No comment

I think he’s right. Putting petrol into a diesel car just requires draining the system and flushing it through to clean it out. Putting diesel in a petrol engine is MUCH more of a problem, mainly because you instantly wreck the catalytic convertor. So I think you should be OK.

Yes. That’s why the diesel pump nozzle is much bigger than the petrol pump nozzle so you can’t accidentally do it the other way round. It’ll still probably run quite strangely for a bit, but it shouldn’t be too bad.

Incidentally, I didn’t think anyone ever _actually_ filled the tank with the wrong fuel. I thought it was the stuff of myth and legend.

Well done, Mongy.

If you put diesel in a petrol engine then you have to replace the engine, if you put petrol in a diesel engine then you just drain the tank and replace with diesel. It might run a bit ‘lumpy’ for a while until the petrol has all gone from the system.

Interestingly enough, if you start filling your diesel car up with petrol and realise before you’ve put too much in you can just dilute it with diesel and keep running - it will sound rough and run a bit funny, but only while the petrol works its way through the engine.

You’re okay putting diesel into a petrol engine if you realise what you’ve done before you try to start the engine. Otherwise …

I hate to admit it, but I’ve done that. It was with the Scout group minibus, and we were away at camp at the time. I left camp that morning to take a group to the sailing venue nearvy, and the last thing the other leaders said to me was “Don’t forget the minibus needs petrol". So I filled it with petrol.

My Dad did this, and realised his mistake before leaving the garage so hadn’t actually started the car. He was told at the time that had he put petrol through the engine, it would’ve been much more costly to put right. As it was it cost him several hundred £ (about 10 years or so ago).

I bet henry’s loving this!

*puts hand up* I’ve done this.

Ooops! Hope you enjoyed your extended stay at Henry’s!

Generally the clue is in the label saying USE DIESEL of similar over the filler hole… And yeah, diesels will run on anything: petrol, pig wee, coconut oil, it’s just a question of how badly. I had 10 litres of petrol to dispose of once and did so by putting a litre of it in the tank every time I filled up my diesel.

** may not be true of modernfangled diesels **

I’ve never owned a car younger than 10 years

Nonsense about diesel killing a petrol engine.
I filled a petrol-engined Renault Traffic with diesel and drove it about all day. It died soon after I returned the van to work. Took a bit of effort and a towing from a fork-lift truck but I got the bugger running again.

In the winter we allways used to put petrol in the diesel take of the truck to stop the fuel waxing up in extreme tempratures such as the French Alps.

Ideally paraffin should have been used but petrol works just as well.

I would have said that diesel in a petrol engine was more harmful as it would not ignite through the spark plugs and would oil up the engine.

Pig wee? Really?
*goes to squeeze neighbour’s pigs*

I put diesel in a petrol car once. Trying to siphon it out is not a pleasant experience (*retches). In the end I had to top it up with petrol and hope for the best. It smoked a good’un for the rest of it’s life.
Just shows you are not alone Simon!

Has anyone ever told you that you are rubbish Simon?

MY car is diesel, and the book says that in cold weather you need to mix in petrol, to stop it going lumpy.

I was at a garage once, and heard a conversation going on … it seems that a truck driver had filled his tank… with a HUGE amount of parrafin… he had discovered the problem BEFORE starting the engine, and was looking for something (or several somethings) to drain his tank into.

I’m a Taxi driver in Norwich and today put 25 litres of unleaded in my diesel 406.. Went 60 miles before it ran rough, and another 40 to get home. Just fininshed draining the fuel tank (cheated - discontected the fuel filter and ‘primed’ the pump about 1000 times on ignition into fuel cans. Filled with diesel, changed fuel filter and runs fine again!

Few hours ago, I did just the same. Filled about £6 worth of unleaded into my 1.9 tdi Galaxy before I realised. With no mobile to call for assistance, I merely topped up with £6 worth of diesel to get me home. I am hoping that hasn’t caused too much damage and with a bit of luck get it drained tomorrow.

WHAT A PLONKER STUCK 40 QUID OF PETROL INTO MY DIESEL GALAXY AND ONLY WHEN I STOPPED AS THE MAIN TRAFFIC LIGHTS IN TOWN, DID I REALIZE!!! RAC TOWED ME TO A GARAGE AND HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE JUST A CASE OF DRAINING IT OFF, I BLOODY HOPE SO!!! ONLY HAS THE SODDING THING 6MONTHS, AND IT COST LOTS OF PENNIES!!!!!!!

Maria, welcome to the club….shit happens to the best of us. To conclude my story, I called a Reg Vardy Ford Garage and was quoted £276 + vat for 3hrs labour plus £10 for fuel plus £27+ vat for other odds & sods (possibly fuel filter). I then called a second Reg Vardy Garage and they quoted £176 + vat for labour plus an additional amt if they needed to change the fuel filter. In the end, I went to an independent garage that quoted £95+ vat. It just goes to show that some garages are exploiting the situation.

I doubt that you would have caused any lasting damage, if you hadn’t travelled very far.

hubby is at the garage now… Have no idea what we will be charged, but hey ho it’s only money!! At least no one was hurt, except my purse of course… I’ll keep ya posted..thanks xx

WHAT A RESULT…. TOTAL ICLUDING TIP FOR MECHANIC, NEW FUEL FILTER ETC AND HALF A TANK OF DIESEL TO GET ME HOME.. 84.00,PHEW!!!!!!!!!!

Hi i have a 2003 Merc vito like a plonka i have put in petrol and not diesel. Im hoping i can remove the fuel filter and one of the pipes and pump the Tank dry fill up with diesel and prime it and cross me fingers it works .. your not alone when makin silly mistakes. My problem is i drive to many different vehicles everyday.

My brother once filled his 405 1.9td with a full tank of unleaded, drove the car untill it would not run. I went out to meet him and laughed at him as i discovered he had filled it with petrol. Took a can of diesel back to his car and put a little pipe from it to his fuel pump, started up and drove it home, ran dodgy for a bit then gave many more miles of loyal service!

Petrol in diesel car - Well it happened to me too! But at least I can avoid the blame (smug grin – this time!) bought a new diesel car - and yes they filled it up with petrol for me - being a somewhat mean garage it was only about 10L (stingy bug12$%%) managed 8 miles until car stopped dead in the outside lane in a cloud of smoke. Not pleasant having HGV’s bearing down on you when you are a sitting duck. Tech opinion on amount of damage is mixed, but experts indicate long term damage of £3,000 (AA) to £8,000 Daily Telegraph. The more modern the diesel, the more likely you are to have done serious damage.

Guess who just filled his Astra 1.7 Turbo Diesel van with 50 litres of unleaded? Luckily, I realised before starting the engine, so we pushed it off the forecourt and towed it home. Tomorrow I syphon off the petrol, hopefully it will be ok.

For the 2nd time now i have put some petrol in a turbo diesel, different cars. I only put in a few litres before i realised in both cases. I blame the bloody garage, messing about with colours of the nozzle, Im sure i’ve seen light blue for diesel before. The last time i had no problem, didn’t even notice any rough running, but am wondering if the petrol actually mixes or if i will run into trouble when the tank gets low again. Any clues?

oh no…. same thing happened to me today, took my vw passat 1.9 tdi to garage put £20 unleaded in her drove about 11 miles before car stopped.
then realized “oh shit what a plonker wrong fuel” called AA, they towed me home, have to drain tank tommorrow and replace fuel filter fingers crossed it will be ok. what a christmas prezzie

put petrol in a diesel car drove 35 miles then realised .if you add clean engine oil to feul tank and then fill tank up with diesel u should get away with it.

another one joins the club … just put £10 unleaded into Kia Sedona diesel …I can’t believe I’ve done it still reeling from the guilt and no doubt we’ll be reeling from the costs too …. Shouldn’t be allowed out on my own !!!!

Just stupidly put 8 litres of petrol in 1.9 diesel 306……guy at garage said fill the tank with diesel and should be fine……..drove about 35 miles fine……then went out to start car and it wouldnt!!……getting it drained tommrow…..anyone no if it will be ok??…

I filled my 2006 audi a6 avant with petrol instead of diesel - felt completley stupid as everyone does - more common than I thought though - audi dealer towed the car to the garage and drained it for the princley sum of 200 quid. said they couldnt fill my jerry cans i’d left in the back of the car - ‘health and safety reasons sir’. No damage to engine, ran a bit rough for a few miles, most damage to wallet!

I put 15 litres of ULP in my diesel tank mind must of bin else where and drove 10 miles thought the ride was a little bumpy.Van wouldn’t start and then the penny dropped AAAARGHHH try’d to syphon for 3 hours then admitted defeat put 40 litres of diesel on top HEY PRESTO fank the lord and me dad and a bit of easy start down the filler runs like a dream

dont be so daft next time

Never seen so many self confessed plonkers putting the wrong fuel in, huh! Wouldn’t have thought it possible - until I did it yesterday! 35l of ul into a near empty diesel tank! Drove 2 miles before realising, pulled over and checked fuel receipt, air went blue! The advice I got was that as long as there is no “prolonged” contact or combustion with petrol there should be little or no damage. Just make sure you get the sysem properly flushed out, cost me £150 plus £30 of petrol down the drain. Petrol WILL damage a diesel engine if it’s run too long. Also modern diesels work at much higher combustion pressures so are more sensitive to slight damage. SO unless you have a workhorse older diesel OR you’re a mechanic get it sorted by a garage who know what they’re doing. If diesels were supposed to run on petrol they wouldn’t be bl***y diesels would they!

Hi…done this too myself…feel real sorry for all you out there who have done the same thing. Did it two weeks ago….luckily realised before starting the engine….silly mistake….was very tired…not thinking…had only just picked the car up from accident repair centre too(so had been using un-leaded courtesy cars for two weeks)…someone rode into me few days before christmas…..dont think im having much luck with cars at the mo…..Anyway…after many phonecalls…few tears….£150 plus £40 diesel OUCH!!!!!!a local garage drained the engine and serviced it for me….was mega grateful…been running it for two weeks now and its not been starting right in the morning….and tonight i was out and it wouldnt start at all!!!!!!!!!!black smoke plumed out the back….its been playing up since i got it back….i have to confess im just a little worried….dont know if its got anything to do with putting unleaded in diesel two weeks ago as i thought the garage had sorted it!!!!!!I definately hadnt started the engine……i left it in the hands and faith of the garage….has anyone any advice on this please?thanx.

What a plank!! have just put about 3 litres of unleaded in my diesel Fiesta - have a bloody hangover and the dog was barking in the car!!! am going to go to another garage and fill up with diesel to dilute it a bit more!!! I’m not going to tell the other half he will go mental!!

Hi,
My husband filled up our 3mth old VW SHARANTDI with £15 of petrol but luckily dint start it. Contacted AA Who advised us of nearest garage £160 or the alernative to drain ourselfs and fill tank with diesel. We used a hose n foot pump to drain then filled with full tank of diesel. Its running fine.

Hi.
Like everyone else, I felt totally stupid adding £10 worth of unleaded to the 5 or so litres of diesel in my Pug 307 HDi. What gets me is how it’s possible to do this in the modern age. It shouldn’t be physically possible to make this sort of mistake, particularly if the reults are as catastophic as some people suggest.
It was after 3 or 4 miles that my engine began to cough and splutter and I quickly realised what must have happened. I limped to a filling station and immediately topped up with £40 worth of diesel. End of problem but not end of anxiety so I called into my local, friendly garage (B&P in Ilford) and the consensus there was that there should be no lasting damage.
It’s odd that nobody seems to know for sure what, if any, detrimental effects can result from this sort of thing and the scare mongers only drive us into the arms of the greedy who will happily charge £150 or more to carry out a £20 operation.
I’ll put up another post if my car goes bang!

Yet another petrol plank. I had my blonde moment today. £20 petrol into a tank with about 10 litres left. Didnt even realise until my shogun seemed sluggish. Feel a total blonde but the pick up guy said they recover at least 5 per week who make the same mistake. My error has cost £150 plus the £20 petrol. Keeping an eye on it for long term problems. My husband always moans at me for leaving the shogun virtually empty but I am now banned from filling it. So every cloud has a silver lining ( I no longer have to stand out on a smelly forecort filling up.

Looks like I’m joining a long list of other ‘petrol heads’ having filled up my Diesel Focus with 40 litres of unleaded! Fortunately I realised what I’d done as soon as it filled up - the smaller nozzle meant that the pumps auto cut off didn’t work and the petrol overflowed. Towed to a garage, tank drained, £130 later, one working car. Doesn’t seem to have caused any damage other than that to my ego and my wallet! Won’t be doing that again in a hurry. My only excuse is that it was 5 in the morning and freezing cold.

Hi just thought i’d drop you all a line let you know my vans running fine since the uhmm little accident so if there aint a lot in there fill it to the max with derv and don’t forget to get stickers saying diesel around the petrol cap i mean diesel cap

Yep. Me too, my car is an 02 Golf Tdi 130 PD engine. 13 litres of unleaded went in, then I filled it to the brim with 40 litres of diesel having discovered my mistake. Runs absolutely fine. I rang my local VW expert, he says it will be fine, just add a bit more diesel every time I get back from a run to keep diluting it. By the way, I ran a full tank of Tescos cheapest sunflower oil through my Volvo V70 Tdi, and apart from difficult starting in cold weather it ran great. There’s a lot of misinformation about this subject. Petrol in smallish quantities in your diesel, up to 25% or so will NOT do any harm.

You’d think after spending £2k on a new turbo/exhaust ststem/breather & intercooler for my NEWish BMW 525d I’d be more careful?? Ohhhh no.
Driving to Norwich to collect daughter for weekend, running late…. puit £2.76 unleaded in my diesel. (what makes it worse is that i chauffeur & fill up all the time!)
Topped ‘Sharky’ up with £50 diesel…. all is well.
ps. naming the car was a girlfriends idea!

Wow.Feel much better now.Filled up the tank(FULL) with petrol in my BMW Turbodiesel.Went to a garage nearby and they said they would simply drain the petrol and refuel with diesel. Do you think they know what theyre talkin about?
I ask because another guy told me that on modern bimmers, everything is computerised and it will require reprogramming of software etc etc.Any suggestions if i should let them touch it or go to a BMW garage( mind you £100PH!!!!)

My boyfriend filled up my mk4 1.7td astra with 25 litres of petrol, we still had just above the red of diesel in the car, then drove it home on the motorway 15/20 miles got outside our house and it conked out, and wouldnt restart, my first question just to dismiss it was “you did put diesel in this, not petrol??” to this he said “F£$% i put petrol".

So it is sitting outside the house just now, i just got it serviced 2 weeks ago. Just hoping it hasnt done too much damage to the car. Soon find out i guess, and we are rooked at the moment so im not happy….and he is in the bad books……

I’ve done this too, petrol in diesel, very simple error to make and evryone except car owner benefits. Has anyone tried to sue guarage/car manufacturer as this is likely the only way to make them change. I am sure it would be possible for diesels to have a different fitting to unleaded. (Square instead of round comes to my non engineering mind.) Old story of designed by scientists, built by robots and driven by morons. No problem accepting I am a moron but surely the robot/scientist could build in for my stupidity?

Regards

Ecurb the Moron ;-)

I join you all in holding my hands up in shame. I put £10 of unleaded in a quater tank of my mk4 vw golf 1.9 TDI. S*** scared right now i have messed it up. Drove off from petrol station got to round about less than mile away and it cut out. While sitting waiting for AA managed to get it started. It cut out 3 more times in a 5 mile journey getting it back home. I am really praying its ok, I have read all your blogs, tank now is just under half way.
What should I do (1) fill up with diesel and hope for best. (2) go to garage and have it drained…..HELP!!!!

Hi ppl, i’m also part of the ‘i put petrol into my diesel car’ club. I have a c270 cdi, I put 15 pounds of unleaded petrol into it. Drove off for about 1/2 a mile when it hit me that i was a idiot and put petrol into my car. I stopped right there and called the AA and they took me to a garage. Mr mechanic told me they can flush out all the fuel give the engine a clean, but they’ve had many cases when things can go wrong few months later. He said to be competely sure it would cost 4500 pounds! I couldnt breathe and was about to drop dead……. until he told me i could claim it off insurance and i told him to go crazy as i merrily skipped home. :D

So dont forget to claim off the insurance (but make sure you do it before they start work on it)

I forgot to add to above that the insurance company refused me and said it wasnt in their policy. I spoke to the mechanic, he asked for the insurance co. number and a few minutes later the company phoned me back saying they would pay.
So keep hasseling them!

I put a tenners worth of unleaded in my toyota hilux surf on friday night, i drove about 6 miles, when i started it yesterday it sounded a bit rough. B/F has just finished draining all the fuel out.
I’m hoping it has not done any serious damage! He did the same thing in his astra van a few months ago, he just diluted the petrol by filling right up with diesal and it was fine. Fingers crossed eh?!

I life in France but have just spent 10 days in the UK and each time I filled up at a BP station, I was aware they were promoting a Diesel called “Ultimate". Last weekend, I once again was refuelling so thought I’d try this “Ultimate” and after carefully looking at the pumps, I picked up a nozzle marked “Ultimate unleaded” - nothing stating petrol or diesel and honestly, I’m used to pumps marked “gazole” and although I looked again & again, it never occured to me that BP would be stupid enough to call a petrol & diesel by the same name.

This cost me 2 hours sitting in the car; 5 hours at a Mercedes garage & over £750 repairs - I was told I was lucky, it can run into the thousands ! Should not BP reconsider their marketing ?

Talking to the garage, they had 5 cars the same day with the same problem !

Today, I went to petrol station and I did it :) I was looking in two verry nice girls, which were rolling arround the petrol station and I managed to put 3litres unleaded in my diesel engine. Then I filled it up additional 36litres diesel, so now there is about 45litres diesel and 3 litres petrol. After that I was driving just to home, about 1 mile. Should I continue driving my car? Can I expect a lot of problems?

