hello i have put 4 litres of unleadeded petrol into my diesel c class when just gone on reserve then realised my error, i have now topped up with 20 litres of diesel and got home 20 miles with out any obvious problems ,what is best way forward regards Bobby
petrol in diesel tank doh!
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toonbobby said:
I think just drive it off, its 20% petrol, I think though that if you were to fill the tank to the top,it would be better.
Other people have been here having done the same thing with no after effects.
Malcolm
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Yes that should be fine. Lots of horror stories of £3000 bills for new fuel pumps etc but everyone I have ever come across whose done this (one person twice and only realised on both occasions when it died at the side of the road) , has simply drained the tank, refilled with Diesel and they've been fine.
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robparker said:
And once during a fuel crises , I emptied some roads side parafin lamps into the tank to get home, very hard to drive though, with all of the white smoke.
malcolm
Jay Kilby
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one of the top gear type shows did a report on this. the good news being the diesel engine came off better than the petrol. by the time you have put the other quater of diesel in you should be o.k. the test car on the show was fine after just a couple of mins.
Diseasal thickens Petrol
Petrol thins diesel
Thin Diesel, as has been said above was a standard part of life before the "Cleaner" or "City" diesels with their anti waxing additives.
Now try and spray diesel through a petrol injector... it gums up the fuel pump, slows the feed in, then doesn't ignite in the piston cause a similar effect to Hydrolocking the engine.... again, 4l in a 60l or 90l tank you'd possibly get away with (In a carb engine, I would think about it, not in an injection though). It'll also pollute your cat badly which will take a while to burn off (Lots of smoke possibly).
EE
Petrol thins diesel
Thin Diesel, as has been said above was a standard part of life before the "Cleaner" or "City" diesels with their anti waxing additives.
Now try and spray diesel through a petrol injector... it gums up the fuel pump, slows the feed in, then doesn't ignite in the piston cause a similar effect to Hydrolocking the engine.... again, 4l in a 60l or 90l tank you'd possibly get away with (In a carb engine, I would think about it, not in an injection though). It'll also pollute your cat badly which will take a while to burn off (Lots of smoke possibly).
EE
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toonbobby said:
Relax and enjoy your motoring again, you will be OK, It would be nice if everyone came back, though I think that more people are now days.
Malcolm
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Lots of good advise, albeit it would be great to make this subject into a sticky. I posted a fair bit about this subject a while back, having run my ML and motorhome on a diesel/petrol mix purposely, due to extreme weather conditions.
Paraffin is fine, I mistakenly ran my motorhome on paraffin after fitting a diesel oil heater, the fuel tank was empty due to my tests, so I drained some of the heating paraffin into the tank to continue tests, then ran about 20 miles before filling up. Didnt even notice smoke or smells. Ive even ran the motorhome on heating fuel oil whilst parked up in winter, no problems.
One thing about topping up with Diesel though, petrol is a lighter hydrocarbon and tends to seperate in your tank. So long as you keep running the car, thereby circulating the fuel (due to injector excess being routed back to the tank), then it should be fine, otherwise, youll end up with pure petrol at the top of your tank, meaning you could get to a situation where on 1/4 tank, your running on pure petrol.
Paraffin is fine, I mistakenly ran my motorhome on paraffin after fitting a diesel oil heater, the fuel tank was empty due to my tests, so I drained some of the heating paraffin into the tank to continue tests, then ran about 20 miles before filling up. Didnt even notice smoke or smells. Ive even ran the motorhome on heating fuel oil whilst parked up in winter, no problems.
One thing about topping up with Diesel though, petrol is a lighter hydrocarbon and tends to seperate in your tank. So long as you keep running the car, thereby circulating the fuel (due to injector excess being routed back to the tank), then it should be fine, otherwise, youll end up with pure petrol at the top of your tank, meaning you could get to a situation where on 1/4 tank, your running on pure petrol.
