Not really. The thing is, short of refilling it with petrol again he did the absolute worst thing you could do after a mis-fuel and despite that, it still ran well for another year. That surprised me. It really doesn't tell you what effect a short term run with a petrol/diesel mix would have.
Tim
did it have the same sort of injection system?
By "lose their hardening" do you mean the case hardening becomes softer? That would be somewhat bizarre. Or do you mean wear through to the softer material beneath? In that case I would agree in the case of a tank of 100% petrol, or close to it. But in the case of the OP, it's goiing to be running on at least 2/3 diesel, and improving, according to his own idea of dealing with the matter. That means he has slightly reduced lubricity for a short time. I think he was totally right in his instinct, although as Duncan says, draining the tank will not hurt.
I just don't accept the claim often seen here that *any* petrol in the system automatically means disaster. It belongs along with the "It's the brakes, do you want your entire family to die?" brand of paranoia we see whenever someone mentions a spot of rust on a disc.
Steve
Throw in a couple of cans of two-stroke oil?
Pretty sure it was the common rail 2.0L Citroen one (sans turbo perhaps).
Tim
The hardened surface flakes off, causing rapid wear. The pieces of material block the injectors.
My information comes from someone who spent a number of years in various roadside and recovery roles. He has seen dozens of vehicles mis-fuelled in the same way as the OP that have only been run long enough to clear the forecourt, yet have needed recovery and repairs.
MB are just about the worst, with VAG cars second. As someone else has mentioned, in the case of MB, repairs can cost 3k UKP and up.
Chris
2 litre is common rail, 1.9 is old rotary type (I believe)
Petrol appear to be able to 'lubricate' the fuel pump on millions of petrol engined vehicles. They even put electricity in there too :)
pressure in a petrol system is a max of about 60psi common rail is up to about 30,000 the two are not really comparable
You might need to Google how common rail diesels work, particularly in relation to the system pressures...
?Chris
Misfuellng happened to my father in laws car when the petrol station wrongly fueled its storage tanks after a refit , it completly screwed the injection system he drove about 2 miles .
Total cost well over 3K includeing hire car
I would certainly hope so , however desiel and petrol injection pumps are not the same animals
"Tim Downie" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
If it was the non-turbo DW8, then it's not running at common-rail pressures, so the pump's far less susceptible to misfuelling.
"Mrcheerful" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
DW8 & HDi are the same lump, bar the hang-off-the-side stuff...
I already knew that :)
Petrol clearly isn't a solvent within the confines of a petrol fuel pump, the motor isn't self lubricating, the fuel IS the lubricant.
It'd probably be buggered by diesel though...
Cool it with a baboon's blood.
The tolerances within a petrol pump system running around 60 psi are far greater than those in a desiel pump running 500 times that .
In the right circumstances waters a lubricant so is liquified copper , grease etc
but you wouldnt shove them through a desiel pump .
Oils a lubricant , put the wrong type or grade in your engine and you will bugger it up
Case hardening not what it once was methinks.
Steve.
Your talking about incredably small parts run at very high speeds designed to run in lubricant based fuels
"shazzbat" wrote
My guess is that if it's going to break it would happen very soon after the mis-fuel. If it survives initially there's probably no delayed effect.
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