consequences. Diesel isn't just a fuel, it lubricates the injection pump which has stupidly tight tolerances and high pressures within it. Petrol doesn't have very good lubricating properties

Also diesel can stand being compressed much more before it auto ignites (detonates) so when it is injected via a diesel injector it burns too hot and too fast leading to possible piston/injector/valve melting.

Remove as much petrol as you can from the tank then dilute it with as much diesel as you can and you should be fine.

[Ricky]

You do not want to know how many times I have seen this happen, in fact it happened twice while I was at work today :eek: , but I wouldn't worry - it happens to everyone! I'll never forget the lorry driver who thought it would be a good idea to put a hundred litres of LRP in his tank - whoops! It would seem he had failed to spot the big red nozzle, and didn't notice until he put it back in the pump.....

Dan is right though, the AA/RAC are always having to deal with this, you get to know the drivers on first-name terms after a while.....

Ricky.

[fastrack1966]

Thanks everyone but not thanks to the AA. They said "Yes we can deal with that sir, we'll tow you to a garage!"
Following all the useful tips I'll make a start after the Holiday. I can use my petrol Rascal for now. Now you know how it happened - I forgot the petrol vehicle was the white one and the diesel the red one..........after all I've only had the both for two years.

BrianJ

[mgdavid]

if you only pour a couple of gallons in, and there's still plenty of room in the tank, there is NO NEED TO DRAIN. Just fill to the brim with diesel and get on with life. Many years back when not many garages sold diesel and fewer stayed open after 8 pm I got a diesel Merc home by putting in 4 gallons of petrol and a couple of pints of engine oil mixed in with it. This was recognised as OK by the Mercedes technical engineers who I worked with at the time.

[fastrack1966]

I know this is hardly the place to knock Maestros, even mine, but isnt the Merc a better built and more durable vehicle!? I hired a Merc diesel van in 1990 and it thundered from London to Glasgow at 90 non stop. OK I punctured once, I lie,

BrianJ

[ben rawlings]

i dont know about the merc being better and more durable......i dont think people realise how good the perkins diesel motor is. when we had our m reg maestro td my dad used to do silly things in that. i wont say what but some very high rpm was involved.....and when we got rid of the car it was still pulling,running, driving etc just as good a when we first bought it with 66,000 miles onta clock. it had near 120.000 miles onta clock when we got rid of it and if the bodywork was still half decent we'd still hav it now.

truley though, those perkins diesel motors are unbeleiveble in many ways

[B18 GPC]

If you are a member of the AA/RAC/etc then it might be worth giving them a call and if they'll come out and fix it for free then that is what Id do. They are used to people having this problem.

A friend at work filled the works minibus up with petrol and then tried to drive it. It needed a whole new engine afterwards :(


They wont remove fuel on the road side , as they need a special license to then drive there van with the flamable liquids in

[fastrack1966]

Thanks everyone. Despite some conflicting advice about draining and the chance of injector damage and "Just go and drive it" I decided to play very cautious. Drained the tank, put in a gallon of diesel, filled a new filter with diesel, pump and pump for about ten minutes on that wretched plunger we all know and love. Despite no fuel appearing from the injector I loosened she started pretty quick, relief!
BJ