In my experience (see Feb 28th above!) a small amount of petrol mixed in with diesel won’t cause any problems at all. Having diluted 10 litres of unleaded with 50 litres of diesel, my Peugeot 307 recovered quickly from a brief period of splutter and has suffered no lasting ill effects.

Having had the car serviced at a main dealer recently (without evidence of aforementioned indiscretion being detected!!) I managed 70 mpg over 150 miles today. The drive is as sweet as… and performance is up to scratch.

Moral…don’t panic.

Update on my Hilux surf.
It has been drained and is so far running ok on the correct fuel.

BO110X!!!

I have just joined your club at Tescos (Every little helps….. not this time) I’ve put £40.03 premium unleaded into the almost empty tank of my Toyota Townace turbo diesel. I ran a mile or two back to work and it conked as I pulled into the parking slot. My first paniced reaction as I realised what I’d done was Google Search which has found you lot. I’m a bit reassured and will drain the tank tonight and fill it with the right fuel. I’ll call back tomorrow with the result.

i just left the garage after paying 130 quid to have my mazda 323 diesel service and went to the petrol station next door for some diesel as the red light was on,i assumed i was filling up with ultimate diesel when i relized it was ultimate petrol id already put 18 pounds worth in so i filled the rest up with 28 pounds of diesel iv only driven about 2 miles,but if the passed is anything to go by when my husband filled an empty tank with 30 pounds of petrol it may eventually conk out and cost about 100 pounds to fix as you cant sifin a mazda you have to have tank emptyed and filter changed

has any1 ever put that mixer in before if so what happened as theres more diesel in it than petrol?help

Ok, another one. Actually it wasn’t me, but the other half, but I didn’t notice for 140 miles or so, when the car would not start after about an hour parked up. My wife was convinced she put diesel in it, so I believed her. For various reasons I waited about 4 hours before calling the RAC having gone away and come back again, then I tried the car which had completely failed to start earlier. The car started, to my surprise, a bit reluctantly, but we went home , another 100 + miles. Eventually discovered that there WAS petrol in the tank, about half a tank of petrol, half diesel. I drained the system and the car instantly ran much better. HOWEVER, one week later, it failed it’s MOT on emissions and now I am trying to find out what has been dameged. I have run an additive through the car, a 1998 Rover 620 Diesel and the exhaust turned balck for a while, now I am taking it back in again, but I don’t know whether I need to change the catalytic converter (yes, many newer diesels do have them) or whether to change the fuel pump, although the general consensus is that it probably will not be necessary. Hopefully it will pass tomorrow and that will be the end of it…… I am told that it takes time for the petrol to get out of the catalytic converter once in there. maybe I’ll have better news soon.
Stan.

Yes, I did it today. 04 BMW 525D. I felt like such a muppet. Was very tired after long journey. The reason I made the mistake was by looking at the pipes, not the handle of the fuel pump. I saw black pipes - and automatically picked that one. I then put 15 quids worth of petrol into a 1/2 full diesel tank. I started it, and moved it 5 yards to wait for my girlfriend. I then turned it off. My girlfriend had been arguing with the guy at the desk, because he swore that I put in optimax petrol, not diesel. It was then I realised what a muppet I was. I called the AA and they towed it to the BMW service center for me. I am waiting with fear and trepidation to know how much this is going to cost me - I only got the car a few months ago, and only about the third time I filled it up. Does anyone know how this will affect the engine - as I did not drive it more than 5 yards? I am hearing stories from £3,000 onwards from “reliable websites” but you lot seem to be saying that diesels can run fine with a bit of petrol in them. The AA guy said that its a 50/50 case. May be fine, or may be bloody expensive. Any experience out there of modern (04 onwards) BMW diesels getting a mouthful of petrol?

Johnny, I too feel like a muppet. I got my first ever new car less than a month ago a (the new Mercedes ML CDI) and today put £50 of unleaded in it. I drove it for a few hundred yards and when it spluttered I pulled over straight away and switched off the engine and checked the receipt . . . . .BO***CKS!! It is now with Mercedes and I will find out my fate tomorrow.

In mitigation i would have to say that the markings on BP fuel pumps are AWFUL. I actually had the diesel pump in my hand and thought to myself “no - i’ll have the Ultimate", I picked up the adjacent pump and used it. I returned to the BP garage later to try and investigate my error and have to say that BP need to make more of an effort in marking their pumps. On the label the dominant word is “Ultimate” with diesel or unleaded in smaller letters, the hoses were all the same colour and the nozzles are now solely for advertising space. Sod the nectar points, i’m going elsewhere from now on.

I know it was my fault, but everybody can have an off day and the fuel companies should make a bigger effort to make their pumps “muppet proof", god knows they charge enough!!

Has anyone else done this to a modern Merc deisel?

Does anyone know what the insurance companies position is for claiming for this on a comprehensive policy?

Well, the good news is that the Rover 620 did pass the MOT at the second attempt, albeit a bit marginally. Still, the car has done 137000+ miles in addition to our own muppetry. Good job it did not cost £3000+ as this is more than I paid for the car originally! The cleaner has done it’s stuff, bringing the particulate percentage measured in the MOT emission test down from 9% to 2.89% in a weeks driving, approximately 400 miles. I researched the best additive, both on the internet and with the trade and the additive I found was made by a company called Forte. Can’t remember the exact name, but I actually phoned the manufacturers and explained the problem. Their recommendation followed that of many garage tradesmen, i.e. buy 2 bottles, put one straight in the tank at a stronger than normal concentration, and also run the car to get it nice and hot, then pour half a bottle straight into the filter. The poor car didn’t know what had hit it and stalled as I was putting the fluid in. Several seconds of turning got him started again, albeit running roughly. I added the rest of the fluid more slowly, with a little fluid, followed by a little diesel, etc, until I had put the whole amount in. As recommended, I then took the car for and “Italian Tune up” (drive the car, not neccesarily quickly, but hold on to the gears, try to go up some hills and above all, get it warm/hot, I ran Air conditioning, lights, heater, screen heater, heated mirrors etc. at the same time, then, after a few miles stopped and revved the engine without load up the the red line once or twice, exactly as for the MOT test. The surrounding countryside disappeared in a cloud of black smoke (sorry to all environmentalists, but at least I saved the energy of scrapping the car, my other option!) as the c**p came out the back. I realise now, that this also filled the exhaust pipe with soot, which I would have cleaned out with a bottle brush or similar had I realised, this can come loose during the Emission test and obviously during normal driving. I then drove normally for the rest of the week, then got the car hot for the re-test, ensuring the best possible combustion.
Forte products are normally only available to the trade, so you might have to persuade your garage to sell you some. However, I discovered that most Vauxhall garages use it and had no problem (working in Luton!), in finding a Vauxhall dealer prepared to sell me a couple of bottles. It is also available on the internet, including sometimes on ebay, I hadn’t time to wait.
Some thanks are due, firstly to National Autocentres in Bridgnorth Shropshire, who diagnosed the problem, even when we were certain we had not been such muppets, oh yes, they refused to charge us, saying they had not done any work, even though I believe that they had at least conducted some minor dismantling. Furthermore, I returned the car to them for MOT and re-test, and it was on their say so that I tried additives at all, and in the manner described. they also tried hard to get the car through all features of the MOT and were honest about the faults found and how to cure tham. Without them I would have sold the car as I had no time or money for dsmantling and investigating etc.
Secondly, thanks to Forte, for excellent customer service and a product that pretty conclusively proved itself, despite all the sceptics out there who claim all additives are “snake oil". I agree that many are, and I have been building and restoring cars for years, so have some experience. This product worked for me.
Finally, there is hope for all fellow muppets out there, although there are undoubtedly some cars that are damaged by this mistake. I must add that there is still the possibility that prolonged damage has occured to my car, but so far, starting is getting steadily better, smoking has just about stopped and performance is much as before, so fingers crossed on that one. The major cost was in wasted fuel, although as I was able to drain it and (legally) dispose of it for free, this was not too bad. Additive was about £25 for the 2 bottles and a second MOT £40, which I would have had to spend anyway as I had another problem to fix.
So, about £100 all told, a bit less than the £3000 figure splashed about by the doom mongerers.
Good luck if (when) it happens to you!
Stan.

I just filled 13 litres in a nearly empty tank on my Isuzu Trooper 3.1TD. I just drained the tank on the forecourt then put £20 in. It ran fine all the way home. A bit of petrol in a diesel engine will not harm the engine if it’s mixed with diesel.

I am very scared.
Just filled my Seat Ibiza TDI 130 with £37.00 of petrol.
Drove about 500 yards before it just stopped.
Realised straight away what I had done and phoned for assistance.
The AA phoned a garage for me to see how much they would charge to do it there and then, the result was £240. I said tow me home and I will drain it myself tomorrow.
I am hoping there is no anti-syphon device in the filler tube.
Also after reading some horror stories I am hoping I have not damaged anything else.
Her indoors was highly ammused and asked the AA man how many blokes has this happened to, he said hundreds.
I really, really hope I can just drain and refill.
Just had a bl**dy service and 2 new tyres done on it which cost £460 the last thing I need now is another huge bill.

Ive jut done the same, have just put 6.00 worth of petrol in my k reg clio, there wasnt much diesel in it to start off with but the light hadnt come on yet. Thing is, i ddint realise what i’d done and thought the car had gnoe dodgy, ran about 8 miles on it with it cutting out etc till i got home, it still starts but doesnt sound too good. Do you think i should go to a garage or fill it up with diesel and hope for the best? Thanks

Further to my post on 17th May 06.
I syphoned out 5 gallons but could not suck any more out.
I knew there was still 5 gallons in the tank so I lifted the back seat and found a big gromit under which was the the level switch and pump in the top of the tank.
Luckily the hole lot could be unscrewed, so I removed the pump/level switch unit. This left me with a 6 inch diameter hole which made the removal of the remaining petrol very easy.
I then removed the fuel filter and blew out the flow and return pipes back into the tank. I mopped out the the remaining dregs from the tank and poured 5 gallons of DIESEL straight into the pump/level switch hole ( lot easier than trying to pour it through a funnel into the filler neck )
Replaced the pump/level switch and fitted a new fuel filter.
Moment of truth. I cranked it over and it started with a bit of uneven idling, after a couple of seconds it started to tick over normally.
I took it on a little run and all seemed OK. Took it to work today and all, still, seems OK.
Usual MPG seems a little bit down on the computer but I am hoping all will return to normal.

With reference to Charlotte just above my last post.

If you read Phils post above on April 17th 10:42PM he mixed 10 litres of petrol with 50 litres of diesel and all was well.
You could just chance it but I would get a couple of gallons of diesel in cans and pour it in before you go to the garage, this will dilute it a bit more.
Then fill it up at the garage.
The consensus seems to be that the older the car the more chance you have of all being OK.

I’d put about 25l of petrol into the empty tank of my (first ever) diesel car before I remembered I shouldn’t be using the ‘green’ hose. I thought I’d be okay as I hadn’t started the engine but apparently these days the fuel pump starts as soon as you unlock the doors (to prime the fuel-pump and give a quick start..) and the AA man told me all the fuel-system seals etc. are soluble in petrol. I’m still waiting for the bill but the garage has already had the thing for three days so I’m not expecting good news.

Yup, it has happened! Put about £5 of unleaded into virtually empty tank this morning. My car is a deisel Peugeot 307, about 5000 on the clock and 2 months old. Truck driver at the garage said I’d be ok if I filled the rest with deisel, as it would dilute sufficiently. AA then quoted about £100 to tow to a garage, who would then charge another wedge to drain etc. Decided to fill with deisel (got just under £50 in) and run with it after speaking with a Peugeot dealership who said at those proportions should be ok, provided I kept the tank above 3/4 full for the next couple of weeks while the unleaded works its way through the system. They also said that they would charge £50 to drain etc if I brought the car into the garage. Of course there is always the risk things will blow up, but have done about 40 miles since the moment of stupidity with no real side affects - engine running ok, but maybe a little laboured.

I filled my brand new 06 ldv maxus van with 60 pounds worth of petrol,drove for about 3 miles and the van started to behave badly.
spitting and sputtering chogging along smoke was bellowing out the back, pulled over and van just died.
called van aid they towed me back to the dealers to get it fixed,cost me about 150 pounds.they said they fixed it changing fuel filter,and fuel pump etc, but i can safely say it hasnt worked.
the van runs like a sack of shit and now have other probs.

putting petrol in a diesel vehicle is VERY BAD! and EXPENSIVE to put right if u can.

good luck.

I went the other way , I put 6 2/3 litres of diesel in a petrol honda civic. The supermarket I brought it at wouldn’t let me syphon it there and then, but suggested asking across the road at a car dealers. Got 3 peoples advice including a mechanic and they all said fill up the rest with unleaded petrol 45l tank- so far running smooth- cars clutch is going 91 model- so like I care :) even kiwis can do it.

Mis-fuelling an older Diesel car MAY not cause as much damage as mis-fuelling a newer make and model of Diesel car.

We at MagneCap have devised a very simple, inexpensive device that can assist and possibly eliminate this common problem. Take a look at our website www.magnecap.com and we will welcome any interests and comments.

Yep after filling up £13 worth of petrol in to my very nearly new c2 i was driving to macdonalds for a nice big mac when….. my car strted to shudder and kangeroo jump! my boyfriend just looked at me and said ” you just bloody put petrol in didnt you?” “yes i replied” with tears sreaming down my face! the amount of time s my dad has told me “you have a diesel now sara dont make the mistake” “yer yer i replied as if im stupid enough to do that!!!” ooops my boyfriend very nearly missed the first england world cup game after being strandard in macdonalds!!!! the car is in the garage no so will keep you posted!!!! funny enough i was hungry for a big mac after that!

I did it 2 days ago!!!! Put 10 litres of ****ing BP Utimate petrol into my SAAB 9.5 diesel which had about 30 litres of diesel in it. Panic stricken I gave the garage my £10 and drove off into the distance. I rang a couple of trustworthy mechanics who told me to go back and fill it to the max with diesel. I did this yesterday, and then I rang SAAB. They told me to bring it in to have it drained, I then rang the insurance to ask for advice and my cover details only to be told that this amount of petrol in a large diesel tank would not cause any problems, I am covered for misfuelling anyway so it’s up to me……so I am going to chance it!!!! I have told SAAB to forget it and I will keep the tank full to 75% minimum for the next few weeks, or even months. I will let you know if this all goes wrong.

Seat Leon TDi S (2001 model) 40ltrs of U/L petrol into a very empty tank. Drove less than 3 miles and stalled! Waiting for the RAC to take me to garage to get the petrol drained! Looks like those with similar engines were lucky and got off relatively lightly! I’ll let you know what happens in part 2!!!!

Well I just bought a Ford 54 reg. C-Max Zetec Diesel from TC Harrison , Huntingdon, and the sales person put petrol in the car before i picked it up. Got home (10 miles later) and tried starting it up an hour later and of it would not have it. Called the RAC who instantly smelled petrol on the fuel cap and had it towed back the dame dealer to resolve. still waiting.

i had done 800kms in my new toyota & realized my mistake 2kms down the road . I drained the tanks through two fuel hoses between the tank & engine ,both ends were still dripping with diesel . after flushing tank with diesel and repeating the procedure i reconnected the fuel hoses and filled the tank with diesel. ihave suffered some doubts but have travelled 1000kms and have not noticed any problems with engine performance - i might be lucky i hope

Holy S**T, i cant believe i have just done it…worst of all..its my parents car and we need it to drive down to Luton Airport tomoro. I put 10 Litres of Petrol in my mom’s Peugeot 307 Diesel, im praying they can sort it out..else its no holiday for me.

I have just managed to put £20 of unleaded in my 53 reg V70 I noticed after 2 miles and called at nearest petrol station and filled the tank to the brim with £30 of Deisel hoping that all will be ok. I am now thinking maybe call volvo in the morning but i just know that they will insist screwing lots of ££££ out of me for a drain & flush.

Hi, I have just joined the club, filled my Freelander TD4 with 55ltrs of ’super unleaded’, even had a moan to the check out girl about the cost of their diesel, (she didn’t say but you’ve bought …)
Any way complete with wife son and grandson set off for a day at the beach, drove about a mile down the road before the car lost power and stopped, luckily I got a friend to tow me home (with a very gloomy wife, son and grandson not speaking still in the car)
I fear the worst for the bank balance tomorrow when I call the local garage

Hi, me too. I have a 2 week old diesel safira “lex fleet” vehicle and put £12 unleaded in. £100 call-out fee from vauxhall and then £182 to drain flush and half a tank of diesel. had to be me and not the wife that did it. :)

Yep, Me too joining the plonker’s club. Me, yes, See my badge.. PLONKER….
Ran the Mondeo down to 23miles remaining in tank. Put £20 of Unleaded in and set off. 500 yds and it coughed at a roundabout, I imediately realised why. I continued round the roundabout and back to the garage. I called the AA. 19:45 they promised to be there in 1hr 10 mins. After 1hr 45 I called them back, they appologised and said someone would be there in 20. Immediately a local garage called (He had just that minute been contacted by AA, the 4th EMERGENCY service) He was authorized to take us to a local garage, within 10 miles. But we had home relay.!!! (We would have to find a hotel that would accept our two dogs as the garage didn’t open until morning). It was another hour and six more, calm and collected, phone calls, 22:30 before we were on the back of a transporter and on our way home. The AA had insisted that Fuel contamination was not covered by Home Relay. Anyway, the car is in a local garage right now, I’l get the bill tomorrow probably. At least we are holidaying at the moment and not relying on it for work. And the weather is brilliant. I prefer sunbathing to touring anyway. Why is the filler cap on the Mondeo GREEN. ?????? (Yes I know is says Deisel. sod off)
Misfuelling - Don’t Get Caught Out!
http://www.aatrust.com/files/reports/01022004_misfuelling.pdf

Well, I too did this yesterday, I was on my lunch break and went to the ptrol station to fill up my astra. I usually put Ultimate Diesel in so i looked for the blue pump with ultimate on it, filled up £15 worth and paid and then drove off. I managed to get quite a distance away and pulled into the next macdonalds drive thru to get some lunch, as i did my car stuttered and stopped. i tried restarting it and it didnt have any of it. I then kinda stupid remembered that okay, i did have the ultimate pump, but i had the funny feeling it now had said ultimate unleaded, but the pump looked identical to the diesel one. bahHHH!! well, I called many people for there help, the nearest garage said “oh, some diesels will run on petrol for a bit. but if it wont start then you’re looking at a new fuel pump and 6-7 hundred. i promptly walked off, my dad suggested just filling the tank with diesel and keep turning it over, the AA man came up and said that he saw a diesel that had exploded due to having petrol put in. Well, I thought I’d really screwed my car up. We got it towed to a garage (AA approved one) and they emptied the take, cleaned the lines and fuel pump and even put some diesel back in. It works like a dream again, teh tubo still kicks in and it does not mis fire. Im very happy :) £152 it cost. So, never beleive people when they tell you that you have ruined your car, it can do in stannge circumstances - and remember i had driven my car with petrol in for some distance. So all was well :)

Btw, my friend once filled her petrol car with diesel, once again this was fixed quite easily! There is hope!!!

