Running Engine with Contaminated Diesel

Petrol in a common railer is generally bad news, even less than 20%, due to the affect it has on the lubricity properties of the diesel and the extreme pressure the pump works at.

Personnally i wouldnt risk it, but if you have extended warranty, which covers the fuel system, and you have some redex type fuel system additive which will increase the lubricity then you *may* get away with it.

But dont blame me if the HP pump dies 5000miles later!

Tim..

your not the first & wont be the last, we must have at least one a week come through the workshop with fuel contamination, diesel engines don't take too kindly to having petrol run through them especially the HDI engines. I think its possible since the ratio of petrol to diesel is small you ** should ** be ok, id keep topping it up with diesel each time as the tank gets low & fingers crossed there's no long term damage.

I have heard that recovery companies are letting the dealers know through out the network of any fuel contaminated vehicles they go out to, so if there are any fuel related warranty's to the vehicle they can check if its had a miss fuel thus voiding the warranty.

We have a bulletin from Honda regarding these, and basically you have to replace the pump, injectors (and of course the pipes), filters and heater.

We have one in that stopped running only a short while after being filled with £25 of petrol (about half a tank). It's going to cost just shy of £4k to put it right.

The problem is that the pump can seize suddenly, and if it's driven off the engine can actually damage the timing gear, which in turn can bugger an engine.

we had a Peugeot Euromaster taxi with a miss fuel, it cost him £3,000 to put right ! had to replace everything fuel related.

Ok thanks for all the replies

After some more research around the net the consensus seems to be that the fuel pump is definitely at risk due to lubrication issues.

Plan A Drain the tank and then refill with diesel. With this in mind how do I drain the tank other than in the time old fashion of siphoning it. Secondly is any residual fuel left in the lines going to be an issue?

Plan B Let my local Alfa specialist do it, obviously more sensible and how much are we talking money wise?

What say you people?

Wouldn't have thought so for so little.

Plan A...

Most tanks are anti-syphon now. Better to pull off a pipe at the engine end, attach a longer one and let the fuel pump push it through. Any fuel left in the lines is a non issue.

Plan B...

People have come out with quotes of a few hundred quid before.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Bill" saying something like:

Buy one of those drill-operated mini pumps and get yourself some 25 litre steel containers to put the contaminated fuel in.

Stick some engine oil in it. A pint of 40 SAE should do the trick.

one of our drivers put almost 3/4 of petrol in the tank of one of the transits (I may have asked about this a while back) anyway, it conked out around 200 miles later got it back and siphoned off all the fuel, filled it with diesel and it was fine until about 3000 miles later when it packed up good and proper ford said it was the fuel pump and replaced it under warranty if you have driven it any distance then you may be looking at problems but if you haven't you can drain the system and hope that it's going to be ok

Funny really, it used to be standard practice to put a gallon of petrol into the diesel tank in winter to stop the diesel waxing up. Nowadays the additives do the job and it's not needed. I must have had too many last week when my wife stopped my car at the filling station and I started to put unleaded in. But not too many, as I got less than £2 in before I thought, this is a diesel car! 2 litres in 40, not a problem.

Kind of negates the idea of using a diesel doesn't it?

I've recently had to do a cost of ownership comparison for 100,000 miles for a fleet buyer. Compared Honda Accord, Merc C200 (both petrol and diesel) and VW Passat TDi.

Overall service, wear & tear, insurance and depreciation are pretty close, and negligible difference between petrol and diesel. Fuel difference is £3000 in favour of the diesel.

So, put the wrong fuel in a direct injection diesel, and you need to keep it 100,000 miles to break even.

Or 100% biodiesel if you have a supplier nearby.

I agree totally and strongly. Do it now! Its not the petrol as such that kills it but the reduced viscosity and lubricity.

Mix a pint and a half of engine oil with a similar amount of diesel as a premix and empty into the tank before you start it again. Do it first thing. If it seizes as soon as you start the engine then the damage will already have been done last night. Do not throw vast wads of cash at a dealer if it ain't broke.

Above all, don't worry about it. Shit happens and on a grand scale this is not the end of the World.

Huw

Toss the fuel filter and prefill the new one with neat biodiesel whcih will give the pump a big lubrication hit in very short order.

Some one mentioned a drill operated pump - might be a small fire risk seeing as there is a little petrol in the tank but the idea is good to get the rest of it out. Otherwise there may be a drain plug.

If there is an electric lift pump (not likley but not impossible just disconnect the feed to the filter in the engine bay and switch the ignition on.

Since biodiesel might be near impossible to find maybe a teaspoonful of engine oil then almost filled with diesel before reinstall. Be aware that some units are pigs to bleed air out of. If this engine is a common rail, and I am not familiar with fiat products so I don't know, then there is likely to be an electric lift pump. In this case then it may be that all you need do is switch the ignition on and wait for your oil/diesel mix [that you put in the tank] to circulate through the system including the filter so there would be no need for much palaver at all. No need to touch the filter at all in that case.

Huw

The message from Chris Street contains these words:

They won't usually run without the engine actually running or being cranked in order to stop massive leaks after accidents.

Not usually. There will be an accident actuated switch or one linked to the airbag logic to prevent the above.

Huw

The fuel pump will only run for a few seconds after switching the ignition on, unless the engine is actually turning.

You can of course bridge the fuel pump relay out and let it pump the fuel out that way.