Unleaded fuel in a PD TDI engine

Well it wont have done the high pressure pumping units any good, petrol has a low lubricity level and the PD system relies on the lubricant qualities of diesel to keep it sweet.

Whether you attempt a claim from Skoda when it does pack up is up to you.

Tim..

Tim

Thanks for your reply. So you are saying "when" it packs up rather than "if" - what makes you so certain that it will?

If something does pack in, is it possible for the dealer to tell that it was because of filling with unleaded? Are there obvious signs of this?

If they suspect fuel contamination, your warranty won't be valid anyway.

Tim

Did you called the AA out under your own personal membership or Manufactor cover? If under manufactor cover then the AA patrol would have coded it off as

Steve

It was under the manufacturer cover but according to the AA and Skoda, they do not get notification of breakdowns from the AA, I can only hope that this is true.

It's a relativley common thing the pumps breaking up. But it's mostly down to luck. I've seen low mileage vehicles that have never had the wrong fuel in them have the pump fail, yet have seen other cars that have been filled with petrol several times be sold off at 80k and never had any problems.

The only way they can really prove that the damage was caused by contaminated fuel, is if they get a fuel sample tested, and there is still enough petrol showing in it (very unlikely after a good few tankfuls)

I don't know about Skoda,but other manufactures use the fault coding information they get from the AA to identify reoccurring or potential faults,this includes misfueling as faults with pumps occur at a later date,hopefully you'll have no lasting damage.

Steve

I don't honestly want to be a gloom and doom merchant but I'd worry a bit about *why* it conked out. As far as I'm aware, diesels will run on petrol, albeit smokily and potentially engine damagingly.

Tim

Or the other way round, like my dad who drove diesels for work, and then one day wondered what had happened to his Honda Blackbird....

The message from "Malc" contains these words:

That's OK, Malc - I'll drop you in it!

I think that may well have been the case for old wind up diesels like the XUD and early 1.8 Endura, I doubt something high tech like the PD with electronic control will enjoy having petrol in it's belly.

So with a bit of luck the electrickery may have stopped the engine before too much harm then?

Tim

i have heard on the grapevine, the recovery companies now report any mis-fuels back to a data base which gets relayed back to the specific dealer/warranty dept, just in case any future warranty work transpires from the mis-fuel.

It's the high pressure pumps and the injectors on PD engines which don't like running petrol through them supposedly. By the time the ECU notices, it's probably too late.

Phil

Just checked with stepson. (Ex AA patrol, now works for the parent co.)

He said that if you are a member at your own cost, they do not make individual reports available to manufacturers unless there may be a safety issue.

With car-based membership provided as part of a warranty package, the patrol is supposed to mark anything other than punctures, break-ins or similar as data to be retained. The manufacturer can then request this. As far as he is aware, mis-fuels are not automatically reported, but could be sent to the manufacturer if requested. He did not think any data would ever be sent to a dealer.

If you have a breakdown package as part of your warranty, mis-fuel, and then use someone independent to drain/refill it, you may save some money later...

Chris

I knew I could count on you.

See if the insurance will cough up for any manufacturer-recommended repairs, because they could cost £5000 or more. If not, just drive it and hope.

Can i pick out your grammar errors too, while we are being perfect?

Knock yourself out...

....you may wish to correct your capitalisation errors while you're at it.