After saying to my fella everytime we need to refuel our diesel Astra “we need petrol” only for him to get all arsey and man-like and say something like “you’d better not put petrol in, it’s a diesel!", HE’S gone and done exactly what he says not to! It’s all OK now but yesterday we had to pay £150 to get the tank drained (there were threats of needing a new engine/fuel pump/car etc). You know damn sure that I told everyone involved that it wasn’t me, but my gorgeous man what did it! Also, whilst trying to sort all the stuff out yesterday I was told a variety of stories about a bit of petrol being OK in a diesel engine and that taxi drivers often do this as a matter of routine to keep the engine clean… Not sure if this is to be believed…

Looks like my gorgeous fella David Saphier has already owned up to his mistake!!!

neighbour called at midnight wailing that she had filled her Mitsubishi with 55 litres of petrol i/o diesel. Out came trusty Defender and tow bar and we got her home. This morning early (like v.early) it’s onto Google and lo and behold this site comes up. Read everything and then emptied the tank completely and filled with diesel. As several peoples comments on the site were that the older the vehicle the less likely you are to do any damage and she is of 1990 vintage, I tried firing up right after the fuel change and she started almost immediately with clouds of smoke and a little hesitation and then settled into normal running.
Neighbour has now set off for a trip of approx 50 kiloms so am standing by the phone!!

Have told her to keep the contaminated fuel and put a couple of litres in each time she fills up. Am I right on this ?

forgot to add - many thanks to you all for all advice/comments/suggestions - where would we be without forums ?

filled ibiza1.9d with 3/4 diesel today. didn’t run it as i realised when i looked at the receipt on my way out. it said ultimate…. brilliant 32 litres at £1.02/ sodding litre. have read on this thread that a guy by the name of Nigel managed to siphon out most of his tank. i tried and i gagged but to no avail. all i got was a dizzy head, bit like being stoned.
i’ve found the cover to the tank underneath the back seats but am as yet to open it up.

what do i need to do this job properly…? meant to be driving round the country next week with g/f. crip, ballacks, shat and bums….!

Hi, put 50% unleaded in my 53 plate Astra yesterday, it ran fine until the “brain” took exception to it and stopped the engine.
Got the car flushed out and it is back to normal, last time I did it was 2 years ago to this very same car, that was nearly 100% petrol in it, out of the service station, whipped onto the motorway quickly up to 100mph (hot date) and then conked out. No damage either time….
sadly a drive a fast petrol car at weekends so Monday morning tired and getting badgered on the cellphone mistakes happen…

PS a friend lives opposite a service station and frequently helps stranded drivers, he puts the contaminated fuel, diluted of course in his petrol Range Rover, no catalytic converter so nothing much to harm as long as the dilution is reasonable. I think my own Astra 1.7CDTI is fairly immune from damage, it uses electronic injection so has a different topology from traditional all mechanical diesels, I have known them to sometimes rev uncontrollably (can’t meter the thinner fuel) and end up in a real bang. My Astra yesterday ran for quite a while at 50%, I now regret not bringing it straight home and drawing off some of the fuel and adding more diesel to reduce the concentration of petrol. I helped a friend with his diesel Peugout 405 a while back, towed it away from the petrol station and drew fuel off from the pump as someone described earlier, every time you turn the “ignition” on the pump runs for a second or so, took a while to extract 6 gallons or so but car was unscathed

£70 and two tanks of fuel later and all is well. think i’m going to try running it on veg oil with a bit of diesel and petrol mix. mechanic said one pint petrol to every five gallons veg, plus a bit of diesel. does no harm to older engines and the emissions are lower!!!
in germany there is no tax on biofuels. in britain tony has increased the tax on biofuels to make it more expensive than diesel and putting many small refiners out of the market… wiat a few years and BP and co will come out with an amazing low emission, clean burning, good for the environment fuel. oh and it’ll cost you £2/ litre but there won’t be any other choice because diesel will be considered too dirty and taxed even more.
tony and his green credentials….? a load of manure!

my god ive read some crap in my time but all the comments on this site just proves how many ale house mechanics roam aimlessly through this fair land nackering everybodies vehicles up but their own with stupid uneducated comments.its simple if you put the wrong fuel in your car get it drained proffesionally.why?.because its the wrong fuel for gods sake. if the manufacturer made it to run on diesel and petrol mix or crappy cooking oil oh sorry BIODIESEL then theyd tell you, they like to sell cars to minge bags its good for the sales figures.I run a licensed drainage centre and ive seen the results of just top it up and itll be ok “plonkers”

Well I cant believe Im eligible to place a blog on this site, I should have been born blonde or given the name Miss Plonker/Muppet!! Yep, I did it alright, £20’s worth of flippin BP Utimate Petrol (I was positive that hose was black!) in my 10 month old Peugeot 206 diesel. Its the RAC man I feel sorry for. He looked like the kind of bloke who just hates seeing a woman cry….and cry I did!! almost enough to end this water shortage we’ve got down here. But saying that, he was rather cute and worthy of having the RAC Motoring Services Customer Questionnaire’s “outstanding” service boxes ticked. He also mentioned when towing me to my designated garage that I towed remarkably well. (she says polishing her nails). My car basically died in a white plume of smoke the day after Id filled it with the Ultimate. Id even driven the 5 miles to work and back. It wasnt until I was on my way to Tescos that I noticed my car behaving badly, wouldnt start first time, chugged along, kept stalling … I thought how weird, its never done this before for no reason. It was then Id twigged what I might of done. Dread filled my thoughts when I realised this wasnt going to be covered under warranty. I even got someone to give me a lift to the petrol station later where Id filled it up the day before to confirm which pump Id used. The next morning I ventured into the garage, paper bag over my head and blushing profusely to admit my misdemeanor. “aww thats alright” they said, “no need to be embarassed…we’ve all done it at sometime or other” NOW THEY TELL ME!! “we’ll soon get that fixed for you” £140 later I drove my car away and you know….I think its given it a whole new lease of life having had it flushed through and cleaned its running better now then it did before…in fact…I could do with some of that myself! could take years off me!! So to all the women who have done the same as me…dont cry (unless of course you want a cuddle from a cute RAC Patrol man) It all worked out fine in the end. This is one mistake I wont be making again. Happy motoring all you bloggers!

10 quids worth of unleaded in an empty diesel tank. Toyota Corolla D4D. 12 miles later, running a bit rough. AA to garage. Drained for £85. Filled up with diesel. Runs better now than it did before. No worries. Mind you, I’m still not talking to her.

I put 35 litres of petrol into a my work’s diesel Van and was none the wiser and drove about 100miles with no problems then returned to thge office still unaware of what i’d done…..3 days later i was again out in the van and after about 40 miles, i had a half full tank but the engine cut out and wouldn’t restart. After looking thru the car handbook to see what the dasboard indications meant, i discovered that the warning light indicated there was water or another contaminant in the fuel system…then thge penny dropped that after putting diesel into this van for years, i’d somehow managed to put petrol in without realising D’oh!!!
I phoned the office, and told them i’d broke down, but didn’t mention a thing about the fuel. They arranged for the AA to come out and fix the car. As soon as the AA guy came, he asked if i’d recently filled the car… i told him the last time i’d filled up was 3 days and approx 150 miles ago…he checked the fuel filter and immediately said it was petrol. So game over, and thinking i was a cert for the bullet, he took pity on me…towed me to a layby where we drained the fuel into petrol cans using a manual pump. We had half a tank to drain and it took about 20 minutes. He towed me to a petrol station where i filled it with DIESEL, and after a bit of coughing and spluttering…hey presto - It started!!!!!
I was so relieved!!!!! Panic Over!!!!…. He even gave me an invoice saying there was a problem in the fuel filter and that was all my work had to know…. Gave the guy a bung for saving my bacon and drove back to work feeling like i’d won the lottery!!
Lesson learned - and i will NEVER ever make the same mistage again!!!
Still cant believe i actually did it though………… Oh well

Just switched off when filling up the car, 6 litres unleaded in the tank before I clicked. Garage advised filling up with diesal to dilute, 20 miles driven since with no detected problems, fingers crossed so far so good.

Oh dear. Taking kids to Thorpe Park, put 13 litres of b***** BP ultimate unleaded in. After much debate with hubby on end of phone (not in person thank God) decided to top up with diesel. Took 45 litres and continued journey in silence listening for knockings, potential blowing up sounds. Got there and back ok, praying will continue to be so. Will continue to top up on regular basis as everyone suggests. Does anyone know if the petrol mixes in or lays on top of the diesel? (Thats a question from hubby, doens’t sound like a female one does it?)

Went to the garage to fill up the car tonight. I put 21 Litres (£20) of BP unleaded into the tank of our Peugeout 307 HDI. Thankfully though my better half spotted this as I was doing my usual shaking every last drop out of the nozzle malarky. We didnt start the engine but instead pushed the car over to the parking spaces at the BP garage where it is still sitting just now until the morning. Im off to Halfords first thing to get a syphon pump and hopefully get most of the petrol out of the tank and top up with deisel. Fingers crossed this will be ok but Im scared :| I was told by a RAC driver off the record to just fill up with deisel and it should work fine but I didnt want to risk it. I will post again tomorrow with an update

Hi
My wife put 50 litres of petrol in my 1 yrs old bmw 320 diesel and drove it for a mile before it had knocking noises and a lot od dark smoke. I feared the worst but after reading all these links I decided to see If i can drain it myself before tryin the insurance route as my acess was £275. I managed to drain all the petrol from the tank and pipes to the injectors, put a new fuel filter. I then topped up the tank with 20 litres of diesel and started the car and it worked on the second crank. No side effects so far after 100 mile of driving up to 100 mph, just to test the torque for testing purposes on a ” empty airfield".

We have a good result. My mate drained the tank from the fuel pipe but it was a lengthy process as the release had a 3 second delay on it so it was a matter of turning the car to idle every few seconds for 1 and a half hours. I bought some Redex and filled the car to the brim with diesel and its working fine with no problems. I gave my mate £50 for his troubles. There is always hope

Really panicking now, full tank of unleaded ultimate in 2 wk old Renault Megane…drove for few miles on the motorway before stopping. AA towed to garage no mechanics around but ’sales guy’ said ” have to be new engine, cost you thousands"…feel sick. It’s Company Car, so the dealer service dept will probably stitch me up.
Really worried and can’t find out anything until tomorrow.

Just done the same myself, put £55 worth of unleaded in my 407 diesel, recovery have just picked the car up and pug garage said it will cost about £150 to sort unless there is permanent damage. It could then cost around £1000. Can’t believe I did it!! just had the car a few months, but hopefully there is no permanent damage.
Linda, what was the damage to your car then?

Hi Lesley,
I’m in the same boat with cost….i.e phoned mechanic (Dealership) Sat, he couldn’t look at it till Tuesday but estimated £150 or ‘few hundred’. Driven ( excuse pun) myself mad this holiday w.end on the internet, where some estimate cost of up to £3,000 as car is brand new and is a ‘Common Rail Diesel’….which apparently is bad news, especially as I had driven the car! Reading my Company policy re insurance,it would have been better if I had written the car off in a crash….only £500 excess then!
I’ll post again when get the diagnosis & cost….fingers crossed yours will be minimal cost/damage.

Just got the ‘good news’, only £160 so didn’t need to replace the engine! When I pick the car up though,I will be poking the ’sales guy’ in the eye as he said would be thousands.
Lesley, hope yours is ok.

Just found this website, which has given me a “lift"! Background: been driving since 1965 but just joined the “petrol in diesel tank” ranks. Why do garages have the same coloured pipes for both petrol and diesel??? New car, Honda CRV Executive i-cdti, five months old, diesel, still in warranty, tank half full; Sunday morning 6.00 a.m. BP garage, chose the black fuel pipe, put 25 litres in, drove away…jerk, judder………stop! Managed to get it going and drove home. Called Honda Assist who finally arrived after getting lost five times and needing to be “talked” into my address by mobile. Looked at the car and said his software wasn’t “new” enough for my car so couldn’t diagnose what was wrong. He started the engine and ran it at high revs until it backfired and a black cloud of gunk came out the exhaust. Then he said should be alright to drive to dealer the next day (a Bank Holiday!) and get them to look at it. Just got the news from the dealer…£4,400 as it’s a “common rail diesel” and all sorts of parts need to be replaced: if I just drain the tank, and flush the engine (about £250) then the warranty’s void! Legalised blackmail or what? Good news is that my insurance company will meet the costs; bad news is that I lose two years no claims, £275 excess and £210 for car hire, but that’s better than £4,400!

yes i have done it. i feel really bad i remember saying to my lovley wife when we got the diesel not to forget and not put petrol in. What did i just do 2 hours ago. well hay ho its at the garage now been told it may cost anything from a hundred to four thousand am i been ripped off help no one has written in to say how much it does cost hope i remember to help the next person.

I think 9 time out of 10 the car seems to stop to a halt before any severe damage is actually caused as there are very little comments left on this site saying it cost £1,000’s to get fixed. I really think we should draw up some kind of petition against these fuel suppliers to make sure it is impossible for situations like this to occur. Surely it is possible to make the nozzles only fit specified tanks etc. There must be something that can be done becuase this clearly is a more common occurance that I had thought.

I agree with Kelly’s suggestion; it’s only by adopting a collective and a “customer orientated” approach that we’ll stand any chance of getting the big petrol companies to even consider making any changes as evidenced by BP’s Customer “Careline” Centre, which was to the effect that we consider our signage on the pumps and the pipes is adequate.

I also got short thrift from BP Careline….so I said would take my custom elsewhere!

I guess it would be to much of a battle to even have these multi billion £ companys even glimpse at a petition after all the fat cat directors don’t pay a single penny for fuel and they probably get jeeves to fill up there bentleys anyway

Got a phone call last night asking for a tow rope!!!

My work colleagues sister-in-law had only filled her 55 plate tdci Fiesta with £34 worth of unleaded. Hopefully draining the tank and filling with the ‘black’ nozzled pump should sort it. The engine hasn’t been run yet luckily.

I bet she’s feeling a bit of a plonker today and would like to remain anonymous

just taken delivery of my new mercedes e320 DIESEL company car and after only three days have filled the tank with f******* petrol at bp. Rang merc dealer who said it would cost over 7 grand to put right cause i drove it up the road till it stopped. After putting the phone down and recovering from the shock i phoned a mate who had done it the week before. He put me in touch with Ultra-evac a mobile company who works out of byfleet who would come to me and drain my tank out and get me on the road again it took them 90 mins to get to me and another 60 to drain my tank, clean out the petrol from my engine and start it again this cost me 150 pounds + vat and i have not had a problem with the car since. The technician told me about all the horror stories and that in all the cars that he had done he goes through the same method and has yet to have a problem with a car starting again his moto was “if it was running before i put the wrong fuel in it will be running again when he was done” . has anyone else had an experience with this company and how did their jobs go any problems?

My hubbie has just put unleaded into our hire van (diesel hire van!)that we are using to move house with today…oops…and DROVE IT…oops…he stopped at a service station getting no help from anyone and was a long way from home. Amazingly an RAC man in van turned up and trold him that as llong as it was only a small amount - under 14 litres that is sould be fine if he just filled to the top with diesel again…phew…he’s on his way home now…let’s hope I see him tonight

Yes!!! Me too!!! I’ve done that!!! A full tank of Petrol in my TD5, I did a whole 170km till white smoke came bulging out!!!
Just drained the sucker, filled her up and away she went, better fuel economy, noticable power increase, and a clean burn!!!

Now howz that ???

Gerard

Put €13 of petrol in my 2.5 diesel vauxhall omega this morning realised before I started asked a local garage to sort me out. He only charged me €40,00 George in Bandon (Cork) is Brill!!!!
Hope everything will allright when I pick it up!

One love to all!!!

