Here's the story.

A few weeks ago the missus took the Fabia (2006 VRS, 45,000 km) to town. I thought the tank was a little low, so I asked her to fill it up on the way home. I said to use V-Power or Excellium.

She comes home and says, "The tank was half full, I tried to fill it up but the nozzle kept shutting off so I only got 20 euros worth of diesel."

I wasn't thinking clearly, shrugged it off, and drove to town the next day. After posting some letters, I came out and the car wouldn't start. Cranked a lot, but wouldn't start.

So if you are smarter than I am, by now you realize that she filled up with petrol. So I drove it home after it started, and went through this same process 4 or 5 times the following days until realizing what happened. Left the filler cap off to evaporate the rest of the petrol as best I could, then fille dup the tank with 3/4 tank of V-Power.

She's starting ok now, but isn't totally happy...

Two schools of thought on this. One says, "Your pump, injectors, and engine are all din need of replacement, thousands of Euros. The other school says, "Oh it'll be alright, petrol is better than diesel, anyway." I think the truth is somewhere inbetween, bu tI don't want to end up with a very expensive non-working Fabia in the future.

So the question is: Do we trade in our Fabia for a diesel Legacy (Purchased the Fab for 17400 euros in March '06 can get 12,900 euros in trade on the Legacy) before bad things start to happen? Or just hang onto her and hope for the best. I don't feel comfortable selling it to an individual, so I keep it or trade it. Also, just ordered a one-click that I'm waiting for.

Wifey feels horrible, I feel horrible, but I love new cars. Maybe even an Octy VRS;)

What do you think?

Keep filling it up with diesel, and use a lot of diesel additive such as Millers Sport 4. Eventually it will just sort itself out. Might be worth changing the fuel filter once most of it is sorted, but I doubt there is any long-term damage. Diesels are rock solid.

keep it topped up, everytime you use a quarter of a tank go and fill it back up again, you might spend more time on the forecourt, but you will weaken up the petrol to diesel ratio and eventually be fine again.

Thanks for the replies! Will I be ok with my One Click? I'm not going to install it for a while, I think.

buy the legacy, much nicer larger car.

Do you think it is fair to pass the car on knowing there may be problems for the next owner?. It might even be somebody on here ,who has the problem!.Would you like to buy the car ,without knowing it might have a problem?.

I would like to think owners use this website because of wanting to 'Become a 'Briskodian' by joining a club' of simular basically honest people!

Do you think it is fair to pass the car on knowing there may be problems for the next owner?. It might even be somebody on here ,who has the problem!.Would you like to buy the car ,without knowing it might have a problem?.

yes.

filling with a small amount of petrol is not a long term issue.

keep filling it up and use loads or addative like REDX to clean the system.

I did this with 50% petrol in diesel. The car stalled pretty quickly. I had a local garage drain the tank, flush the fuel lines and replace the fuel filter for about £175. There have been no after effects apart from a temporary dip in mileage (from around 55mpg to 43mpg measured at the pump) which recovered over successive tank refills. I'm still kicking myself today.

If you're that worried about it, get the tank drained etc but as others have said you probably don't have to if it's a small amount of petrol.

My understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) is that common rail diesels are more susceptible to damage as the fuel pump is at a much higher pressure. Good old pumpe-duese!

Cheers for the replies:thumbup:

Andy, many dealers here sell trades on to wholesalers who then sell them at auction. This is why I don't buy cars at auction

redbaron, I'm tempted, but don't like the 5-speed and am curious to see what the 09 Legacy looks like. The new Forester is as ugly as the new Fabia IMHO.

Gasss, its the fuel pump that has me worried, some websites say that the petrol strips away the lubricant present in diesel fuel, causing bits of metal flake off and somehow to get into the engine itself and destroying everything. Seems a little dramatic to me. Definitely seeing a dip in mileage right now, but I'm going to press on and see what develops.

... I'm tempted, but don't like the 5-speed and am curious to see what the 09 Legacy looks like. ...

I don't know what it will look like, but AFAIK the 6-speeder is due for release in Europe in December, which isn't too far away...

Cheers for the replies:thumbup:

Gasss, its the fuel pump that has me worried, some websites say that the petrol strips away the lubricant present in diesel fuel, causing bits of metal flake off and somehow to get into the engine itself and destroying everything. Seems a little dramatic to me. Definitely seeing a dip in mileage right now, but I'm going to press on and see what develops.

I know someone who did the same as you with a PD150 Golf - he just kept topping up with diesel and it was OK. He's still running the car 2 years later.

keep the car, trade the missus in :D