Another misfuel...

[Skippymon]

Doh! What plonker went and put 15 litres of unleaded in his 1.9TDi today?!!

Got taken home on the back of a lorry because the RAC misfuel van was busy, but he's coming round tomorrow to drain tank. The thing is, having being reading about it all this afternoon, some say that although I didn't start the engine the fact that the ignition was turned on to get the steering lock off the fuel may cause engine damage. However, sounds unlikely when you read about people putting in less than 5 litres and just topping up with diesel then carrying on for thousands of miles without trouble. Can a few drops of petrol really do big damage?

Will have to see what they say tomorrow but hopefully should be back on the road.

Now off to buy a "Fuelsure" cap!

[chrisw880]

You might have been better topping the tank up with diesel (if you were low on fuel) and don't let the fuel gauge drop below 1/2

[Skippymon]

You might have been better topping the tank up with diesel (if you were low on fuel) and don't let the fuel gauge drop below 1/2

Hmmm, maybee. But the rule of thumb seems to be that about 10% of the tank capacity is ok. That's 5.5litres, but I had filled 30% with petrol and don't want to risk further damage. Maybe if it was an older car....

[Skippymon]

Car is drained and up and running perfectly now and I got a 'Fuelsure' thingy fitted to replace old cap. Only trouble is now I can't get the tank more than 3/4 full as the pump keeps cutting out. I tried 2pumps but can't be doing with that so will have to remove the whole thing again. Anyone else had any trouble with the 'Fuelsure' cap?

[cheezemonkhai]

This is only my opinion, but on 1.9TDI, you'll probably be fine.

If it was mine I would just fill the car with derv and keep topping it up every time you can get 10L+ in to increase the dilution of the petrol.

Once you've done this a few times, then you might want to add a fuel additive such as millers then run the tank as normal and refil at something like a quarter tank.

Repeat that until it's all gone and then a new fuel filter won't hurt as petrol can strip the gunk out of the tank and that will end up in the filter.

On CR engines, then it's a different question as the HP fuel pump is at risk from the petrol.

[Lou_O]

Anyone else had any trouble with the 'Fuelsure' cap?

See this thread:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/193705-caparo-rightfuel/

You might be best off getting your money back.

[dekka48]

Well I've got the fuelsure cap and as I indicated in the linked thread I have had no problems in 18 months filling up. The problems mentioned in the linked thread were with the other product.

[Skippymon]

See this thread:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/193705-caparo-rightfuel/

You might be best off getting your money back.

That thread seems to be about the Caparo product, which is different from Fuelsure. Looks like it might suffer the same problem though.

[Lou_O]

Apologies, from my brief read of that thread it seems that there was an issue with Octavia fuel filler that meant none of these products worked.

Perhaps there's been a change at some point which explains why it works for some and not for others? Or maybe there's a knack to fitting or filling when using these things?

[Skippymon]

Apologies, from my brief read of that thread it seems that there was an issue with Octavia fuel filler that meant none of these products worked.

The way I read that thread is 2 people have one system that works for them but not me, and one person has a different system that doesn't work. That's 3 reviews. Need a bit more feedback from anyone who has used any of these devices.

[DaveCH]

Did the same thing with my 2.0TDi :S

£56 worth of lovely unleaded, then drove away until the car stopped.

Fuel tank was drained and refilled with diesel, then driven non stop for 50 miles.

It ran a bit rough to start with due to remaining petrol fumes, but settled down. re-filled it when down to half full and it has been fine since then.

That was around Sept least year and I have had no problems since then.

Yours should not be any problem as the petrol would not even have been drawn into the filter.

[AshCooper]

In foreign countries where it's much colder, petrol is often added to diesel to stop it from waxing. PD engines activate the pump by cycling the ignition, i don't think cycling it once should do much damage but here's what you should do -

Empty the tank, flush through all the pipes, replace the fuel filter and fill with alot of diesel, when trying to start the car after that bear in mind it will take a very long time of turning the engine over before it starts, it'll need time to fill the diesel filter.

[dstev2000]

PD engines are fairly resilient to a drop of petrol. The high pressure injectors are lubricated by the engine oil in the cylinder head, CR pumps are lubed by the fuel, petrol is a solvent and will kill a CR pump very quickly as it strips the lubrication found in diesel fuel.

Not 100% sure the tandem pump will like it very much but they are only low/intermediate pressure anyway.

I would suggest changing the fuel filter if a car is misfuelled.

[superdoug]

I made this same idiotic mistake yesterday myself. Cant even blame my wife.... I put £20 of Petrol into my nearly empty tank. I got about a mile along the road and broke down. I opened the filler cap and could smell petrol. I Got towed to a friends where he removed the fuel pum from under the back seat and pumped it all out. Pumped out the fuel in by the filter as well. Put some diesel in and it started. Great it thought. Then it started knocking and would not rev. I got a new fuel filter from the local vw dealers and eventually started running.

It is running fine now then for no apparent reason will cut out. I am worried that the fuel lines (black and blue)have been connected up back to front when the pump was put back in. Would the car still run? Can someone take a picture of theirs possibly? Mine is a 56 plate vrs tdi

Thanks

[abarth_1200]

I'm not being funny but maybe you should take it to a garage

[superdoug]

I did take it to a garage. I went to the local vw garage.

[superdoug]

This is how mine are connected. Is this the wrong way round, can someone lift their back seat and report back to me please.

Thanks

Edited 17 May, 2012 by superdoug

[PC1212]

Get a sticker for the filler flap!

[jjc]

I did the same to my old 2.0l PD (05 reg) I was running with about a 60/40 mix of diesel to petrol, did not run very well once warm but had no problem starting and just kept adding diesel each day as I used fuel, car went on to do over 100,000 before it went back (company car) and never missed a beat so I doubt a little petrol will do that much harm.

[superdoug]

Hoses were back to front, I have just driven 20 miles home enthusiastically and all is well.

[devonutopia]

I don't mean to rub salt in the wound, but is it only me that can smell a very distinct difference between petrol & diesel when you lift the pump? Petrol is a much sharper aroma, almost acidic? Diesel just smells like oil. A lot milder. That smell alone would be able to kick me into stopping if I happened to grab the green pump when tanking up the mongrel. However, I know if I borrow my mate's MX5 or similar I NEED that smell when filling it up.

[BatterdOctavian]

another plonker here, I did it in Sainsburys last night, I spent the morning trying to get it out with a garden hose and after a few mouthfulls I gave up , I called a local outfit www.fuelfixer.co.uk and they put it right, it cost more than I would have liked but the jobs a good un and I won't be making that mistake again!

[Guest]

It is always at the back of my mind that I will do this one day.

I nearly misfuelled a petrol Insignia estate, I know that the diesel pump is bigger than a a petrol one, but when all your pool vehicles are diesel and you only have diesel pumps, then why would the transport section give you a petrol hire car. So you persist in trying to put the diesel pump in as it MUST fit, until you notice the green sticker on the fuel flap stating San Plomb!! :wall:

Anyway, I tried Solo diesel, but found it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to fuel or not fill fully. So I tried this http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_718451_langId_-1_categoryId_226201 and I have had no problems As there is no cap or anything down the tube, it fills up as normal. The Only thing you have to be aware of is if there is any diesel still in the nozzle from previous use, it will dribble down your bodywork when you tip the nozzle to unlock the device.

Fin

[stever750]

surely if you have made this mistake once, you're unlikely to make it again, so why bother with any poke yoke device to stop it happening?

[Guest]

To stop it happening in the first place??