Ok, so I put 10 litres of unleaded into my diesel Renault Clio 1.6 Expression. I was distracted while filling and failed to notice I was using the wrong colour pump. Anyway, drove away from garage and about five miles further on the car started behaving erratically and eventually stalled going up a hill. When I tried to restart it there was zero response from the gas peddle and that was when it hit me that I d put the wrong fuel in. So having found out that my AA recovery policy would not cover me for misfuelling, meaning that I would have to pay £95 to get it towed to a garage (which would ve been closed anyway as it was Sunday)I left the car overnight and went back the next morning with a mechanic, fully expecting to have to tow the car home and drain the tank. Out of hope more than expectation I tried to start the car and much to my surprise it fired up on the first go. My mechanic friend advised me to keep the gas on a constant setting and drive at a steady speed (approx 20mph) so as to avoid the fuel mixing up too much in the tank (in other words keep the unleaded floating on the top of the diesel). He also told me to avoid any rough road or road humps as this too might cause the unleaded to mix in with the diesel. I drove back home, about 10 - 15 miles, with no problems. We then bought two gallons of diesel and trickle fed it into the tank so as not to stir up the existing mixture too much (note we fed it in via a narrow pipe from a petrol can rather than filling up direct from the pump). having done that I tried to start it up. At first it wouldn’t have it, but my mechanic friend said that we should tow my car around and bump start it in second gear. Once it started the trick was to keep the engine ticking over, trying not to get over enthusiastic with the gas. after a few starts and stalls I got it ticking over consistently and let it idle for about half an hour. I then drove it round for about an hour again avoiding road humps. I drove it for about 8 hours today and apart from a couple of heart stopping moments when it didn’t fire up immediately, it is running as it did before the goof. So, there we are, further proof that putting unleaded in a diesel does not have to mean a hefty bill for draining the tank or completely replacing the engine. Rejoice all ye fuel fools, it’s never as bad as it seems.

Last night my partner put about half a can of petrol into our Kia Sedona diesel, called breakdown services for advice they told us not to start the car and get it to a garage to have the tank drained, spent best part of today sorting out ‘his’ sorry mistake! Breakdown truck took car to our very good local garage (after calling them to see if they could do the job) and have picked it up this evening, bill came to £78.14 and that was with a tenners worth of diesel included in that! Thank God for reliable local garages that don’t rip you off!

happened to me last night. A plonker did it to my A4 TDI full tank of UL AA towed me to nearest garage. what is this stuff about thousands of pounds and can i just drain this stuff and get running. Please help

Just put £20 worth of UL in Diesel traffic. Didn’t start it up as I only noticed when putting nozzle back in pump. Tesco garage said they have a deal with RAC to tow you home free of charge. Got it towed home and will drain tank tomorrow. Don’t see any problem if engine hasn’t been run. AA breakdown cover wanted to charge me £95. Won’t be renewing that when it expires!Plan to drain out as much as possible and fill to gunnals with diesel. Not paying hundreds or thousands for putting wrong fuel in tank!

I have just done similar thing, £20 of unleaded in disel car BMW 118d doh!, ran car for a few hundred yards and it dawned on me. I stopped the car (was loosing power a bit) and it was recovered to dealer. Cost £500 to check and drain, BMW have process they “must” adhere to which check s for presenc eof filings in fuel lines and engine, they then drive for 7 miles and check again. I was lucky 2 other cars in eth very same weekend for very same offence each one costing ~£6k to fix eeek! You should note mine was company car and this isnt covered by their policy however some insurance companies and lease companies do fork out. Still they did wash and valet it….oh I can laugh now…

Well like so many of you i have fallen foul of the unleaded deamon inside me, or rather now in my diesel tank. i put approx 14 litres of UL into an empty tank, well almost empty on the red and all that. Realised what id done and then filled to the brim with deisel. My Passat ran fine, but was a little lumpy on start up and performance was down. The only thing i did was put some injector flush in the tank, and for the next couple of tank fills i used BP Ultimate diesel. Only reason for this was that i believe it contains various lubricants to assist the engine as the UL would possibly disolve the ones in the diesel. Now that all the UL was out of the tank i replaced the fuel filter as the UL would disintergrate the diesel filter. This you need to do because if a bit of crap gets into the cylinders from the filter breaking down then it is rebuild time and lots of ££££££££££. i did alot of resirch and spoke to many people in the trade and the general oppinion was that the most a car could run on safely-ish is a 20% mix with UL being the 20% and deisel being 80%. Well the 97 passat is still running fine 106K on the clock and this UL episode was three months ago. so dont pannic just drown it in deisel and change the filter. Im gald to be a member of this ever growing club….. untill next time…….

Well I now join the group who have put unleaded into their diesel tank.

I have not long had my first diesel car a 2005 BMW 320 d. In fact last week was going to be only the second time that I had put fuel into it. I drove to the Asda fuel station with the words “remember to put diesel only into the tank” firmly embedded into my mind. However, on opening the fuel flap I noticed that there was a bright green peg on which to hang the fuel cap. Having undone the fuel cap I noticed that it had a greenish coloured pointer on it. I dutifully hung the fuel cap on to the bright green peg for safety. (BMW like you to keep your hands clean) So at this point my mind is slightly clouded by a greenish colour and low and behold what do I do pick up

A green pipe in fact an unleaded pipe and proceed to put petrol in the tank. Fortunately I realised my mistake after only 1 gallon. I did not start the car. I phoned BMW who in turn sent out a recovery truck who then towed it to a main BMW dealer Dick Lovett Cribbs Causeway just outside Bristol. Two days later I was told my car was ready to be picked up. A friend of mine dropped me off at the garage where I was presented with a bill for £645!

I hope I don’t make the same mistake again but I think I will be putting some black tape around that bright green peg!

Modern Common rail diesels do not tolerate contamination well as the high pressure pump (1500 Bar in many cases) will self destruct due to the lack of lubrication which occurs when petrol is added. The metal fragments of the damaged pump are circulated through out the system and ends up clogging the fuel injectors. If this occurs you need a new fuel system at 2500-4000 quid. Some people think they have gotten away with it for a while, but quite often the fuel pump has taken a bashing and the system fails a few weeks or months later. Call your breakdown service and do not drive the vehicle if it happens to you.

I pour in a 20 litre container of cooking oil into my diesel every time I fill up and have done so for 18 months.

Nosc your car isn`t a modern common rail/unit injector diesel so it doesn`t count :)

all these people draining their own tanks-what are they doing with the contaminated fuel-not down the drains I hope

The fuel I drained from my car on August 20th is still sitting in my cloak room in a 20l jerry can. I have no idea how to dispose of this and despite everybody telling my to throw it down the drain I would never dream of it.

Kelly, your local mechanic might use it in his pressure washer or space heater or even as a degreaser,but make sure you tell him how much petrol is mixed in with it.

Ok. Me too… well actually, a well meaning friend. £26 quids worth on top of about half a tank of diesel in a Scenic 1.9dci. I caught it on before it was driven. Am seriously hacked off by the RAC - have taken inefficiency to new depths - “tow truck there in 70 minutes” translated to tow truck requested, cancelled ("we can’t find your customer number, oh there it is"), requested ("we’re only meant to take you 10 miles, but since it’s midnight etc…. 15 miles we’ll do…"), Cancelled ("…colleague misled you there… can’t") etc. The 70 minutes took us from 2230 until 0245… and cost us an extra £82. Want to jump up and down to shout that they’re crap. Am having whole blooming bucket drained tomorrow in hope that it can be flushed out. Why does this stuff happen the week you pay for a new house and the day you start having to make long daily trips to the hospital? Gggrrrrr

I’ve joined the club, been driving for over ten years never done anything like this before. But on Friday very tired stopped at the Tesco service station to fill after my weekly shop, doh :O Luckily I realised and stopped at about 6 litres and did not start the car. RAC man took me home and told me to call Ultra-Evac 24 hour service will come out to you and remove fuel at a cost of £150 + vat easy money for what is a simple process. Anyway I decided against doing it myself and risk causing serious damage to my beloved VW Golf GT-TDi.

Bugga Wea Pess Pooh !!!, I just put 65 litres of unleaded in my hubbies Nissan Navara 2.5TDI………..WHOOPS! Luckily, due to a sudden and miraculous intellectual recovery I did not start the engine.
After towing the offending recepticle home from our local Tesco station, He has spent the night draining the fuel tank, he said he heard every penny of the £54.50 dribble into 9 fuel cans. (Unusual amount of fuel cans courtesy of our very understanding mate Dale:)
He then got towed back to Tesco’s where he put in a further £60.00 of fuel….sorry ‘DIESEL’ and it started and runs fine.
The guy in the kiosk said to him “Diesel is it this time sir?” I think I may be in for about 10 years (or at least until he does it himself)of flack over this.

Well done stimpy, but at least I have enough diesel/petrol mix to run my manky old lawnmower on for the next 2 years!!! At least now I know what to get you for christmas, a nise big DIESEL FUEL ONLY sticker LMAO
Chin up, your not alone on this one. x

Can’t even laugh about it yet. Have just put £54 of unleaded (97 octane no less) in VW Passat TDi, husband now sitting waiting for RAC. Still waiting to hear if covered by insurance?? Sadly, did start the car and then wondered why it stopped 150 yards down the road. Woe is me

Oh Blimey, can I join the club?
Whole tank of unleaded into diesel Touran - drove for 50m. Clunk. Doh. Garage towed it away and drained it - only cost £140. Bargain after hearing that I might have to fork out £4000 on my wife’s lease car’s new engine - not even as if its our own car. Time for big curry and some pints. Thanks go to this website for calming me down as I trawled the internet whilst waiting to hear what the damage was, and hearing that you don’t always need a new engine - no matter what all the scare mongers say!

I filled my peugeot 807 up with diesel as it should be, drove it home and it wouldn’t start again, loads of white smoke. It’s at the garage now and they said it’s not diesel in the car at all! I’m bloody furious, i’ve got the receipt that says I used the diesel pump but have no comeback as apparently I could have gone somewhere else afterwards. The garage are draining it and I am now waiting for the bill. Will never go to Tesco again.

Put £15 of Petrol in my Landrover (L reg)…..afraid 2 drive it now. Is it ok to drive to nearest Petrol Station (2 mins drive) and fill up with diesel??????? Will it be OK?

David, your not out of the woods yet mate :( :(. It might be a few weeks or months before the damage manifests itself. I hope it`s OK, but I work as a vehicle technician and I would honestly say it`s 50/50 that the fuel system will survive.

With all due respect to Ricky, I’ve been following this message board for some time now since I committed the cardinal sin and I can’t find evidence of anyone whose vehicle has experienced any lasting damage.

Since my calamity (see Feb 28th above) I’ve driven my ‘54 plate Peugeot 307 HDi for 16,000 miles without mishap (see also April 17th).

If it’s so damaging to run unleaded in a diesel engine, why isn’t this site flooded with guys whose cars and vans are completely beyond repair? I’m only looking at the evidence.

I take your point Phil, but when you work on these things day in,day out you get a better perspective of what is really happening. How many people would be prepared to admit they had done thousands of pounds worth of damage on a web forum anyway? Here is a link from LVL one of the largest leasing companies in the UK.

http://www.lvl.co.uk/press_release.php?id=379

Just put 56 quid of unleaded in my peugeot 307 sw (diesel) clever boy!!!
and yes …drove it about a bit…Dad towed me to Garage and now awaiting the damage…Trick or Bloody treat!!!!

Ricky, does the statement about the 50/50 chance of the fuel system surviving also refer to misfuelling and NOT starting the engine? It seems as though alot of people have driven several 100 yards before halting to a stop and then realising the mishap. Does that make a difference?

Yes kelly If you don`t turn the key and prime the fuel pump with the contaminated stuff you just need a fuel drain. The problem is when people drive the car until it stops on a mixture of diesel and petrol.
I should add older diesels tolerate this type of abuse far better it is modern Common rail Diesels which suffer.VW/AUDI/SEAT/SKODA used a slightly different system known as PD or unit injection which in “my opinion” tolerates abuse a little better.

Please can somebody explain it to me SCIENTIFICALLY?

Why cant we put diesal in to a petrol engine??????
They both reliease carbon daioxide & water.They both are hydro carbons..So???????????

NOTE : Please tell it very simply without using very complicated word and stuff as i’m yet a ordinary leval student.

Thank you verymuch

I just put £6 worth of diesel into a 1.4 new golf petrol courtesy car. It just stuttered as I got to the door. What do you folks think, car and fixing price?

No big deal,just needs draining and refilling with Unleaded, might damage the Catalyst and o2 sensors in the long run possibly.

Prabathi: WIKIPEDIA and HOW STUFF WORKS will explain the differences between these two types of internal combustion 4 stroke engine, but it is basically down to a difference in flash point or volatility of the two fuels and the way in which the engines ignite the mixture.

Volvo S40 1.6 D. I’m a bl**dy Idiot, Just done a fivers worth of UL in my Volvo s40 1.6 DIESEL.(06 plate,still less than 10k on it) something EXTREMELY odd has happened.
1. It’s quieter.
2 It’s more responsive by a very noticable amount
3. Ive only managed to drive it for a day but economy round town is up from around 39 on the fuel trip meter to around 45. What IS going on, as i’m damned if i can figure it out. Any comments at all, that dont tell me what an a**e I am will be appreciated and of course read properly, and taken in good spirit……

IMHO this forum is giving a microcosm of what is really happening re putting petrol in modern common rail diesels.
The full extent of misfueling must be truly enormous and beyond reported
figures.
Many must surely just top off with diesel, say nothing and hope for the best. Or sell the car on for peace of mind.
So who wants to buy a used common rail diesel given this situation?.
On the other hand though, does the level of common rail fuel injection system failure match the incidents of miss fueling?
Maybe though these missfueled ( driven away) cars are *timebombs* for the future?

Mike, dont use the word *BOMB* in an email, youll probably have the fuzz, the customs and excise, and several other really useful agencies come knocking on your door accusing you of attempting to overthrow the government,terrorism,speeding,being nasty to people, biting the heads off black jelly babies etc etc

I thought about that Robert, but after retiring from one of the most *politically correct* councils in the country recently….
You however, have gone really over the top with *jelly baby*
now that could be a child protection issue…. ( Knock Knock)
:)

Day 2 of the misfueling saga.now done 312 miles with no ill effects. No detrimental effects at all,its still running better after its accidental shot of petrol. Still quieter than it was before, and still more MPG(when i say more i mean decreased fuel consumption, was 39, now levelling out at 42 round town) I am absolutely b*ggered if I can work out whats going on. If this is the end result of mis fuelling then perhaps i’ll do it once every 6 months!!! I can see a Volvo technician somewhere rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of meeting me and charging me xxxxx thousand £££££’s when it eventually does go bang Because i am being stubborn and wont listen to common sense, but then again maybe NOT!!!

On a not dissimilar note please disregard the timings of the recent postings as someone hasnt put their clock back by the 1 hour required

Mark don`t worry about it. It`s a Volvo. I`ll keep my fingers crossed it blows up for you, so you can get something decent :)

I managed to fill my BMW 120D with 40 litres of unleaded today - 1 mile later I realized to my horror what I had done. Drove 1 further mile home (yes, not a good idea but I was on a busy road and just wanted the car home) and tried to syphon the fuel tank using hose, but unable to maintain any outflow. I guess there is a security device to prevent this. I do not want to take the car to a dealer as it will cost me a fortune and maybe invalidate my warranty. Does anyone know how to drain the tank, where the drain plug might be located, and whether you nned a special tool for this?

Hey.. I’ve been reading all your comments and its seems fine when you’ve put petrol in a diesel engine.. but what happens when you put diesel in a petrol? I have an old nissan sunny (1985) and it’s just died on me.. not sure if I did put diesel in by accident… can I just drain and refill?

Petrol into a common rail Diesel and its on death row
Diesel into petrol and its get out of jail free
( well, just the cost of a drain and refill :)

I put 20 pounds of unleaded petrol in my 1.5 scenic.It drove fine to start with and drove 5 miles to work. However on the way home it started to judder and run badly.Took it straight to a garage who didn’t believe me at first as they said it wouldn’t run for so long if I had put petrol in it.Checked sale reciept and definitly petrol.Told it could cost thousands .Thank god its covered on my insurrance but don’t know the long term damage I’ve done to the car.What a **** and the inconvience caused of not having a car for maybe a week is reminder enough that I WILL NEVER PUT PETROL IN MY DIESEL CAR AGAIN.

In my previous occupation in association with Forensic Psychiatry, one of the most reliable predictors of future behaviour is the following statement.
*The best predictor of future behaviour, is past behaviour*
In the context of this fueling topic, it means there is a much higher risk of doing the same thing again, if you have done it once. (Compared with people who have never filled with the wrong fuel)
While this will not apply to eveyone, statistically the *petrol into Diesel car* group may well be advised to switch to petrol cars, as filling with the wrong fuel in a petrol car is less expensive.

Thanks for those words of wisdom very reasurring! My husband is never going to let me forget this maybe his continual smug reminders in the future will stop me doing it again….heres hoping.

Lucy, Put a “Diesel” sticker inside the fuel flap. They can be obtained from Halfords. Good Luck :)

£10 UL in my brand new Honda Accord ICTDi. Topped up with diesel, so far so good. Sounds a litle noisier than it should but that may just be paranoia. Company car so if it breaks, I’ll ask for another one.

my jeep wont start, i am really hoping it isnt this petrol into diesel tank situation. and that it is the heavy rain or other natural cause etc. that will be ok in the morning. am i in complete denial. i cant remember whether i put diesel or petrol into. i obviously am in doubt as to which otherwise i wouldnt be on this site. aaaaggghhh! just crashedinto a fiat bravo the other day cost me 600 now this. i need to stop getting distracted by stressful diversions. moral: do not let emotions dictate decisions. ever again. fingers crossed that this is not the site i belong on. more later…

well, truth hurts. but alls well because it is ended well. yes i am an idiot and put petrol into diesel tank, but luckly it was such a small amount 10euros, and after a day worth of running to and from the diesel station the jeep is ok and my local garage only charged me 20 to drain off a little of the petrol in the filter andthe top up of 40 diesel in the tank ran through fine, after the most disgusting smoke came out.the garage i had gone to when this accident happend was one of the ones that has pumps right beside eachother and the diesel pump ios blue and this was also not the ordinary station i go to. the texaco i usually go to has seperate pumps and the deisel is black much better. should have seperate stations for these accidents to not happen in the first instance but then a bad workwoman blames her tools in this instance my tool of a boyfriend who annoyed me into distraction. anyway i cant blame anyone but myself really for being complacent and not paying attention to what i was doing. good luck to any others who may find themselves in this position in the future. dont panic or worry it merely compaounds things. acceptance and problem solving skills are the only tools needed to rectify this matter, and as long as you dilut the petrol or drain it through things will be okay. thankgod for grace in all things.

