[alcarmichael]

A mate of mine has phoned me up in a bit of a state, last night he put £15 of BP Ultimate diesel in his E5, when he realised what he was doing he obviously stopped and topped up with the BP Ultimate he should have been using and carried on with his journey home - approximately 30 miles.
He said that while accelerating slowly the car felt fine and amazingly could happily cruise at 90 but if he tried to accelerate a bit harder the engine would miss quite bad.
Now what should he do next?
Will his engine be detonating?

 

[SUSSEX REIMS]

Muppet!!!!...

IMO (not advice just what i wud do) i wud syphen the whole tank and get sum Optimax in there.

Not sure what damage wud have been done form the drive on deisel but can't imagine that i wud have done the engine any good what so ever?

There will be deisel in the fuel system even after syphening so not sure of the best way of getting that out other than disconnecting the hoses?

ps. cannot beileve he drove it, better to have drained it there and then or got towed home.

 

[stu8]

I suppose the obvious first step is to drain the fuel tank completely, and then fill it with petrol, which will dilute any remains of diesel left, drive carefully, ie dont floor it, when you get to half a tank, fill it again. Probably worth changing the fuel filter also.

If the engine seems to run ok, chances are everything is ok, but he really shouldn't have driven that distance home

Stu

 

[alcarmichael]

I did say I think he would be best off emptying the fuel tank, how easy is it to drain?

 

[stu8]

I did say I think he would be best off emptying the fuel tank, how easy is it to drain?

From memory, not easy, if it were me, I would disconnect the fuel line in the engine bay, and pipe that to a container, and then rewire the fuel pump to run, as this would probably get the most fuel out of the tank. Someone who has done this before on an evo may have an easier way though.

I dont know if syphening the fuel would get enough out?

Stu

 

[SUSSEX REIMS]

From memory, not easy, if it were me, I would disconnect the fuel line in the engine bay, and pipe that to a container, and then rewire the fuel pump to run, as this would probably get the most fuel out of the tank. Someone who has done this before on an evo may have an easier way though.

I dont know if syphening the fuel would get enough out?

Stu

Make sure u don't 100% empty it via the pump as u may pick up **** from the bottom of the tank and run it through the pump. Shud be the best bet of getting rid 0f 95%+ though then ad the Opti as the deisel will diluted and after 1/2 tank fill up again.

Think replacing the fuel fitler wud be a must!

 

[alcarmichael]

Does anybody know if the fuel tank has a drain plug?

 

[Bream]

I did say I think he would be best off emptying the fuel tank, how easy is it to drain?

Dead easy, there are 2 fuel sump plugs either side of the tank. Jack the rear of the car up, undo one of the plugs and drain that side, then repeat for the other, done. Refil with optimax and hopefully he'll be ok, fingers crossed

 

[alcarmichael]

Dead easy, there are 2 fuel sump plugs either side of the tank. Jack the rear of the car up, undo one of the plugs and drain that side, then repeat for the other, done. Refil with optimax and hopefully he'll be ok, fingers crossed

Excellent, thanks mate - will pass on the info.

 

[Razor]

Heh I've done this before with a Vectra, realised my mistake and just topped up the rest of the tank with SUL.

Felt a bit funny until 2-3 tankfuls later but was fine in the end as I kept topping it up (never letting it get below half) ... but hey it was a company car

 

[j1mbo]

:crackup:
My mum did the opposite of this in her company car, filled a diesel up with petrol. Not a good idea.

 

[NumptyScrub]

I stuck a tankfull of unleaded in my TDi once. The garage just drained it and filled it with diesel, job done (don't think they even changed the filter).

Diesel is a lot more waxy than petrol so I'd be tempted to get a new filter and run optimax / ultimate (with all the "cleaners" they allegedly have added) for the next few tanks after draining the current load of gunk. He really shouldn't have run it once he realised the mistake though, any competent garage can drain and refill a fuel tank and change a fuel filter.

 

[alcarmichael]

I said the same thing, he should have left his vehicle till the morning but his argument was :-

He had 2/3rds petrol 1/3rd diesel
He never had his phone with him
It was 10pm
He was nearly home
His engine sounded OK
Blaady blaa

I still said he should have left his car till today and then sorted it out

 

[carlsevo2]

Diesel in a petrol car is no where near as bad as petrol in a diesel.
Drainit fill up the car and run for a tank then change the fuel filter and it will be fine.

Carl

 

[alcarmichael]

Diesel in a petrol car is no where near as bad as petrol in a diesel.
Drainit fill up the car and run for a tank then change the fuel filter and it will be fine.

Carl

So won't this have caused any detonation to the engine?

 

[johneturbo]

Mate at work filled up a diesel van with petrol
someone as a joke swapped around the diesel and petrol handles
had to drain the tank there and then. :crackup:
now everytime i fill up i always double check.

 

[alcarmichael]

He's drained the fuel tanks and put a gallon of Super Unleaded in and his car wont start, should he keep on turning it over to get the Unleaded into the system?

 

[carlsevo2]

Cant be garenteeed that no detonation occurred but if he pops the fuel line off the fuel rail and turns the ignition on it will probly pump out a fair bit of fuel with a high concentration of diesel in, put the line back on and it should start up ok.


To put it into context if you fill a bmw diesel (the new common rail ones) with petrol and take it back to bmw they will present you with a bill of about 3-4 grand!!!!! as they say they have to change everything pump lines filters and injectors, or they will invalidate your warrenty!!!!

As a breakdown patrol we see this a hell of a lot at the soad side!!!

 

[Bream]

IMHO, I reckon BP should be shafted for the clarity of their pump handle labeling, seeing as it is so easy to mistake there Ultimate petrol with diesel, even done it myself :blush:

I’m sure if this was in the states they’d have been a claim already filed

 

[AndyF_RSX]

I would have said that it is likely that some det would have happened as diesel fuel is around 10-15 RON IIRC.

Andy