Mixed Fuel

[kenneth_374315528]

Has anybody been stupid enough to put petrol into a diesel tank. My Son has just phoned me to tell me that is what he has just done. He had put £9 worth of petrol in his tank before he realised it. He then put in another £25 of deisel. Do you think it will be OK. He says he drove it back from the garage about 2 miles and it seemed to be OK.

 

[PaulHull]

I've never done personally but i've seen the effects of it done and they arent good. Diesel through a petrol engine is bad but not the end of the world if dealt with quickly but petrol in a diesel is a much worse thing to do.

The couple of miles he drove were probably on fuel already in the fuel system - apparently petrol causes serious and unrepairable damage to a modern diesels injection system. A guy I worked with did it in his Merc and it cost him 2 and a half grand to repair!

Get it drained and don't take the risk!

What I don't understand is how people manage to do it because don't diesels have a narrower filler pipe? - People do manage it tho!

 

[Guest]

You seem to have this back to front. Petrol in a Diesel is not good as it can mess up the lubrication and high pressure pumps if left. Drain or pump out is the best option.

When left over night the petrol will go to the bottom of the tank and diesel float on top. Then the fuel pick up will get near neat petrol and that is not good! But I've had it happen and crammed as much diesel in the tank as possible and kept the fuel stirred with brisk driving and by blowing through some hose to make sure the fuel was well mixed in the morning.

In years gone by some old hands added petrol to diesel n cold weather the stop it waxin in cold weather. Not the best of ideas but many diesels ran for years wit litle or no problems!

Putting diesel in a petrol engine will cost you big time and the unleaded petrol fillers at the pumps are narrower on unleaed than diesel and you can't fit the fat diesel pipe into modern car petrol filler pipe. It's not the other way round !!!

 

[kenneth_374315528]

You seem to have this back to front. Petrol in a Diesel is not good as it can mess up the lubrication and high pressure pumps if left. Drain or pump out is the best option.

When left over night the petrol will go to the bottom of the tank and diesel float on top. Then the fuel pick up will get near neat petrol and that is not good! But I've had it happen and crammed as much diesel in the tank as possible and kept the fuel stirred with brisk driving and by blowing through some hose to make sure the fuel was well mixed in the morning.

In years gone by some old hands added petrol to diesel n cold weather the stop it waxin in cold weather. Not the best of ideas but many diesels ran for years wit litle or no problems!

Putting diesel in a petrol engine will cost you big time and the unleaded petrol fillers at the pumps are narrower on unleaed than diesel and you can't fit the fat diesel pipe into modern car petrol filler pipe. It's not the other way round !!!

Thanks for your prompt replies. I will pass on what you all reccommend. He seems to think the petrol will be well diluted with all the deisel he put in plus what he already had in his tank.

 

[rob_jax]

Hi,

I'm afraid Euro has his information almost totally wrong. It is a problem and you should seriously consider emptying the tank...

Diesel is in reality heavier (denser) than petrol - so it's the petrol that would float, but that doesn't matter because unlike oil and water, the two fuels are totally miscible in all mixtures.

That means that petrol and diesel won't form layers - they totally and almost instantly mix into one fluid.

In olden days petrol was added to diesel to stop it waxing in very cold weather - and that was only needed if the garage or you were caught out by a cold snap and hadn't filled up with "winter" diesel.

About a 5% blend of petrol in diesel would stop it waxing (blocking the fuel lines) in temperatures down to -15

 

[colin(bridgend)]

I have put petrol into my diesel 4x4 with no serious effect. I had about

 

[tash]

Yes I have

what do i win

tash

 

[colin(bridgend)]

Yes I have

what do i win

tash

Tash - the same as me - embaressment on the forecourt

 

[kenneth_374315528]

Thanks everybody for your comments and concerns. It is an old deisel my son drives (R Reg) and after having a talk with his garage mechanic at work he has decided just to run it. The mechanic says to top up the tank with deisel, run it practically empty and then change the filter. As Robert said, if it had been a new car the result could have been different. Ken

 

[hgv dave]

just to correct paul......petrol cars have a narrower filler pipe fitted,it was introduced when there was leaded and unleaded petrol around.unleaded petrol cars have catalytic converters and using leaded petrol would ruin them

did anyone see dragons den the other week? there was a device that could be retro fitted to diesel cars that would prevent a petrol pump filler going into a diesel tank

talking of the old days of putting petrol into diesel to stop it freezing,i can remember my dad who was a lorry driver (like me) starting a fire under his lorry diesel tank to thaw it out.....and its said it was the good old days.......thank god for modern technology

hgv dave

 

[tash]

Tash - the same as me - embaressment on the forecourt

Boom-boom

 

[kenneth_374315528]

You are absolutely right about the lorry drivers having to light fires under their fuel tanks. This happened a lot when they got stuck in snow drifts in the winter. That was when we used to get proper winters. Ken