Well, still driving the Kia and all fine, several months on. I avoid filling up like the plague and let hubby take the responsibility.We never let it get below 1/2 full and have boycotted BP.

Hi

Reading all this has been confusing. Some said that diesel in a petrol engine is a disaster - others have said that it’s not such a catastrophe.

Is there anyone who can please explain this ? My chauffeur is at the gas station right now. And called to tell me of this goof up. They are draining the tank right now.

Would appreciate some advice.

jaina mishra

Diesel in a petrol is an inconvienience, Petrol in a diesel is potentially catastrophic. For the doubters,I was shown the damaged insides of three different fuel pumps last week on a training course.

I AM blond and I am stupid and I WON’T put 4.5litres unleaded into quarter of a tank of diesel ever again even if I have elderly parents in car rabbiting on about how much I am saving by using their local supermarket… W-reg Ford Galaxy, didn’t start it, had it towed, hoped it can just be drained; is it too old to be one of these “common rail” thingeys? I hope so. Not looking forward to hubby’s homecoming, wish me luck, I’ll let you know how I get on. What a plonker!!!!!

I did it tonight , from empty 30 liters of what I thought was BP ultimate disel (grey nozzel ??) into fiesta 1.8 diesel , car died on moterway after 2 mins. my basic AA membership dident cover me i had to upgrade on the spot..ill get the tank drained ..need to find where the fuel filter is..its easy to say . ‘’dident you read the words on the pump'’ where 24 hours in the day aint enough !!!! :(

Diesel in a petrol will foul your engine as it is a heavy oil , and it will wreck the catalytic convertor in your exhaust. Petrol in diesel car, drain and change fuel filter .. diesel in petrol car is more serious STOP and GET GARRAGE TO DRAIN AND CHECK TANK AND FUEL FILTER AND PLUGS on .Im a Mechanical eng and i did it too !!! easy done …

Ed, you need to read this.

http://www.lvl.co.uk/press_release.php?id=379

Another Petrol Head here . I put £30 petrol in my near empty 307 tank. Drove the car for about 20 miles. Didn’t relise until the car broke down, and the nice AA man asked me if I had topped the car up today. I than relised what I had done, and could see a hole developing in my wallet. my fears were soemwhat eased, when the AA man said that hopefully I should not have done any damaged, but the tank need to be drained and the fuel filter replaced. Felt like a total plonker. I got towed home. I emptied the tank using the pump in the bonnet (took about 45min). I have now refilled the tank (with DIESEL), and one I change the fuel filter, will take it for a 30-45min drive, to help clear out the system. I have been told putting fuel injector cleaner will also help the engine ? any info regards this will be much appriciated.

amj. If it were me I would sell or PX the car ASAP.

Hi amj.

If you care to read the hundreds of examples of real life experiences of real people above, you’ll find that none of them have experienced any lasting damage, having made the same mistake as you. It strikes me that the AA man knows what he’s talking about and advised you correctly.

Hi Phil

I am also employed as a Patrolman and I strongly disagree with my colleague (as does the AA`s technical dept), I have personally witnessed the damage that is caused by driving a misfuelled common rail diesel vehicle. If you misfuel a company or private vehicle(with a common rail fuel injection system) and decide to drive it with a mixture of petrol and diesel you are risking a serious financial loss. I take your point Phil,that many people appear to have escaped any major damage.This does not mean that they won`t encounter problems in 2 or 3 yrs time. If you run a high pressure pump without proper lubrication (petrol is not a lubricant like diesel) you will damage the internal bearing surfaces to some extent. Read the link LEX know how much damage occurs as they`ve got more cars than you`ve had hot dinners mate

http://www.lvl.co.uk/press_release.php?id=379

hi,igot a vw beetle diesel filled it up with diesel{got reciept}had problems with starting up vw said i had petrol in diesel.told them i hadn’t put petrol in the tank they said that i could be dirty fuel anyone heard of this before also would it only cause problems on start up?

Today I accidently put 1.3l of diesel in my Mazda-6 but then filled the rest of the tank (64l) with diesel. Is any part of the engine or exhaust system going to suffer long term damage?

Also is it worth putting any additives in the tank?

Thanks.

i thought i was the only one absent minded enough to do this so its a huge relief to find im not the only silly bugger around! just put a tenners worth of unleaded into my new deisel, started driving home and spluttered to a halt. rather than pay 150 quid the breakdown man who towed me home showed me what to do. disconnect the fuel line and pump out the offending petrol using the hand pump on the line and reconnect then take the top off the fuel filter and removing the petrol from the filter body and replace it with deisel before priming the system with the hand pump. i hope it works tommorro!

Help, have just put 3.5 litres unltimate unleaded petrol into near empty diesel renault scenic megane, then filled up to 50 litres diesel to dilute?! driven 8 mile home, what is the best thing todo tomorrow?

Keep your fingers crossed!

I just paid BMW 398 quid to have my 330D fixed after filling it with unleaded. They advised me that had i started the engine i could be looking at a 6000 quid repair bill. They apaerntly write of many cars a year due to owner foolishness. Guess i was lucky. This was not what i needed 10 days before christmas!

Damn just put 80 litres of petrol in the works truck.First time doing this in 30 years of driving trucks.Thats a lot of draining,so far the boss has been very reasonable about it I just hope that continues.

Today I just put diesel in my new Toyota Camary. I drove for about two miles before it stopped. I have no clue what the mechanic will say tommorrow, but I enjoyed the police ride to work with my daughter lyn.

Let me join this happy club. I filled my Mondeo TDCi with unleaded last week and drove two miles home. I didn’t realise what i had done until I was almost home when it started to splutter and struggle.

Because I’ve got Home Recovery (or whatever it’s called) I could get the RAC to tow my car to the Ford garage.

Just got the car back from Ford. According to the invoice (£300) they removed and cleaned the fuel tank, drained and cleaned the fuel pump, cleared the fuel lines, and replaced the fuel filter. Many of you may think £300 is a rip-off but I wouldn’t have a clue how to do these things myself.

I was wondering if this would void the warranty on the engine but they haven’t mentioned anything.

All in all, an expensive lesson and a stressful few days.

£300 thats nothing! My Mum drove my Dads BMW X3 to the garage and it was on empty. £15.00 worth of petrol and 18 clugging miles later, BMW bill £6500. Surely this is wrong! Its covered with the insurance though. Any comments?

Put 2 Litres unleded in x3 diesel 3 weeks ago, realised immediatelt & topped up with 60l diesel. No problems until today & it`s a bit chuggy. It`s be refilled 3 times since, do u think this may be why? what should I do now? - If i take to BMW will their computerised diagnostic system show it up? any ideas please?

Yesterday i put 10 l of petrol in to my isuzu trooper did not start the engine can it just be drained the robbing garages round here want £400

once I put petrol in diesel engine but i was astonish to find that it worked quite freely after that i use petrol in my diesel car

Well done Umer, I think you may have stumbled onto something. Using the wrong fuel costs more and makes you`re car run like sh*t but at least you can hold you`re head up high by being a true individual. F*ck the car manufacturers what do they know.

Summer 2005. my boss and his collegue went on a fisking trip paid for by the company. anyway they wangled a brand new toyota hilux d4d for the 10day trip. on the day they were due back we were just about to lock up when i saw an aa flat bed recovery come into our yard. hilux on the back. my boss had put 50 qid’s worth of petrol in it and drove until it started to cough and splutter as he put it. so we drained it brimmed the tank with kero left it overnight, drained it the next morning then brimmed the tank again this time with bp ultimate diesel. we then ran it on the dyno for 3 hours. didn’t miss a beat. all variables were in perameters. 6 weeks later a friend of mine who works for the local toyota dealer said that he had to change the complete fuel system on a hire hilux, bill> 3000 quid

I read all the posts here after doing the very same tonight in Manchester. In the work diesel minibus. I’m a taxi driver.

Yes it was BP also and the black hose confused my mind. pouring rain, gale force winds, all the other excuses etc. I didn’t start it up as i realised the mistake before i even paid (it was far too cheap). The AA guy was a top bloke who went beyond the call of duty and company line to see me right. Biggest thanks though goes to the guy who drained the now full 90litre tank outside his house from an amazing mobile van with a babymonitor clipped to his belt so he could continue babysitting his 5 month old son, he does call outs usually - Quality service based near stockport/manchester area. 120 quid fee which included 20 worth of diesel, this at midnight on saturday night! Heartfelt support to the people who provide the support for us when we’re out trying to run the rest of you home

£20 of unleaded in my Land Rover Td5. ARGHHHH!!!!
luckily it had 1/3 tank of diesel. Drove gingerly home (only 1.5 miles) Drained tank, disconnected fuel line from where it goes into the engine and used fuel pump to purge the rest of the petrol out. put some diesel in tank, purged the air out using the above method, connected fuel line back up, runs fine.
I think I was lucky, because the engine did not splutter of show any signs of a problem on the way back from the garage, I assume it was still using the diesel that was in the pipe, filter and injector rail, and no petrol had yet reached the engine!!

However, I will replace fuel filter, as petrol eats the seals on diesel fuel filters!!

PHEW!

…Oh, and another thing…Be aware of Dealer advice. Land Rover told me I would need a new fuel filter, new fuel line, new injector pumps and maybe even a new tank! “you need to bring it into us” he said with pound signs in his eyes!!

That Land Rover dealer told you it like it is Stuart. That is the correct procedure when the vehicle has been misfuelled.

Oh!!!! there is other stupid people out there. There is a God!!! .Im feeling so much better now! yahhh!. Well done everyone…,Keep up the good work.I put in 57 litres of unleaded in my diesel van and slowly topped it right up to 61 litres.Best of all the garage mans getting a small fortune plus 60 litres of free petrol that way everyones happy and no one looses out isnt that fan-tiddy-astic.
toodelly do do.

Stuart was that Land Rover dealer called MICKY ummhhhh!
Piddley poo.

I’ve joined the stupid club. Tired ands feeling a little low on the anniversary of losing my dad i put ^ quid of petrol in my D5 diesel. It hasn’t cut out and the RAC are taking it to an independent on Monday. I feel a bit low and I am expecting the worse.

2 days ago I filled up with 60 litres of Shell’s most expensive Diesel at 97p. I was pleased with the result as the trip computer in my Honda 2.2 ctdi showed I was getting about 1mpg more than usual. Yesterday I popped into a BP petrol station and decided to try their expensive diesel (BP Ultimate). I saw a pump next to their cheap diesel at 92p and thought what a bargin and promptly went on to top up my tank with 30 litres.
Drove 3 miles and the car started stuttering near my house. At once I realised my mistake. The 92p referred to their premium unleaded not their premium diesel. I got the car to my house and took my wifes car to my Honda dealer for advice. They told me that I’d have to get the car in to them and then warned me that the last person who did this had to shell out £5k to have all sorts of bits replaced in the engine. Almost had a heart attack there an then. My current Honda is the second I’ve had in 3 months. The first was written off folling an accident. I’d only had the new one for a couple of weeks.

I went back home and decided to take a look on the web for information and came across this site. If you haven’t noticed, theres a comment from a few months ago from a guy who used a company called Ultra-evac.

I decided to give them a try and called them. Their bloke was at my house within a couple of hours and spent another hour sucking the fuel out. He then put in a few litres of proper diesel with a cleaning additive and sucked that out too. Finally he put a few more litres of diesel in and started the car with no problems. I’ve taken it out for a drive and it feels fine though obviously there may be damage that comes to light later on.

For now however, I’m a happy man. Ultra-evac charged 150GBP + vat and my heart has fallen back into a proper sinus rhythm.

The dealers will talk about the worst case scenario and charge a bundle to do the same as the guys from Ultra-Evac

Not to worry pete, usually things seem go wrong when your mind is somewhere else. Its a mistake were only human,a costly mistake maybe. Things will get better with time.Welcome to the S.T.U.P.I.D club.
S.orry T.hat U.put P.etrol I.n your D.iesel engine

Thanks for your help. I gave them a ring. While there might be engine damage I might as well do what you did and wait for it to go wrong. Cancelled the RAC and the garage. Evac are coming out tomorrow and because engine is going it may not be to severe. I might as well wait until it goes wrong rather than sheel out ASAP. I’m really grateful for the advice and the sympathy. It has made me feel a lot better because I love my car and it cost a lot. cheers and thanks

I have full membersip of this Club put 20L of unleaded into a half full tank therfore 40/60 mix (Honda Civic) at one of those credit card pumps no reciept only realised when I got home (3 miles) and smelt petrol on my hand. Car seemed fine found this site contacted read comments then contacte Ultra-evac 07770477415 Came next day Sunday to Manchester from down south Great Service arrived on time sucked out 48L added conditoner plu 10L pure Diesel I filled her to the top locally and have done about 30 miles now and all seems fine

£150 + vat (£176.25) plus £30 top up and Hurt pride but

No hire car, back on the road fast, no big main agent bill

Chap came out and did it for 150 quid plus VAT, he drove over 180 miles. I gave him a good tip. He knew what he was doing and explianed about the amount of damage done. It is unlikely to be terminal. Ultra Evac are a first rate company and know what they are doing. They have saved me a fortune and a warranty I’d expect. Cheers for the help

Hehe.
I’m glad people have made use of these guys. If you got the guy with the Irish accent then he’s a top bloke. Should have asked for his name

I write reviews for products and services on the internet and Ultra-Evac will be getting a massively positive review from me.
Gonna call them up now and see if I can get some of my money back for spreading the word on their behalf :)

the guys name who came for was Mohammed. he really understood cars. Said BMW were creating a system where only the company could evac the system. real motorists friend this company.

unbeleivable!
£40 of petrol in my 530D
BMW wand £5k to fix and keep warranty
I HOPE ULTRA-EVAC ARE AS GOOD AS PEOPLE SAY!
We are of to Sytner Cov to drain it out and risk paying later.
I will look at legal action against BMW as their handling of the case was utterly woeful.. unhelpful and arrogant - deutschland uber alles!! Talk about a##e don’t know what elbow is doin! Apparently the doors are wired to the fuel circuit .. never mind starting it all you need to do is open the door and you are screwed
i will never buy another beemer - jag for me next time!

Ever thought it might be your own fault Chris and not BMW`s?

Hi Chris, Maybe you should get an electric car or use the bus if your not sure what type of fuel to buy for your car.

We`ll sell you a petrol Maestro Chris, if you let us keep the fuel cap key behind the counter.

:)

i joined ‘the club’ tonight but, realised before turning the ignition. any advise for a quick cheap fix?

Sam, pull the fuel pump fuse out and get it towed to a drainage site

I carnt bileive it!
4 litres of milk in my new Jag…..
I`m going to sue the dairy for allowing milk container to connect to my fuel neck. Unbileivible that gravity can be allowed to take milk straight into my fuel tank! Utterly woeful..unhelpful and arrogant of the creator.

Can’t believe it, my pregnant wife (she blames loss of hormones for moment of blondness) has just put 23ltrs of unleaded into my 52 plate 320d (facelift 150bhp model). Orange light was on so only had about 7 ltrs of diesel left in it. She drove home which is about 10 miles and commented to me that “the car is not running very well” and blamed me for driving it to hard to Stranraer and back the day before! Now i am having chest pains at the thought of a 6k bill from BMW!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE HELP????

Don`t use BMW it`s out of warranty get it towed to an independent BMW specialist.

Update for all you BMW owners out there! BMW 320d (150bhp)Drained the tank looked for any metal filelings, found none whatsoever! Poured about a Gallon of diesel back in ran the pump a few times and started it up! Knocked badly for a second and a cloud of smoke out of the exhaust, then ran sweet as a nut, poured a bottle of STP diesel injector treatment with pump lube into the tank then stuck another £30 of diesel in and it is running like a dream!! Will get new fuel filter for it on Monday and hope it will be okay!!!!

My wife woke me up at 5am to tell me that she put petrol im my diesel vectra i thought great. Got to be at work at 6am. I went out and found out she put 5ltrs in it and 20 quids worth of diesel but drove it from one garage to another on petrol and couldnt get it started again and had to be towed home.I drained the fuel filter and sent her for a bottle of diesel redex from the garage (6.50) then poured it straight in took a couple of minutes to fire then started a little lumpy.Have driven about 150 miles so far with no probs and topped it up once with a tenner and will keep topping it up.Only problems so far is its a bit rough when it starts but will hopefully clear.Simple answer she thought she was doing me a favour by filling me up with petrol. She wasnt HA HA.Added new fuel filter too. Mistakes happen.

The garage tells me, my car is going to be off the road for at least a week because of this dirty fuel problem? So, apart from the fact, I have to pay for it, I’m now penalised again. What should I do?

call ultra-evac ltd…08006342573

According to BMW I have managed to put 10 worth of unleaded in a BMW 120D M Sport.
drove it for 30 miles before it was running a slightly rough. Took it back to BMW as it had an injector replaced under warranty the day before. They gave me the good news that petrol was the problem and wanted £500 for the privelidge of removing it. I told them to put it back together and I’ll do it myself. 3 days later they have replaced all of the injectors (warranty claim as they detected a problem when they were putting it back together). They haven’t bother draining the car of fuel even though they had it for 3 days two of which were wating for parts. So I have the task now of draining the tank and see if i can sort the problem. I’ll let you all know.

