Anyone know what the consequenses of putting a very small amout of petrol in the Diesel car would be?

Mate of mine did it last night in a momentary lapse of concentration.

Fortunatly the tank was around half full of Diesel and they onlt put 2litres of petrol before realising and then topped the rest of the tank up with diesel.

I was asked what the consecuence might be but was unsure. I'm my opinion the mix of 2 litres of pertol to probably 50 litres of diesel would be so small that it wouldnt have any effect, but i wouldnt like to say for certain.

Any suggestions? the car has been used since, and as of yet has shown no signs of any problems.

The car was a 3.0l diesel Vauxhall Signum

With such a small amount of petrol, I wouldnt expect to see any bad consequences.

I'd think it would be ok. Might be worth putting some Millers diesel additive into the tank just to be sure.

i wouldn't worry about it too much, a diesel engine will run on anything! but a petrol engine wont run on diesel.

Might be worth putting some Millers diesel additive into the tank just to be sure.

Bit confused by that ... how does it help? :confused:

Chris

It's fine.

You can get away with up to a 1:10 ratio - I've done it for track days, 50l diesel extra and 5 litres of Optimax; cheaper than these cetane / octane boosters

They used to recommend it on older diesels in the Winter to help reduce waxing.

i wouldn't worry about it too much, a diesel engine will run on anything!

Not strictly true, especially for modern diesels! I suspect such a small amount of petrol won't harm it and will probably improve performance (as the petrol ignites you'll get a bigger bang!).

Chris

Some models are less tolerant than others but as a general rule a small amount of UL will not cause too much of a problem in a DERV providing that it is filled up as far as possible with Diesel afterwards to dilute the UL. I have heard of people deliberately putting a small amount of UL into a DERV as a way of cleaning the fuel system out, not sure about the implications now we are on common rail though. You will probably find that it runs slightly hotter whilst the UL is in the system and you will also probably notice a little more smoke. The main problem associated with UL in a DERV is that it attacks the seals in the fuel system leading to leaks etc but as already stated, I can't see it being a problem with such a small amount.

Hope all is well,

Phil.

Use it all up as fast as possible, just in case the pertol (Far more corrosive than petrol iirc) has a go at the seals etc. Then just fill it up with the syrup of the devil again:thumbup:

It could be bit quicker until the tank empties:rofl:

It seems that with a small amount of UL you'll get away with it. Sounds lucky to me that he stopped filling with UL. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the RAC/AA is linking up with manufacturers to create a database of cars that they have had to flush the wrong fuel out of the tank on. This is because Ford in particular noticed a trend of engines suddenly dying inexplicably. After much digging they found a link to cars that had been filled and run until they stopped on the wrong fuel (obviously in far greater concentration than here). It seems that after flushing the engines went again fine but they only lasted around 10k miles or less before big, unspecified problems led to engine replacement claims under warranty. I think this can only apply to putting petrol in a diesel as isn't it the case that a diesel nozzle won't go in an UL tank filler?

Shouldn't do too much harm, I used to put a bit of petrol in my old 306 D turbo from time to time, just to help it along a little!! Haven't plucked up the courage to do it in the vRS yet though!!!

i wouldn't worry about it too much, a diesel engine will run on anything! but a petrol engine wont run on diesel.

Big no no here, they might run on old chip fat but put a large amount of petrol in a high compression diesel engine and it will wreck it in no time. You will get if it still runs, pre-ignition, fuel system/pump seals will be knackered and the injector pump will wear out since it relies on the diesel for lubrication. A small amount eg. 15:1 ratio should be okay short term (I ran a 10:1 ratio when SWMBO did it and it ran okay..slightly more powerful if anything but long term not good for the engine. So IMHO unless you are in a very cold climate or want a bit more power on the track....(although I can think of better ways of getting more power.) then don't put petrol near a diesel. Tell your mate to top up the tank with diesel and let it run through before refilling. It might be a good idea to change the fuel filter as well.

Big no no here, they might run on old chip fat but put a large amount of petrol in a high compression diesel engine and it will wreck it in no time. You will get if it still runs, pre-ignition, fuel system/pump seals will be knackered and the injector pump will wear out since it relies on the diesel for lubrication. A small amount eg. 15:1 ratio should be okay short term (I ran a 10:1 ratio when SWMBO did it and it ran okay..slightly more powerful if anything but long term not good for the engine. So IMHO unless you are in a very cold climate or want a bit more power on the track....(although I can think of better ways of getting more power.) then don't put petrol near a diesel. Tell your mate to top up the tank with diesel and let it run through before refilling. It might be a good idea to change the fuel filter as well.

well actually i was only talking about it as a tempory measure and not long term. the engine mentioned in the first post is the vauxhall cdti common rail v6 and as such dosn't have an injection pump, it is a second generation common rail unit so it has electro-hyraulic injectors and they can run about 30% petrol/ 70%diesel but not extended use and i personally wouldn't recommend it to anybody and actually the vast majority of pump unleaded in this country has corrosion inhibitors added to it at the refinery

Do you all know how much PD injectors cost to replace

Not much change out of £2K!

So for those wise old birds who used to run their twentieth century diesels on anything they could lay their hands on - DON'T DO IT WITH TWENTYFIRST CENTURY PDs!

Do you all know how much PD injectors cost to replace

Not much change out of

yeah i can get them from bosch for about

oh come on. i did say that i didn't recommend it to anybody.

i used to have a tdi polo with a pd engine, i also used to work at a garage where people who filled up thier car with the wrong fuel were bought for draing/flushing. guess where the fuel went , yes straight in my polo. and on a further note, i never used the specified 'pd' engine oil in it either and that car had 184k miles on it when i went and it was running like the day it left the factory.

it does barely any damage all it does is clean the engine, now the other way round then your in trouble...

My better half(apparently) filled the fabia vrs with petrol (had hardly any diesel in)and then drove it until it wouldnt drive any more and continued to try and get it started once it stopped. What i was told is that when that much petrol is put in the tank the engine cant handle it and immediatly cuts out causing very little or no damage just requiring draining and filter change.

When a mixture of say half and half is put in the diesel continues to pull the petrol round the engine, this is when issues happen because the petrol isnt a lubricant everything gets fooked (big technical term) however i doubt a ratio of 1 to 25 will cause any damage.