Wrong Fuel by Accident

[nkotecha]

Hello All.

Well what can I say, was having a bad day on Friday, and 'Accidently' put in 40 Litres of Unleaded into my wife C220 CDI, did not realise after 0.5 miles and then left the car until yesterday.

So yesterday, evacuated as much as I could, and filled up full tank of Diesel.

After a few cranks she started and runs perfectly, have done 110 miles and No Issues.

BUT my problem is that she is now taking some time start when she is at Normal temperature, as almost if the fuel is returning back to the Tank!

I can see some Air Bubbles in the Clear Plastic Hoses both near the Pump and Filter.

BUT this Monring she started perfectly the Normal 'Glow Light Off' and Bingo.

I am after some advice that I am aware Petrol in a Diesel MAY cause issues and damage 'Rubber components.

Is there anything i should look at at the first instance.

Being a little car savvy, I did a leak off test, and All injectors are filling up fine (all equal)

No DTC Codes Stored.

The only pipes i removed was the Direct Feed from TANK and attached and Pump to suck out petrol/mix, all connectors are tight!

Any thoughts friends

Nik

 

[Gary Hanson]

I can see some Air Bubbles in the Clear Plastic Hoses both near the Pump and Filter.............The only pipes i removed was the Direct Feed from TANK and attached and Pump to suck out petrol/mix, all connectors are tight!

If you can see air bubbles, doesn't that mean there's air managing to get into the pipe somewhere ? Even a tight connector can allow a leak. I had to replace the fuel rail supply hose on a BMW (admittedly a petrol one). Couldn't get the correct pipe from the main dealer, so had to use standard fuel hose. Took me about 10 attempts at tightening the hose clips to stop it leaking fuel into the engine bay.

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

It could be you may have done some damage to an injector or 2 or even the high pressure pump. Until something fails and without replacing everything that could go wrong its hard to say what it may be.

 

[kth286]

you do not say what year the car is but tolerances are very tight on modern diesels and they rely on the fuel to lubricate the pump/parts etc, so in effect it may have been running dry (so to speak) for some time and may have caused some wear - only time will tell.

 

[gaba]

Don't worry about it is the best rule, its usually not as bad as it sounds. Main thing is to not tell anyone about it, your mates will never let you live it down.

If your wife does it though, you must'nt ever let her hear the last of it


Chances are it would't hurt if you left it in there, but since you took it out pretty quick it will probably be fine.

The problems it could cause, are :

Damaging the tubes and seals, that could let air into the lines.
Taking a few miles of life off your high pressure pump.
Damaging the Injector valves.

But its really unlikely to do any of the above, and if and when it does is the time to worry about it.


BTW I use all sorts of dodgy diesel in my cars and vans, and often get fuel fungus infections. The cure is a gallon of petrol, I've done it about a dozen times over the years, it works instantly and never caused me a problem once.
I even keep a gallon of unleaded in the trunk as a quick fix.

 

[television]

It is doubtful if any damage was done in that short distance,it would have taken some time to work its way through.

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

It is doubtful if any damage was done in that short distance,it would have taken some time to work its way through.

Not always the case malc. Ive had a HPP fail after it just being run on the garage forecourt. 80% will be ok but you can never be sure

 

[Xtractorfan]

One thing I would suggest that you do is change the fuel filter..these filters dont like petrol and can distort..... Many taxi drivers run a gallon of petrol thru the diesels now and again.. it cleans out the system and the injectors..some even reckon its the best injector/system cleaner you can get..

 

[ruane]

I've a litre of Avgas here at home. Use it to clean the chain on the motorbikes, better than any solvent for cleaning, and it's not dry, so it lubricates, never thought about putting a drop in the car though..

 

[nkotecha]

OK - So here we are

All this happened on Friday

Too date - I have done the following;

Evacuated the TANK, from that i mean - I opened the Both Floater Hatches and Removed ALL fuel that was in TNK - WAS BONE DRY.

Blew AIR through the Lines.

Replaced 'O' Rings on the Plastic Pipes.

Replaced Filter (Orignal Merc)

Replaced 'O' Rings on Rail Sensor the furthest away with 3 Rings (2 'O' and 1 Plastic)

She now starts first time and and normal - BUT........Driving and coming to a Halt - she cuts out and on 2 occasions I get 'EL. POWER CONTROL' error - Switch Off and ON the Message disappears and she is OK.

Now i am running out of Ideas - some Boards say (Crank Position Sensor) - OK, I have cranked her a lot and maybe some frigments?

Then it could the PUMP in the TANK, not sucking fuel from Right side to left????

Then the Scary parts of HPP / LPP - Common Rail Sensors - I will check the codes and post - However do Recall something to with Rail Pressure

I am now really stuck

Nik

 

[television]

So if I am reading this right, the car drives OK apart from when you come to a stop

 

[nkotecha]

Malcolm - YEs - But not every time - and teh EPC light does not happen everytim - sounds like a fuel starvation issue - maybe in the TANK?