My Mrs put £17 worth of unleaded in the diesel car. A local dealer
gave a quote for £60+recovery. The dealer quoted £200 but finally we went for a company called Ultra-Vac. A biggest mistake..Despite of the huge sum of £150+vat..they did’nt bother changing the fuel filter and i only got £3 worth of diesel instead of £12 promised. The guy who did it for me behave suspiciously whilst putting diesel in the car and i noticed he did not fully emptied the 10 litre cam in my car tank.On top of it he did not spare 25 pence which i was short at that time. I regretted for going to such dishonest people and rang them. My car has digital millometer which tells me exact milage i could go with each fill and is very accurate. He told me my new car millometer is faulty……
Avoid such people if you can and go for a local mechanic. The whole process is a piece of cake and anyone can do it diy.

Ultra-evac correction to above comment

My turn, I just finished my 12 hour shift at work and stopped for fuel. I didn’t realise for a few minutes by which time I had put 40 litres of unleaded in. I now have a tank that is roughly 50% of each. Glad I don’t have to pay for this.

My brother did it to his Galaxy, he put £20 and only realized after he was told at the checkout that he’s put in unleaded instead of Diesel.
Luckily the tank was near enough empty, and after some consulting he done the job himself for £15!!!!!!!

..this is how….

he was told that if he hasn’t started the engine (which he didn’t) he just needs to buy a ciphen pump (£10) and pump out the petrol into a petrol container (£5) after which the petrol is perfect for use in a petrol car cus the diesel/petrol ratio is insufficient to cause probs.

there you are, so next time (hopefully there wont be, but hey we’re human ) if you fill up your diesel on an empty tank with petrol and notice it before leaving or even starting the engine. Just push the car to aside buy a £10 pump and £5 container, pump it out, and refill with diesel and away you go AND THE PETROL IS USABLE IN A PETROL CAR !!!!!!

:-)

End of last week my boyfriend filled up our brand new Diesel Seat Ibiza 1.9TDI FR with £20 worth of Unleaded and drove it about half an mile down the road before it cut out and he realised his mistake!!, The problem is the majority of the time he drives an unleaded car. I Was absolutely gutted and was worried would cost £1000’s of pounds, car is still in the garage now but we have got off lightly as just needs to be drained and the fuel filter replaced.

my galaxy was on the red so i filled it up with fuel and didnt even realise id put petrol in until i tried to start it to go to work at 4am.. wham bang….. flash backs.. petrol… ive had the car for years and cannot believe i did it… ready to drain it this w.end any tips for the lazy man.. does adding oil to the fuel tank really work.. help me before the wife kills me ..(its her car…)

And yet another idiot(I blamed it on a blonde moment!)I have been driving for years and this is the first time I have done it - yes, put 20 quid of unleaded into my 2001 Kia Sedona. It stopped after half a mile and still hadn’t realised until I looked at the receipt from Asda. We pushed it into the drive and had to wait until my husband came home. It took forever to drain the tank , replace the fuel filter and then put diesel in.
That was last week and touch wood, it has been going great.The only problem now is that I have a panic attack when I go to the pumps - I have to talk loudly to myself to say diesel diesel all the time.
Perhaps the little men in the white van will come to take me away, only hope that their van runs on diesel.

Looks like ive joined the many, my fuel gauge was on the red, and already being late for work, decided to just put in a tenners worth of diesel, wasnt really paying attention and my car eventually spluttered to a halt a mile down the road, i was towed home by my brother, not wanting to be out done by the garages prices, i set to work with a hosepipe and bucket, and managed to cyphon the lot out, (VW Passat 1.9 TDI,52 plate)and have her refilled to the top within the hour, to my amazment when i turned the ignition, she fired up straight away, will still change the fuel filter, but its realy not that hard if you can access ya fuel tank, just tastes nasty, lol

I see I am not the only one who has been foolish!! I have a Land Rover Freelander TD4 and it’s not even a year old!! My tank was a bit more than 1/2 full when I put just under a litre in it!! My wife tapped on the window luckily and I stopped in my tracks!! I put a another 5 litres of diesel in it. I only drove 1 1/2 miles home then checked this website which talks about common rail diesel engines being very strict about having petrol in them!! Does anybody know what I should do now, can I drain the tank myself?

yes and me put 10 ltrs of unleaded in my laguna 02 plate, toped up with deisel all ok no probs. but i agree about BP i thought i was fillig with ultimate deisel but it was the unleaded, they should change the name.

Bloody French. I live in France in a relatively small village with a local garage, they keep my old scenic (diesel) chugging along quite happily…..or they did. Today I went out to buy some wine, was getting low on diesel so I pulled in at the local garage. Not being self service I waited for some spotty oik to come out and fill the car up, whilst he was doing so I was playing with the GPS, I paid the bill and headed off to the winery a couple of miles further on. Bought the wine, put it in the boot and tried to start the car….and again…..and again. I called the local garage, who to their credit arrived after a couple of glasses of red. Not being able to get the car started the mecanic took me back to the garage and listened to me moaning about the quality of French built motors. A short trip in a crappy courtesy car later and I was back at my place. An hour later and the garage called, they asked me if I’d filled up recently to which I said yes. “Where?” they asked, I told them that as usual THEY served me at their garage. Just goes to show that even the pro’s can get it wrong and when in France…..fill up yourself, well not you ot obviously, get someonelse to do it.

oh me oh my, father in law misfueled last month 2.0 litre ASTRA mk4. Anyways ran a bit lumpy with Dashboard lights going on and off like blackpool illuminations, independant garage gave us the old ‘had to dain and clean the system guvnor’ (funny as he wasn’t even a cockney)…200 quid later and all was well……..UNTIL yesterday whe he did the same again but with a lot more petrol than diesel in the tank. Friend of mine drained the tank and it runs better than before….at least all of the working parts will have ahad a good wash. I did read in auto express that you can buy a little gadget that tells you to fill up with the correct fuel….Hmmmmmmmmmmm wonder if they do one that sounds like Kelly Le Brock.

Can’t beleive it - I filled my deisel up with petrol! How can anyone be so stupid!

Well, that’s what I allways used to think - I allways thought that a black hose was deisel and a green was petrol! I was looking at a big poster for ‘BP Ultimate Deisel’ while I was putting £56 worth of ‘BP Ultimate Unleaded’ in!

Had my tank drained and flushed through with diesel, used Ultra-Evac they came out within two hours. Charged £176,25 which is small price to pay for peace of mind, even though I only put £0.71 worth of petrol in a tank that had a bit more then half of diesel in it. The man was very poite and helpful, so would recommend them!!

Yep guys heres member 100000000001,

i’ve went and caused the cardinal sin and did the same bloody thing :-s Was comin bak from work in my dads car 1.8TD mondeo 95/96, the fuel was really low in the red as i thot - my dad argues otherwise! then i thot being the nice guy that i am i’d put a tenners worth of petrol in it. me havin had only 4-5 hours sleep i actually did put petrol in it, unleaded petrol. drove it for about 4 miles to my home didnt feel too much was wrong except i was going up a very steep hill and thot power was low(thot nothin of it at the time as it was a really steep hill!). then i parked it in my driveway. as my dad set of for work, 5 mins later he comes bak in the house and asks if i put unleaded in the car - thats wen it dawned on my wot i’d dun and my jaw fell on the floor with guilt, stupidity and stupidity(yeah i sed it twice). we towed the car to mechanics today the guy is a friend of my dads so hopefully he wont con us! fingers crossed for 2moro i’ll let u’s kno how this bad boy pans out.

Heres to BP and their f***in s***e pumps and me obv for being a complete dumbass. Heres a tip for the future “make sure u get a good nites sleep before filling up ur tank, 8 hours is my min recommendation :-)”

well i have just got up and looked out the front door at my 04 jag i bought just 2 weeks ago…….i went out for the day yesterday and right at the end of the day on my way home i thought “oh i best fill up with some diesel” i was near on empty! I FILLED IT WITH PETROL INSTEAD! i put £20 in it and never realised till i got about a mile down the road, it never conked out or anything, i just realised myself what i had done and pulled straight over and switched off. A friend towed me home and my little baby is sitting outside now waiting to be sorted out……how exactly thats gonna happen i dont know!! well as you can tell….ive only ever had petrols before!

so …JAG and Lisa how did you get on then …big bills or what????

i have filled up a 56 bmw 120d with petrol, i had 35 miles left in the the tank and filled up to the brim with unleaded. I drove the car off the forecort (15 metres)… what can i do???

GARY DO NOT BE CONNED BY GARAGES WANTING TO CHARGE THOUSANDS, JUST RING ULTRA EVAC OR SIMILAR AND GET IT EMPTIED.

Hey there, i posted a couple of days back about my dad’s car. now heres the verdict…

luckily i got away with it, the engine wasnt too badly affected, all the mechanic did was replace the oil filters and drain out the fuel tank and filled it with around 10-12 litres of diesel(i almost wrote petrol there lol), my dad filled it to the brim with diesel and the car seems to be working fine now - doesnt seem to have had any short term effects. In total it cost my dad £43! so i was well chuffed (still am :-) ). the mechanic was my dads mate which helped tho i guess.

heres another tip: make friends with a mechanic - it goes a long way lol. Cya’s all later, good luck with ur car troubles!

well done Jag…nice on

BP should be pulled over the coals for allowing misleading pumps.How can you give the same name “Ultimate” to both diesel and petrol.

I put unleaded in my diesel car this week!

I’m not a new diesel user, but my guard was down, family, work, toothache, rushed, etc, and I filled up in a station I’ve not used before. I didn’t realize until the car cut out 800 yards down the road, and even then it took me a while to figure it out.

The BP station I used had a pump block with two pump handles that looked the same, but one had a green hose and the other a black hose. Without thinking or checking (!)I picked up and used the pump with the black hose. Where I usually fill up they use green for unleaded and black for diesel.

I’ve been back to the BP station and sure enough both pumps are labelled unleaded. My complaint to the manager was not particularly well received. First time, labelled clearly, etc. I suspect he had a good laugh when I left.

Expensive lesson, £270 and a day ruined (just to cap it I’d left my mobile at home).

EU comes to the rescue maybe:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/archive/2004/tuksb/annexcbiofuelslabellingparti2044?page=1

Well I did it 2 days ago, never thought I would. I was feeling very tired and unwell, but needed to fuel up to get home, accidentally put £10 worth of unleaded in my 02 reg 2L Mondeo. Realised immediately what I had done, guys in petrol station suggested I fill right up to the top with diesel and hope for the best. Did that, got home fine. Rang my friend whose husband did exactly the same thing with his Mondeo, he topped it up continually with diesel nearly every day, his car ran fine. Mine was OK, until this morning when I went to take my 7 year old son to school - the car simply wouldn’t start. I am not sure if this is entirely down to the fuelling mistake, as my mechanic friend had told me just a couple of weeks ago that he thought my starter motor was playing up. But I have a dreaded feeling that it IS because of my fuelling mistake that it won’t start, I think I may have totally wrecked the car, or at best caused a extremely expensive problem. I am gonna contact my friend later today to see what he thinks, but I have a feeling this is gonna cost BIG bucks. Thank god my dad can lend me his car, I really need one for work as I work nights and public transport around here is terrible after about 6pm! All I can do now is PRAY….I am really tired of this car, had it 18 months and it has been nothing but trouble, even though I think this time it is all my own fault. Boyfriend NOT happy… and he says he has just been WAITING for me to do this!

Just spoke to my mechanic mate, he’s gonna have a look next week. Says it happens all the time, very common. Thinks the 2 fuels have separated (one being an oil, one being a solvent) and it should be just a matter of syphoning off fuel, refilling and getting the thing going. Said it’s a pity I put SO much diesel in - he’s got a LOT of fuel to get rid of, lol !! Oh well, feel a bit better now, just gotta cross my fingers, and pray for the best outcome!

My husband filled our 10 day old Focus 1.8 TDCI with £35 unleaded last week. Unfortunately he didnt realise until he had driven home and then tried to start the car a little later, the car wouldnt start and until the AA man suggested we checked the reciept we didnt reslise his mistake. As the car is one of the latest diesels we have been quoted approx £2500, luckily this is covered by our insurance so will just cost us £150 excess.Hopefully we will get the car back tomorrow and will stick stickers everywhere to remind us in future.So pleased it wasnt me but as my husband pointed out I would need to actually put fuel in to have a chance of choosing the wrong type!

My wife managed to put 20 quids worth of diesel in her petrol Toyota Yaris, she struggled cos the diesel nozzle is bigger to help stop you doing this, but determination won the day. Took me 2 hours to drain 35 litres at roadside and get running again. Tip: put a couple of PETROL injector cleaner additives in with petrol on refilling and change fuel filter (also hide car keys from wife)Happy wedding anniversary dear, me and my Diesel car both love you!!!

WARNING ALERT. I’ve joined the club. Put 23 litres of unleaded in my wife’s Ford Fusion 1.4l. Why? Because I was thinking motorbikes and deciding between 95 and 97 octane! Oh, and also because4 I am an idiot, as she keeps telling me. One up to the girls. Anyway, impossible to siphon out due to gizmo preventing same from scamps, also needs to be raised up to give gravity a chance to help. After many mouthfuls, called out RAC, and nice patrolman says “Perhaps a good job you didn’t manage it because THESE newer diesel engines (tech name escapes me) won’t tolerate ANY (big emphasis) petrol - not the tiniest amount. Apparently it screws up the injectors and evidence of scarring remains to absolve Ford of any Warranty claim etc. So please check before you assume that it’s OK just to dilute and carry on. Older diesels not such a problem. Wish it had been my old camper van. Take care and listen to her good advice!

Footnote to idiot warning. I should have said I didn’t start engine. So tank drained, filter replaced, fuel - mostly petrol - will work in lawn mower etc, so that makes everything fine :-) Cost about £120. Maybe such experiences come cheap? Never stop learning about yourself, do you! Be careful if you think you can dilute willy-nilly. Drive safe.

Sick as a Pig - filled up with diesel in my old Nissan Prairie disabled vehicle unleaded engine, which was nearly empty. drove it 250 yds before it conked out, smoke coming from it.
I’m on the net, looking for tips on how to avoid a big bill, while it’s sat on the drive, waiting for me to do the necessary. Looks like I may be able to use the siphoned fuel in my Vectra diesel?
I dont know where the fuel filter is!! In the pump? Near the tank?
Here’s hoping.

Yep, send me my membership badge!! I had just come back from a 3 week holiday where I had been filling up the hire car with unleaded. So I arrive back and promptly take my Golf 1.9 TDI company car (which was on empty) to the garage and put in 17 litres unleaded before realising what I was doing. The garage owner advised me to fill up with diesel and I should be OK. Damn well hoping for the best. I have done about 15 miles since. The engine seems to be running fine so far with one start requiring several attempts.
Anybody had a similiar experience with a 55 reg Golf 1.9 TDI estate?

Last night I put in £30 worth of petrol (I think) in my Volvo S40 TD. It had around 10 litre diesel in it so it drove fine for few miles but then started getting jerky. It was perfectly fine on motorway when I was doing over 70. I drove 40 miles and I’m at work now. Going to call my mechanic friend during lunch time to get some advise. I’ll might have to get it towed. I hope I haven’t damaged anything!!!!

has anyone ever put petrol in a citroen picasso diesel and what happened

I’ve joined this club this afternoon, totally gutted & I feel sick. Some further advice would be really appreciated. Bought my car two weeks ago, an Audi Q7, filling it up this afternoon, I realised I was putting un-leaded in, dope. 1.3ltrs went in so in a frenzied panick I stopped and filled it up to the brim with diesel. It holds 100 ltrs so I now have 1.3% of petrol in it. Pulled off the fourcourt and called Audi. They told me not to drive it and sent a recovery out and told me they will get it to a dealer tomorrow. HELP what does anyone advise as I expecting a horrible bill at best.

Hi Chris, From a damage perspective I think you will be ok,it needs a total fuel tank drain and new fuel filter.
The problem may be that you told the dealer and how they will react regarding the warranty.
Some dealers have insisted on the whole fuel system ( pumps etc) being replaced at the owners cost at £3,000+………

( A cynic may say to protect themselves from a possible warranty claim)

It was probably better not to have called Audi but its don e mow. I suspect the damage will be limited.

Yep, did the same thing this weekend … had been using a hire car for the last week (unleaded) and managed to put C.20 litres unleaded in my Diesel 1.9TDI Touran empty tank. Although I had not started the engine, when recovery came I went to unlock the steering and realised that the key had gone moved into position two. I found out from VW breakdown service that this begins sucking fuel though the system (so despite sitting around on the floor court for 2 hours, 2 seconds of madness may have ruined it all – even though I had not started the engine).

Been told to sit tight until VW dealership opens. I’m worried what the cost is going to be as I have been advised not to go elsewhere as it may invalidate my warranty!!!!! However, I am concerned that having the car sit around for 48 hours may cause more damage. Any Technical or VW costs advice will be warmly welcomed (I have been put off using Ultra Evac due to a previous comment). Chris G what was the final outcome?

I would keep quiet about it, have the tank drained, fit a new filter, then a full tank of diesel.
IMHO, The only thing the dealership can do extra to this is to invalidate your warranty or tell you it needs a complete fuel system replacement in order to cover themselves.
What they don`t know cant harm you.
Unless you start it up and run it without draining, its very unlikely to have done any harm.

Mike are you saying not to go to VW altogether of just tell them I did not get into position 2 in the ignition? Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about doing this myself. I believe that my engine is not the ‘common rail variety’ though, is that good (well better)?

Yes, better VW know nothing about it. 2 seconds… its likely the petrol only made it into the fuel filter anyway, if any did get beyond it to the pump it would be a very small amount.
The way I see it is the biggest concern here is possibly regarding the warranty if you inform VW, not the misfueling doing harm.

