OK, so I'm a plonker............

................... and have just put unleaded in my diesel Citroen C5. Great timing a couple of days before Christmas. In my defence it was late and I've been driving a petrol Alfa recently. Anyway now have 26 litres of petrol in a 68 litre tank, about 38%. Realised when I arrived home, 1.4 miles from the petrol station.

Have Googled and opinions seem divided over whether to siphon as much out as possible and top up with derv or whether to drain the whole system and just how much damage it could cause and how quickly. Any constructive suggestions gratefully received. If I do have to drain it all out how do I bleed the system afterwards? Please don't just tell me I'm an idiot - I've worked that out for myself.

JC

Reply to
Bald eagle
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I would suck out as much as possible using the fuel lines, fill with diesel and start it, most diesels will self bleed. or call the AA, they fix this all the time. there is a good chance there will be no lasting effects.

Mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

Yes, I concur. Drain as much of the tank as possible then refill with derv. Allow the engine to idle for 5-10 mins as to not aggrevate the fuel system with any excess petrol. You have caught it pretty early, so you could have got away with it. If you do have problems, you better hope your local garage that deals with warranty claims aint too clever...

Reply to
Sandy Nuts

haven't we all done it? I put petrol into a 4 star once because I always used this one petrol station, then went to another one day and their petrol pumps were in a different order.

Reply to
History

A tank of unleaded in a leaded engine probably wouldn't cause any damage. Unleaded in a high pressure common rail diesel engine, however, that's a different story.

Reply to
Sandy Nuts

No.

I don't know how anyone can do it.

It's quite simple, if your car sounds like a taxi, then it needs diesel.

Reply to
SteveH

Amazingly 100's of people a day do it.

Steve

Reply to
Steev

I`ve not done it, and that`s swapping between vehicles with different fuel types pretty much every day. And most of these are company cars, where if I did make the mistake then it`d be a slap on the wrist, rather than an epensive bill for me. It`s fairly easy really - look at the vehicle you`re driving, remember what fuel it takes and fill it up with that.

To the OP - I`ve seen the AA solve this problem for a diesel minibus by syphoning the tank empty and putting a few gallons of Diesel in, then running the engine for 10 minutes or so at idle. Be worth giving your recovery company a call.

Reply to
Simon Finnigan

Nope. The only time I've had the wrong fuel in my car, was when my father-in-law kindly put some 'petrol' in my car, from a can he had in his garage. It was actually parrafin. Got about a mile down the road before the engine started clattering. Supposed to be starting off on holiday. Finally got away about 3hrs late, after draining and refilling the tank. Fortunately it didn't appear to cause any permanent damage. Why the silly sod didn't notice the lack of a petroly smell as he poured it in is beyond me. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Drain it fully, refill with DERV and then sell it before you have the huge bill for the fuel system.

Reply to
Depresion

Thwt requires them to actually look at what is on the pump which was the mistake they made in the first place.

Reply to
Conor

Someone was advising adding a few pints of petrol to diesels before MOT to cut emissions down so the derv motor'll pass the test.

A few litres of petrol wouldn't too much damage, empty it down some and then fill the tank with derv.

crap, don't sell it, just drain it and refill it, take it easy while the mix burns out of the pipes.

Reply to
Billy H

"Bald eagle" wrote in news:EJZih.22298$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net:

At least it will stop the diesel waxing if we have a cold snap. :-)

Reply to
Tunku

A modern diesel, like the lump in a C5 HDI could well have terminal damage to the high pressure fuel system once it's had petrol run through it.

It probably wouldn't have been an issue with the old XUD-Turbo lumps, though.

Reply to
SteveH

That's the idea - delay the person filling sufficiently to let the penny drop if they had it wrong

Reply to
Colin Wilson

Conor Wrote

Think Conor made a mistake somewhere.

tom

Reply to
Tom Burton

Whoever it was is an idiot, modern high pressure TDi fuel pumps rely very heavily on having the lubrication of DERV thinning it down is a bad idea, it's fine on older engines and before decent winter DERV was a good way of preventing waxing (it's still used on more basic diesels in colder climes with fewer additives in pump diesel).

Reply to
Depresion

I overheard a MOT mechanic (a man in the position to sell a can of snake oil) telling a customer not to use a can of snake oil, but to put a pint of petrol in the tank to lower the emissions. 38% is rather more than 1 pint/tank.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Smith

Well. Being cynical you could say he was in a position to sell a new fuel pump if the petrol caused any damage...

Reply to
David Taylor

Good idea.

Alternatively, the MagneCap costing a quid or two.

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"Whenever you fill up, place your converted cap in the base holders, whichare located at the pumps of participating service stations." I haven't seenthis base holder at the bump yet. If this is more widely adopted, I'll getone. Actually the filler cap itself helps, at least initially before petrolfilling becomes a mindless set of movements once again. It's a small priceto pay for that singular one time absentmindedness. Superman need notapply. :)

Merry Christmas to all!

Reply to
Lin Chung

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