Petrol in Diesel - OH DEAR ....RUNNING FINE NOW

[Martin S.]

A collegue on mines wife has just put petrol in her Diesel Vauxhaul Zafifa 2.0DTI and actually managed to drive it for a bit down the road until it died.

 

What's the likely damage? Vauxhall are quoting £300 to flush it out and a local garage £80. I've heard horror stories of new pumps injector etc being needed costing £000's

 

(I told him at least he'll have a few BJ's in the bank but he didn't quite see the funny side 😬)

 

Edited by - martin s. on 8 Jun 2006 11:25:48

 

Edited by - martin s. on 9 Jun 2006 09:36:38

[CageyH]

I have heard that the seals used, don't like petrol, and you have to replace the fuel feed system.

If Vauxhall are quoting £300, I think I would go there, as you know a proper job will be done.

[andy_h]

It's more to do with Diesel is a lubricant whereas petrol isn't. So things like fuel pump may need to be replaced if it's run dry.

 

5th gear did a test on this this week. Tried both fuels in both fuel type cars to see what happens.

 

Results (I think they used 'P' reg VX Astras)

Diesel in petrol car ran but lumpy. Put petrol back in and all was well.

 

Petrol in diesel ran for longer before it stopped. Diesel back in and although it ran, it didn't sound very healthy.

 

 

White road legal 2.0 HPC VX race car 😬

[Tom_C]

Plus 5th Gear said a modern engine, such as the DTi, is at much greater risk of damage due to the very high pressure pump in a modern engine. 🙆🏻

 

Cheers

 

Tom

 

FH54WLX - only the car supports ManU, honest!

 

see here - UPDATED

[allen]

Did she fill it up? If she only put in say £10 worth and there's plenty of room in the tank, fill to the brim with deisel and i suspect all will be well. A small proportion of petrol os commonly used as an aditive to get smokey deisels through the MOT.

 

Failing that, syphon out as much as possible, re-fill with diesel and off you go with a bit of luck.

 

It is true that the more modern high ressure injection diesels are more difficult.

 

allen

[Simon-R]

If it was run until it stopped there is a chance that some damage may have been done ☹️

 

Worth thrying to drain and refil and see what happens but no guarantees.

 

FWIW most manufactures ay you need a complete new fuel system if its a modern common rail system. I have know of instances of common rail diesels suffering major damage by being run on petrol. Not what you wanted to hear but just my experience.

 

 

Simon-R

 

[Petrolhead]

I have to own up having also done that BUT it was only about 15 ltrs on to of 30ltrs of diesel

 

The car went like stink 😬

 

NE7Club Web Site

R5 no 65 😬

[Martin S.]

Nope she did a proper job and filled it full then ran it till it conked out 😳

 

Also there wasn't much diesel left in for it to mix with, was hoping to be able to give him some good news as the garage "only" want £80 to flush it through but from what you're all say sounds like some damage is likely

 

Will post the outcome!

[Budjuggler]

SWMBO did it to my Merc on Xmas Eve. I think the Merc dealer charged about £260.

 

C7 GON - There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'

[Tiff]

I did it in my 2 year old Volvo - empty tank and filled up with petrol - ran for 10 miles before konked out. AA tow, £150 to drain and bleed. I've done 25,000 miles since no bother.

The garage that did the job said the damage + cost depeneds on the make of car. Depends on the toughness of the fuel pump running without lubrication and where the pump is if it needs replacing. He said some german models have the fuel pump inside the fuel tank and the car is built around it - mega expense.

Mines only cost £150 so far.

Our fleet manager has also had cars with problems that appear a long time afterwards.

So I don't think there is any hard and fast rule.

[FlymoFraser]

Same as Tiff, Volvo D5, Volvo just drained out, cleaned the fuel lines. IIRC I think the cost of a full tank of fuel almost outweighed the cost of the work 15000 miles later I have learned my lesson and the car is fine.

 

 

[andy_h]

Martin,

If it were me, I'd get it flushed for the £80, make sure it was running fine, then flog it. I would however have a guilty consience if sold privately, but not if px'd to a garage. I've been ripped of by a number of garages and they have insurance policies for warentiees (the above isn't a dig at garages either).

 

 

White road legal 2.0 HPC VX race car 😬

[oldbutnotslow]

I filled my diesel landrover up with 70 ltrs of Optimax 😳 but spotted it before I turned the key

Draining 70ltrs of Optimax was a bit of a mission

 

Grant Taylor

OBNS Motorsport

 

😬 183 BHP of Black and 'Stone Chip' excitement. 😬 here

 

[Martin S.]

£80 drain and flush done and It's running fine

 

Think he's thinking of selling though in case something crops up in the future, you'd think all the manufacturers would make the parts a bit more tolerant

 

Had a laugh with his missus who did the deed, someone in the office rang her pretending to be the garage and told her the engine was trashed.......she went completely quiet and hung up , she'd also been having a bad day at work but fortunatly saw the funny side after 😬

 

 

[Red SLR]

😬