A local garage will come out to you and drain your tank for you, I would go to a different VW dealer and get a VW fuel filter for the local garage to fit. Important its an original VW part.
Then put 4 or 5 gallons of diesel in it bought in cans, then drive to a derv pump and fill the tank up full.
Done like this I would then forget the incident, you are very lucky compared with other incidents here.
Common rail? well they are all high pressure pumps but yours will be fine as long as you dont turn the ignition on before the above work.
Good luck

Stacks, just a further point, I dont know your particular car, If position one on the ignition does not turn the low pressure pump on you can leave the fuel filter alone and just get it drained asnd refilled.

Thanks for the info Mike. The good news is that I had the key in the right position afterall (i.e. to unlock the steering and allow to be towed) but this did activate the low level pump. The filter was changed, system drained and flushed. Cost just under £200 inc vat - including some (c.£5) Diesel to get me to the nearest fuel station (I use to call them Petrol Stations). This has not invalidated my warranty and ringing around this would have been the going cost in most other places!

Glad you have it sorted Stacks, Its an easy error though. I have been driving diesels exclusively for 16yrs and 300,000 miles + , but I still put a `Diesel` sticker in the fuel flap of every car and have a ritual of double checking the pump handle AND the pump display before pulling the trigger.

Mike, what a helpfull chap you are, an MBE is on its way to you as we speak. One thing though that I don’t think has been mentioned on here is what to do with the ‘contaminated fuel’ ! I had to ring my local council for advice on disposing the 40 odd litres of diesel/petrol cocktail drained from my father in laws tank. They were very helpful actualy and I just rang prior to setting off and they then had a big tank thinga-me-bob,1 The bloke at the recycling plant said it would be used in the power station. So i did a bit for the environment as well…………..(thats my angle on it anyway).

i would just like to say thank-you to all the people who left possitive comments on this site about ultra-evac. we are one year old now and have completed over 1500 fuel drains. we are a small company just 7 vans on the road covering the whole of the uk except n,ireland. we do this on a 7 day 24 hour basis and we will attend any car (started or not) we use wynns diesel treatment/cleaner and every car gets at least 10 litres of fuel out of our twenty litre jerry cans(Ian Forest) and the price is always £150.oo + vat no matter where,when, or how long the job takes. once again thank-you too all our customers.

pat rostron, ultra-evac ltd…..08006342573

I feel so much better after reading all these comments.

Took my car to the garage 2 miles away and put £20 of unleaded into the empty tank of my passat tdi. Realised as soon as I closed the cap so luckily I didn’t start the car. Called the local mechanic who towed my car back to his garage, drained and put £10 diesel in and the bill was only £47 inc vat!

He told me that starting it would have been very bad for the car.

[…] he same thing. SimonG.org Quite amusing to read really. One guy says he only made the mistake because he […]

After many years of trouble free motoring I recently had two very senior moments. Whilst going through light flood water White Van Man came at speed from the opposite direction and washed us all out with his bow wave. My BMW 32OD SE (03 model) ended up with a new engine. My insurance paid without a quibble.

Two months later I was in a poorly lit garage and put 35lts petrol in the tank. Although I arrived blissfully at my destination without a hitch, the next morning the car would not start. Realising what I had done the insurance company was contacted and they told me they will foot the bill for this sort of thing, but only once. God bless them.

It would seem that a directive from BMW recommends that the whole fuel system is replaced, that is pipes, injectors, fuel tank and lots of other things. While this work was being carried out the insurance company provided me with a free hire car. I have very recently renewed my insurance with them and because I had protected my no claims the increase in premiums was very small. The total cost of the two incidents ran into many, many thousands of pounds, yet just one phone call (UK centre, no forms to fill in) sorted everything out.

DIRECT LINE CAR INSURANCE…I love you xxx.

Hi love,
No drama’s with this one. All you should have to do is get as much of the petrol out of the tank as you can, fill with deisel (Ideally change the fuel filter too) and drive the thing 100KM - THEN……..refill the tank…….drive 200KM……..refill 300 refill - once you get to around 500KM……you’re in the clear!
IF your car has a drain plug in the tank - all the better, if it’s a plastic tank without………then get the RAC or somebody to drain the tank. You feel such a total clutz explaining what you’ve done…..BUT……….I (A LandRover Mechanic)have a New discovery 3500KMS……..and I did the “Petrol in a Deisel” thing today halfway across Poland!
IF I called LR worldwide breakdown assistance - bye bye warranty!
Luckily…….I managed to rig up a pump - drained about 80 litres of petrol out, refilled with the correct fuel and shot off sharpish!
We’ve all done it

No worries.
Hope this helps,

Mike

I to put petrol in my diesel KIA, after being told it would cost nearly £3000 to fix, I searched the internet in desperation, I found this site www.thedieseldoctor.net who was very helpful saved me a small fortune, highly recommend him.

I bought a 5 year old diesel Fiat a few weeks ago and after about 4 weeks it started to run badly at low speed. Took it back to the dealer under warranty and he replaced the fuel filter. On the way home it still ran badly and I took it back again. He now tells me that I put petrol in the tank and he’s replacing the injectors etc. The thing is, I drove the car with it running rough for several days before I took it back - how could that be? I only filled the tank twice in the time that I’ve had it and I was sure I put in diesel. How long can a non-turbo diesel run on unleaded? Are they pulling a fast one on me and trying to blame me for what is actually a ‘lemon?’ Perhaps I’ll find out when I pick it up.

Steve (in Northern France).

Hi everyone I’ve done it to but I am suing BP for lack of duty of care I filled my wifes Merc up with petrol in BP there is no segregation between pumps I would be interested in comments from anyone else if they have found this problem in BP garages particularly

Despite what some comments say modern diesels due to the high pressure pump being lubricated by the diesel are wrecked by petrol I got off lightly with only £1000 bill

you can contact me on kevin.mccarthy7@btopenworld.com

I will let you know the outcome of the case

hey do i get a membership badge too? i decided to put £30 of fuel in my focus to get me to london tomorrow, but after it cut out less than 2 miles up the road, knew something was seriuos as its been reliable for last 2 years, i checked receipt and realised i’d put unleaded in by mistake… gutted. had to abandon car, get a lift home and hopefully towing it back tonight when less traffic, will try to drain it and get it going again, and reading others posts on here seems like there is hope! lack of concentration for a few critical moments eh.

My Dad done this - half tank was diesel filled the rest with petrol night before. then the next day he drove off and and it broke down later on in the day.
And this was before he was due to go to the airport and fly off. Swapped the cars in time and he took the other one…
Car got towed to garage, got fuel filter and parts changed, fuel removed in audi and diesel put in - £76 all included not a bad price going to pick it up later…

can’t the pump design change the nozzels or something so people can’t insert it in the wrong fuel cap like in the states?

Ok, so u all think your problems are bad!! I filled my 10 month old DIESEL Citroen half full with PETROL, drove it 20KM’s then realised as it was not running smoothly. Managed 2 get home but now am stuck with attempting to sort this out whilst communicating in very basic spanish (been out here less than a year). Adding to the fact that in Spain the garages seem to open and close when they feel like it i am dreading the next chapter in this awful story!

Aaaaaaargh. Sodding BP. I was tricked by the Ultimate at BP too. I put in 5 litres unleaded into my wife’s 2004 (new to us) Focus TDCi (i.e the Common Rail, newest type of diesel). It was 8pm and I’d recalled that diluting was okay from somewhere so filled it with 36 litres of diesel. It was driving okay, perhaps a bit lumpy, but not being used to the noise of diesel I wasn’t too sure. After 80 miles I put another 8 litres of diesel in, then after another 80 miles, then after 90 miles, then after 112 miles (filled up in France for this one) and then after 250 miles. I’ve now done another 150 miles, so 762 miles so far and I’m still going. Fingers crossed for me that there’s no lasting damage. However, I do sh!t myself everytime I hear an odd noise or start the car :(

Bloody Women Drivers - My Girlfriend has just passed her test so I bought her a Clio. Tonight she went to Morissons and I stupidly asked her to to put £20 in my almost empty 1.8 TD 02 Reg Focus. I now have a very poorly Focus and £20 of unleaded. She drove about 1 mile, until it died, then walked home the rest of the way (luckily). Does anyone know the best way to drain a Focus tank. I hate driving Clio’s.

Stories of wrecked engines are exagerated, Most engines will run happily on a 5% contamination..any more and it must be removed, but dont panic if you started the engine..call the AA, they will come even if your not a member and fix on site. If they can’t get to you they will tow you home and fix the next day. 0870 240 3985.

I know someone who had put petrol into a diesel hire van. He was charged £900 by the company for the damage done. Has anyone else had similar problems with putting unleaded petrol into a hired diesel vechicles.

I understand that that the new Ford Mondeo has a wrong fuel inhibitor device installed in their cars. Does anyone know on what principle this device works?

I understand that designs to solve the problems of misfueling petrol or diesel vehicles, are in hand. So hopefully it won’t be too long before we see an end to this situation.

I joined the STUPID club on Sunday after inadvertantly putting 45 litres of unleaded (yes at a BP outlet!) and driving off. My car is a 06 Honda Civic 2.2 diesel. I managed to get about miles before it started coughing and spluttering. I continued driving completely oblivious to my act of folly wondering what was wrong with the car. It gradually ground to a halt and cut out. In a momement of calmness I tried to think what the problem was and came to the conclusion tat my fuel must be ‘contaminated’. I got the fuel receipt out of my wallet and immediately felt the warm trickle of fear running down my legs (poetic licence!) when I read I had just filled up with unleaded. I called out the RAC and had my car recovered to my local Honda dealership. The next day I spoke with the mechanics who were all doom and gloom. They told me that because I had driven it and it had cut out, the damage would be seere and likely to cost £0000s to fix. My world collapsed!! The next day they rang me and said the car was ready for collection. I asked wjhat the bill was and leapt for joy when I was told £307 plus VAT. They had managed to sort it it by dong the usual removal of fuel tank and flush of the system. Their inspection revealed no other damage and the car runs just a sweet as it did before my STUPID act. Deep joy! There is hope out there for prospective members to the club….keep the faith!

Meh, I welcome myself to teh wall of shame..BLAH! ok so my old man is a bit lazy, and frequently ask’s if I will re-fuel is motor. (d) its been a while since ive refueled his car, and im used to my car (P) so off I go, And fill his empty tank with petrol, got the car home and then realised!.. I offered to drain the tank, but had trouble locating the plug.. I offered to syph it, but My old man was so stressed out, he just thinks ima total fuckup. lol. I say lazy sod should fill his own car. He seems to think its going t cost him 4k, which is a load of bollocks, most i heard of for a system drain on a diesel including the minimun of £20 fuel charges is around £250. Which i’ll hapily pay him back for momenteraly disabling his car. - I think it’s somthing everyone does 1 time in there life, Especially if your used to driving 2 family cars and your own, But a second to point out, Diesel pumps (square nozzle, black colour) unleaded cicrle nozzle green colour. Would be simplier right? and save us a lot of money, But I dont think garages and company’s liek the AA or rac would be pleased, as on average around 7,600 ppl make this mistake a year. Only 2,000 of them being there first time! :o ok nice to have been named and shamed, everyone good luck with your cars, drive safely. - Hey! at least we didnt blow shit up? lol

I’m in the club!! Just had the car towed home…stopped for a fill up on the way to Ikea and thought I’d treat my 07 Honda Civic to a top of BP Ultimate…unfortunately it was bP Ultimate unleaded not diesel…idiot!! £20 went in but lucikily I realised it before I started the engine. gor a mobile company coming out in an hour to drain it for £150 + VAT. They are called Ultra Evac and are based in Surrey/Hampshire and are on call 24hrs a day…bit of result, told to me by the breakdown driver…fingers crossed it all goes ok!

filled diesel takn with 15 quids of petrol,luckily realised what I had done.Immeditaely, called VW they quoted 395+ vat to drain system.Instead,I called my local car mechanic and low and behold, 75quids for the lot including 10 for diesel.
I managed to get the wedding but was 2 hrs late, damn!!!
Won’t be making that mistake again…..

i have joined the club on friday night have put 20 quid worth of ul into my 1.3TDI corsa. Ran okish on the motor way diddnt realise what i had done till i got home. Tried to start it to take to the garage today and a big cloud of white smoke and 0%power

is it ruined or will a drain and refil work??

came across this site by accident - interesting reading! but as a general follow up on all the above misfueling situations, has anyone suffered any permanent injector/pump/engine damage subsequently??

Joined club today, partner put £20 petrol in my 56 plate mercedes b class 180cdi. got a few hundred yards, few splutters and then he stopped it, realising what he had done. Got recovered to mercedes garage and told it may cost up to £8000 to repair, depending on damage done!!! Is this right, my insurance policy doesn’t seem to cover it. Any advice as I’m having kittens!!

Sara. Now it is in the hands of a Mercedes garage, they will have to look at it properly, to comply with any guarantee on the car. Having driven the car after filling up with petrol makes it worse. Diesel acts as a lubricant and petrol a solvent, they will need inspect it, to see what damage has been done. I doubt if there answer is just a quick £200, as so many of the other examples on this web page. I would be interested see hear what the outcome is, I wish you luck that it is nothing like the possible estimate that they gave you.

Sara, you can also look at this web site www.theaa.com/onlinenews/fea_misfuel_feb2004.html

I accidently put £40 of petrol in my diesel BMW. I realised my mistake before starting the car and pushed it away from the pumps. The next day I arranged to have it collected and drained by a local garage. I don’t know what they did to it, but it now has £13600 pounds worth of damage and my insurance company have written it off. And that was just after paying £960 for a service and £500 on new tyres. I won’t be doing that again!

Put 15 litres of petrol into my 2003 Citroen Berlingo, it had 5 litres of diesel left in the tank and it ran for 8 miles before stuttering to a halt…rather like it’s owner as the realiseation dawned! Quoted £210 for drain via Green Flag recovery, at which point I felt someone was taking the mickey! If you own a Citreon or Peugeot fitted with the (XUD) engine, (the old type 1.5 / 1.8 / 1.9 / 2.2 diesel and not the HDI’s)then look for the fuel filter fitted in an oval black container at the front/right of the engine. Disconnect the outlet(top)hose from the filter, and attach a length of hose into a bucket. Undo the diesel tank filler cap, and push down the Priming Plunger(the ‘knob’on the left of the filter housing body)this is used to prime the diesel pump should you run out of fuel, but can be used to drain your tank, fuel line and filter. It took me 1 hour of pumping to drain 5 gallons and makes your fingers ache, but fully drained I refitted the pipe, primed with fresh DIESEL and away we went. Later I added a flush to the fuel and replaced the fuel filter and it’s been fine. I’m not a mechanic! but there seems to be alot of ‘experts’ making big bucks in this scam. In Scandanavia they used to add 10% petrol to diesel in winter to stop it waxing so at that ratio on OLDER types engines you should be ok to go the dilution route. New high pressure single rail injection systems seem to be damaged. My gripe is paying £210 to drain 5 gallons of liquid from one container to another, which is not rocket science, it’s a rip off. Paying for the associated damage to the engine is quite a separate matter and is best left to an expert. Hope this saves you some time, and money..by the way the car seems fine.

Thanks to Liz’s tip above, I also visited the diesel doctor who put things into perspective for me, answered me by email and not charged me a penny but saved me the £1800 that the dealers wanted to charge.

OMG didnt realise there was so many. Fool me tired yesterday morning decided to go to the car boot at 8.30am. Put £10 diesel in my Vauxhall Astra and didnt even realise until i was at the paying kiosk when i got my reciept at which point i had already started the car. Couldnt afford a heafty bill from the garage so had the car towed home. Emptied the tank of which 5 litres of the 15 were petrol, flushed the fuel lines and cleaned the spark plugs. Fit a new fuel filter tomorrow, and then throw some redex through the tank i did fire the car 3 times luckily the car threw a load of crap out of the exhaust but fired up 4th time. Cost £10 for the misfuel and £3 for 2 threaded bolts ;-) probably another £10 for a fuel filter and dunno how much redex is but it is a damn site cheaper to do it yourself
Linz

Sign me up for the club.
I have really bad news. My CRD Citroen C$ was so unhappy with the petrol in the fuley that the catalizer(?) failed causing the turbo to melt down… apparently up to 2000 degrees c causing distortion of structural bodypanels which, apparently, are glued not welded and consequently th eglue can not be trusted now.
Outcome… the car is a write-off at two years old with two years to go on HP. I really hope the insurance will cover this one. Can anyone confirm it does?
Dave

Tony above is speaking - I am Afraid to say - rubbish.

Modern diesel engines work to aircraft level tolerances and very high pressures. Petrol removes lubricants from surfaces. High precision injectors do not like that. Many are programmed…to an individual car.

If you put petrol in a diesel engined car made after 2001, then do not run the engine. If you do run it for any length of time, bills of £1000s

And NO , your insurance does not cover it…

The ‘2001′ date is a bit broad brush. The important point is whether the engine is Common Rail or not. These run at massively higher pressures (approx 20000PSI) and the diesel fuel is absolutely vital for lubrication. There were some Common Rail diesels prior to 2001 and some conventionally fueled diesel engines post 2001. Rover for example were churning out the old L Series engine in some of their models right up until the company went bust. And the VAG TDi 4 cylinder engines are not Common Rail - yet.

Basically if you mis-fuel a Common Rail diesel then that’s seriously bad and expensive news. If not Common Rail then you might get away with it.

