Wrong fuel in ML270CDi

Mrhappysw11

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Oh dear, I finally made the fatal mistake of putting petrol in my ML270CDi - anyone got any ideas as to what I can expect to have to pay to repair the car - I drove it for a short while until it just cut out.
 

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At the worst the high pressure pump could have failed due to the lack of lubrication. I do not know this cost of this pump.
 

John Laidlaw

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You will have to get the injectors checked too as they may have overheated.
I was lucky I did the same to my wife's Galaxy but realised after I had put about 10 litres in so I brimmed the tank with diesel and kept doing that as dilution - that was 3 years ago no ill effects. The fact you're cut out is unfortunate
 

om613

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What % petrol were you running?
 

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There are many horror stories around the results of wrong fuel in the car.

I must confess to doing the same thing about six months ago. I put in several litres of petrol - bout five - as I was filling it from empty. After pondering for a moment, I continued filling the tank with diesel, started the car and continued to drive. Once a couple of gallons (old money!) had been used, I added diesel to keep the tank topped up. So far there have been no adverse results. This is the second time I have done this, with the first being the fault of a French garage owner!

It may be early days and problems might yet show themselves, but after the time and mileage interval I doubt it. My solution was a lot cheaper and more convenient than waiting for the rescue services and paying their bill.

Incidentally, as my insurance reminder dropped through the letterbox this morning, I noticed that they now cover me for wrong fuel and its immediate consequences. This might be worth remembering when someone else does this in the future.
 
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gothic_merc

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I few litres shouldn't matter if well diluted with diesel. Some add 2 stroke to help but personally I haven't. My experience has been like others brim it with diesel and was all OK. Unfortunately high pressure pumps and injectors rely on the diesel to lubricate the inner workings. Could check timing marks to see if pump has siezed and stretched chain. Pretty sure that's part of the diagnostic process but I'm sure someone will correct me shortly

Jon
 

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I have been a little bit lazy on this one, sure what ratio of petrol went in, but I still feel that possible pump failed as it stopped.
 

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I have seen this many times and this engine is usually okay. The best advice that I can give is to empty the tank ( not the easiest tank to empty ) Put new Diesel in then change the fuel filter and prime/fill the fuel lines. If it then starts I very much doubt there will be any long term problems. If it fails to start then it would be a first for me but you would have to find the cause of low fuel pressure.
To qualify my advice I used to repair Ambulances with this engine in, and believe it or not they used to wrong fuel at least one a week.
 

John Laidlaw

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I was assuming the way the OP wrote that it was a full tank of petrol went in, which explains the shut down- that being the case it's just not good unfortunately- as said by me and others a few litres then topped with diesel shouldn't make a difference, and in my case the engine never cut out...
 

John Laidlaw

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I have seen this many times and this engine is usually okay. The best advice that I can give is to empty the tank ( not the easiest tank to empty ) Put new Diesel in then change the fuel filter and prime/fill the fuel lines. If it then starts I very much doubt there will be any long term problems. If it fails to start then it would be a first for me but you would have to find the cause of low fuel pressure.
To qualify my advice I used to repair Ambulances with this engine in, and believe it or not they used to wrong fuel at least one a week.

there are specialists who will come to your house and empty the tank etc- usually they leave cards at petrol stations for just such instances (I guess it happens a LOT):D
 

LostKiwi

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Done this twice.
First time it was in a diesel Defender. Full tank of unleaded into an empty tank. Got about 5 miles before it stopped. Drained the tank (no small feat with an 80l tank!), refilled with diesel and it drove perfectly till, I sold it 4 years later.
Second time was a Volvo S40 2.0d (Ford TDCi engine). Realised what I'd done and moved it 200 yards off the forecourt. Drained the tank, refilled with diesel and it ran fine for about a week at which time an injector failed. Fixed that but it was never quite right and sold it for spares in the end.

Its very much down to the health of the engine beforehand, how far and how it was driven and a certain degree of luck.
With the TDCi engines (co-developed with PSA) the pump can break up resulting in scrapping of the entire fuel system, usually uneconomic to repair.

All, I can say is good luck. Drain the tank, refill with clean diesel and cross your fingers.
 

John Laidlaw

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good experience and advice from the LostKiwi there....
 
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Mrhappysw11

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Merc say it's repairable... so just have to bite the bullet and remember never to do it again. Shall be ringing Tesco to find out what colour their Momentum 99 fillers are too. As I'm pretty sure it was black....
 

EmilysDad

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Merc say it's repairable... so just have to bite the bullet and remember never to do it again. Shall be ringing Tesco to find out what colour their Momentum 99 fillers are too. As I'm pretty sure it was black....

All Momentum nozzles I've used are green
 

ssrli

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there are specialists who will come to your house and empty the tank etc- usually they leave cards at petrol stations for just such instances (I guess it happens a LOT):D

First time I saw that was in the UK and I thought, NAH, it won't happen to me. 3 years after that I put 20 liters of diesel in my MX5. Then started it and tried to drive it.
Popped the fuel hose coming from the fuel pump, started the pump, emptied the tank, filled with petrol then proceeded to mix in the bad fuel, 5 liters at a tank-full. Ran like a champ.
 

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It would be nice to know what failed.
 

LostKiwi

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Its quite possible nothing failed. The engine may simply have not liked petrol (petrol will detonate at diesel compression ratios so make it difficult to get to run) and stopped as a result. It may also be the ECU detected something was awry and killed the engine to protect it.
 

Botus

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Merc say it's repairable... so just have to bite the bullet and remember never to do it again. Shall be ringing Tesco to find out what colour their Momentum 99 fillers are too. As I'm pretty sure it was black....

at what price!!! I wouldn't let them touch it, bill will be many thousands, when the reality will be in the previous posts. It might be drain swap filters and see where you are . Which is 200 quid merc with be 6000!
 

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