Yesterday, put 20L of unleaded in ap. 15L of diesel in 307 HDI. Made about 130km on highway. Then realized what i’ve done. Filled with diesel to top and made another 80km. For now everything OK. Should I still get it out or keep on driving? Since then driving low RPM, low speed as adviced by mechanic on my own response…

Leon, The damage will be done.. I would part exchange it while its still running OK.

like a right **** i put £30 of diesel into my petrol engine yesterday . literally as soon as i left the pump amd moved off the car stopped . got my mate ( mechanic) to pick up car and told him it wouldnt start . after a few embarrising hrs and then realising what i had done he managed to drain tank and flush through the petrol . the car has never run better , so it is a myth that the engine is wrecked if you put diesel in a petrol engine ( although i dont advise it )

“Yesterday, put 20L of unleaded in ap. 15L of diesel in 307 HDI. Made about 130km on highway. Then realized what i’ve done. Filled with diesel to top and made another 80km. For now everything OK. Should I still get it out or keep on driving? Since then driving low RPM, low speed as adviced by mechanic on my own response…”

So, I cleaned the tank, filled with PURE diesel, everything going OK now. I’ll post if anything wrong..

I found this thread on google and thought I would add my story. I have now done it both ways, the first time putting diesel in an old (1983 volve 340) petrol car, which resulted in a lot of black smoke and jerking around, but was eventually fixed at a garage for about 100 quid. And now I have just put petrol in a diesel car (citroen zx 1.9 TD 1996). It was probably only about 0.7L as I noticed, yanked the nozzle out and sprayed diesel everywhere. Filled the car up with diesel afterwards, so around 38L in total and have just driven 40 miles. Everything seems ok so far and I’m going to keep it topped up for a while.

i have filled my 2.0L trajet with Petrol. it ran hot and was very juddery. ran the lot out (125 miles)then topped up with propper juice. runs even better now.

I put £60 unleaded petrol in a quarter tank of diesel in my 4 x 4. Couldn’t believe it. I contact the RAC who put me in touch with a company called Mcallisters mobile fuel evacuation, tel 0800 330999. They came along and siphoned out all the petrol, took just over an hour and cost me £176, well worth it as the cost of a new engine would have been thousands. I can recommend this company, as they are very professional and know exactly what to do. My car is as good as new. 26/9/07.

Well….I was on my way for a long weekend..looking forward to a few beers with some friends Grabbed the black looking thing at the petrol pump & went on my merry way. Car coughed spluttered to a halt half a mile later. Thank goodness am with the AA. Very worried now….had it towed to the local garage….will have to await my fate. It’s 1.9 tdi golf 03 reg. Strage thing is was listening to the radio 5 mins before and heard the reporter saying he had done the same that very day !

Okay…..I think I got off fairly lightly. Local Mechanic charged me £160 inc Vat and has driven fine so far. Had to hire a car for a couple of days as well. Expensive mistake though ! Direct Line Insurance would have covered me for any engine breakdown. BW, R

Filled my Ford Focus with unleaded, felt extremely foolish at garage. They drained tank and I then filled with Diesel. It runs better then before.

Yep, just done it. £39 of unleaded into diesel. Oh bugger it, back to the wallet…pleased to find this site, it came as comfort

Original post Aug 25 06…petrol into brand new Renault Megane / Common Rail……drove until died.Dealer repair bill £160.00.
27,000 miles later, serviced twice at appropriate mileage,no problems.( Sorry for those folks since…I can identify with that ’sick’ feeling!!)

I have done this today!! I feel better now that I am NOT the only person to have done this. I am lucky because its a company car so I don’t have to pick up the bill, telling my boss was the worst bit.

I put 48(!) litres of unleaded into a diesel (opps). It ran for 2 miles then coughed and spluttered its way to a suitable point to stop. £99 to be towed to a garage, £130 to have the tank drained and £47 on wasted petrol!! Will not be doing it again!

I’ve got a TDI 1.9 JETTA yay! and I’m just reading this to make sure that if the ‘petrol’ attendant does make a mistake then I won’t be in too much trouble. South Africa won the rugby world cup - Heheheh RSA.

Had the wife ring me in histerics yesterday, she had just put £35 of petrol in her new VW Golf GT TDI, it got 50 yards and died, got the car to the local VW garage, now waiting for them to ring me in the morning to discuss what to do, the wife is still crying, wish me luck!

Follow up to yesterday, VW just rung to say they are going to flush it all out, fill with Diesel and turn the key, their comment is its 50/50 from then on as to the damage, in 10 years they have only had 1 engine destroyed, other damage ranges from fuel pumps to injectors, cost is £244 up to now.

Phew! Just got the car back as good as new, VW garage reckon 1 in 10 result in more damage than ours, the key is how far you drive it the more damage is caused.

I accidently put £40 of petrol in my diesel BMW. I realised my mistake before starting the car and pushed it away from the pumps. The next day I arranged to have it collected and drained by a local garage. I don’t know what they did to it, but it now has £13600 pounds worth of damage and my insurance company have written it off. And that was just after paying £960 for a service and £500 on new tyres. I won’t be doing that again!

Comment by Vince — September 3, 2007 at 11:59 AM

Update:

My insurance paid out, I retained the salvage, took the car to an independant BMW specialist who found the only problem to be that there was STILL petrol in it. I now have the car back running fine and after expenses have been left £6500 in profit! Although the car now has no re-sale value as it is on record as being an insurance write-off.

Yes put £15 in my 106 DIESEL, going to drain it off, well pissed…

Filled my diesel Ford Fiesta with fuel on Sunday past, drove mile and a half home - car wouldn’t start on Monday. It’s now in the garage and it appears I’ve filled it with unleaded and I feel a right numpty! I’m encouraged by those who have just needed the tank to be drained rather than having to fork out for new pump, injector, etc. Here’s hoping…

I put £6 of unleaded in a near empty diesel tank a few days ago and have only just realised. I drove 50 miles home. Started up fine next day. Then put £8 worth of diesel in next day and filled up with diesel yesterday. My car is quite old (M reg) so I’m thinking of just keeping it topped up and hoping for the best….no ill effects at the moment. Any thoughts folks?

I think you will probably get away with that, by keeping it topped up with diesel.

Thanks Ted - its been good to be able to share this as I daren’t tell my hubby !

A relation of mine filled her hubbies brand new diesel car up with petrol, and had driven it. She was advised by the garage just to keep topping it up. The petrol lies on the surface of the diesel, and needs to be mixed up with the diesel to thin it out. Fortunately depending on how old the car is, the better the chance of not damaging it. The new diesels run at very hign pressures, something like 20000 pounds per square inch, the diesel acts as a lubricant between the surfaces of the working parts. Petrol acts as a solvent, stripping away the diesel, which allows the surfaces to rub together and damaging the hardened surfaces. Older diesels do not work at such hign pressures, so are not prone to this sort of damage.

Thanks Ted for the techie stuff. You have cheered me up! With what I’ve read here and various other places, I think as you say the fact that its an old car has probably saved my bacon.

Ref: Mike W..I’m not talking rubbish, Check AA web site for details, they run a service Mon - Fri 0800-2000 on site fuel drain!
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/news/aa-fuel-assist.html

**** put fiver of deisel into empty petrol tank, car ran smoothly for about 10 mins then started to choke up. i realised what i had done and turned the engin off immediatly! am i truly screwed or is the damage minimal being such a small amount of diesel?

Please advise
Thanks

As I understand it, diesel can damage your catalitic convertor, you may have a problem with that at your next MOT. I would think you won’t have damaged your car, your plugs may need a clean though. Just fill your tank with petrol, to dilute the diesel.

I was hoping someone would say that, should i syphon the rest of the diesel out first do you think or jus top up with petrol

Thanks alot

Owen, I would be interested to know if your car has a restrictor in the neck of the fuel filling pipe, as I thought all petrol cars had them fitted. The diesel fuel filling nozzle is 3mm greater in diameter than the petrol one, and therefore the diesel nozzle won’t fit fully through the restrictor. Although diesel can be still delivered into the tank, as the spring flap at the bottom of the restrictor, hasn’t a strong enough spring to resist the pressure of the fuel.

It would depend on how easy it would be to remove the diesel form the tank. If it isn’t a big problem, then get it done, it may save a problem with your catalitic convertor. Otherwise get petrol in and try to mix it up with the diesel as best as you can.

i believe it does but i filled the tank up around 2 this morning, was very tired and didnt pay much attention and only continued pumping as all the fuel was going into the tank and not down the side of the car.

Ok Thanks Ted nice 1, much apriciated!

Thanks Owen. I just wondered, and have a petrol car myself. My previous car was a diesel. I was always careful when filling the previous car with diesel, but hadn’t any problems. Misfueling with petrol into a diesel car is more common than than the other way round.
A friend of mine did a similar thing himself, when rushing to get a friend to the airport on time, but was short on time,and he put diesel into the company petrol engined car. It always seem to happen when people or tired, in a rush, or thinking of other things. I hope all will be well with your car.

thank you, so do I! lol do you know what happened to the company petrol car?

He only put a little diesel in before he realised, and then filled up with petrol. I don’t think he mentioned it to his company.

Quality! thanks alot ted, take care!

My girlfriend has filled my Golf TDI up with unleaded. Luckily she didn’t start the engine. Good FAQ here which distinguishes between older and newer and diesels and the potential damage to both.

http://motortorque.askaprice.com/articles/auto-0711/help-ive-put-petrol-in-a-diesel-engine-frequently-asked-questions.asp

Diesel is a lubricant as well as a fuel, a modern diesel engine is far more advanced than a petrol engine. theres more involved that just draining it out you have to replace the filter and then bleed all of the air out of the system, that would do me but others would suggest replacing pumps and seals. it can end up a pricey mistake.

Just put 70l of Petrol in to my Diesel Landrover(company).Drove it 11 miles and it started to die. Pulled off the motorway and waited for the RAC. Towed to Garage. I only had to tell 5 different people until I could go home and die of shame. I feel much better after reading the comments above, I am not alone. Not looking forward to the bill!

I have an 05 S-Type diesel Jag and have put 1.9 litres of unleaded into the tank which was a quarter full at the time. My excuse was that the glass on the pump was so misted up with condensation that I couldn’t read the dials (no excuse really, is it?) I then filled it to the brim with another 50.51 litres. So far all seems to be well but I am severly worried, needless to say. What do you think, shall I phone the dealer? It is under guarantee but not guaranteed against twerps.

Stephen M, don’t contact your dealer. If you want the fuel removed, use someone else, perhaps the AA service. See the website, shown on Nov 11 by Tony for the AA assist website.
It’s a small amount of unleaded compared to the amount of diesel. I would think you would get away with it if 2 fuels mix. A relative of mine misfuel this way with a higher percentage of unleaded in her husbands new diesel car, and the garage said just to keep topping up with diesel. It will probably cost about £150 to £200, to have the fuel removed.

Thanks, Ted, for your reassuring words. I have to say that at the moment the car is running more smoothly than before I misfueled - or maybe I am imagining it. Anyway, I am going to keep the tank topped up and see what happens. Perhaps I will also stay well within the speed limit and not put any pressure on the engine. I will post again in a few weeks so hopefully others may benefit from my stupidity. I will definiely be more careful in future. :-(

Stephen M, there is a product on the market now, which is being targetted at the fleet cars, to prevent misfueling, of diesel cars. When I last spoke to them, they weren’t interested, at this time, in selling to the general public. But if they did it would cost £100. If they changed their mind, would to be willing to by a device for that price?

I probably wouldn’t buy it now because I will be VERY carleful in future, but shouldn’t it be fitted as standard? I think it would be a coup for a car manufacturer – but there again, the average guy/girl will probably think it couldn’t happen to them. Well, it can and I am proof of it.
Still no ill effects of my extra 1.9 litres of petrol although the car gave me a bit of a shock this cold morning when it didn’t immediately start. I noticed a very quick message saying “ABS failure” but it started after three goes and has been no trouble since. I didn’t think petrol would affect the brakes!

Cheers Stephen. It sounds like your car will be okay, strange about your ABS failure though. Take care when fueling, I know of a few people that have done it twice, and one of those is someone who did it twice in two weeks.

Another idiot joins the club! After driving Diesels for 7 years,yesterday i did it myself. The bike gets BP Ultimate and i must have mixed the pumps up,

Yes i shoved £35 of UL into a 1/4 of a tank of a 54 plate Diesel. Renault Mgane Being a nutter i drove 5 miles home warning lights going of lol,but she pulled ok, my local independant garage (2 min walk away) kept her overnight and i got her back this morning they drained tank thorough check and cleaned injectors all for £50 including 8ltrs of Diesel.Then i half filled her put some Diesel redex in then filled up down the road and everything seems better than before.

Here’s a thought, i’ve spent last night reading all the entries on here, most from people who made a simple mistake, one which i never thought i would make, but there is a lot of negative comment from so called mechanics proclaiming doom.
Most people will be lucky as others i know have been, and greedy dealers will always benefit where they can by taking the costliest route for their benefit and not ours in this ever increasing cost to the motorist country, so don’t panic and let the doom mongers have their say till it happens to them.
Happy Motoring!!

I think I’ve just got away with it. Put £20 worth of u/l in wifes Peugot 206 1.4 HDI (nearly 4 years old, 35000 miles) last night. Then realised and filled up with deisel (£23). Drove off and seemed OK but sluggish starting today. Just been on a 50 mile round trip to burn some fuel off and then filled up with another £10 deisel.

I think I’ve been very lucky as the car seems to be ruuning fine!

Update on my diesel Jag. Eleven days on, I have put in another quarter tank of diesel to keep it topped up and all seems well (although I still feel a bit nervous about it). Some strange smells occasionally but no problems. Phew! This web page has been very beneficial to me.

Hi Stephen, it’s good to hear that your Jag is still running well. It’s good to get updates on peoples misfueling incidents, and how their cars are doing, so that it can be assessed at what ratio of diesel/unleaded, plus other factors, may give some indication as to results of misfuleing. Hopefully more people can update us, on this website, as to the situation with their cars.

ok, so I am a muppet … somehow managed to put 41 litres of unleaded in my ‘04 volvo v40.
the ’superclean diesel’ pump actually had a sign stating that there was none and I mistakenly used the next hose - fully thinking that it too was diesel [eg not ’superclean diesel’].
not realising the importance of ‘not starting’ the engine, I moved the car a few metres on the forecourt, before getting assistance from the rac.
car is now at my local garage for drainage/cleaning pump, etc. …… fingers crossed no actual damage will have been done.

Update on the Megane cc 120 Diesel,
all seems ok and she’s running smooth and quiet, took her out onto a deserted motorway late the other night and got up to 135mph @ 4000rpm smooth as silk, thank god.
One love to all Mick.

Well I joined the club yesterday when I put £15 of unleaded in our 1 year old citroen c2. I think I just had a mental blip as I’ve had a few hire cars with work recently and as the other uses our car most I rarely fill it up myself. So of course trying to find a garage open at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon was laughable. Found one guy who although he wasn’t open said that to give him a ring on Monday if I’ve had no luck but this pretty busy. So that’s my Christmas Eve knocked on the head! Luckily managed to sort out a hire car for trips to family and friends on boxing day for a pretty reasonable £67 for 4 days. My other half has already warned me that this is going to cost me an arm and a leg, so thank god for credit cards!

Joined the “stupid club” a few weeks back when I went into complete autopilot mode and put a pounds worth of unleaded into my Peugeot 206 diesel! Fortunately the hike in petrol prices meant that a pounds worth probably equates to a teaspoon of petrol! As the diesel pump was out of order, had to start the engine to move car to the next available diesel pump, I filled engine up to the brim with diesel and fingers crossed I have experienced no problems whatsoever. So based on my experience, provided its a small amount and you top up with sufficient diesel to dilute it, you should be ok!

Borrowed partners TD4 Free Lander ‘03 seventy thousand miles needed DIESEL as usual! called into a station not known by us and put £30 of DIESEL not PETROL into jeep, went into hospital to have baby couple of days later and jeep difficult to start, engine fine when going. Went to come home with baby jeep wouldn’t start. Mechanic says injectors not building pressure to start possibly contaminated fuel, took car away to check them, needed to replace all injectors and fuel pump due to faulty fuel. when fuel tested was found to have 5% contamination of petrol. This has cost £1500 to fix + taking garage to court. Anyone else out there in the same situation!! How did the court case go for you?

Yes! Yes! Yes! I am a PLONKER! What does Plonker mean? I have just filled my diesel car tank with 30ltrs unleaded petrol. Car is running rough at start but very well at speeds over 30MPH; and starts well each time. Haven’t noted any smoke yet even though I have driven it 12miles with petrol. Perhaps it is too dark to notice it yet.

Thank you all for your advice. Will drain my tank ASAP and fill-up correctly this time (with diesel)and forever.

Hello there! Ive just put 24 litres of unleaded into my 1.5 dci (diesel) clio - thankfully i didn’t start the car (thanks to the staff at tesco). Towed the car 2 miles to the nearest (open) garage and was told it’ll cost 37 to sort so, fingers crossed, no lasting damage!! Happy new year!

Put 7 litres of unleaded into Passat TDI 1.9 54 reg diesel tank (qtr full) before realising and filled remaining tank (total 70 litres) with diesel. Started first time - drove 1 mile to work. Restarted 8 hours later (on third attempt)and drove 1 mile to garage to put in
70cc of two stroke oil (for additional lubrication).

Topped up frequently for next 2 weeks.

Now starts first time and seems to run fine!

Put 3.5 litres of Petrol into my Citroen C4 HDI. F… #%#¤&! I discovered the f…… bummer soon enough so luckily it was only 3.5 litres. Filled it all up with Diesel (60 litres). Drove rally carefully and slow for 100km on the highway and topped up with Diesel for each 100km. Runs smooth…still…. :-)

My Mum (really not me) put 10 Litres of Diesel in her neighbours Mazda 6 TS2 (Petrol car) when it was almost empty on Saturday night (30/12/07) - (I know this is hard to do, she’s very persistent). She then drove it 2 miles to my house and in that time it broke down, but being persistent, she got it going again and drove it round to my house, another 600yards. She didn’t explain the problem, just that something had been wrong since she filled up, and that it had been hard to fill up.

I tried to turn it over but it would get to 2k revs then die. So I left it and checked her receipt. Found out it was diesel :( Searched the web and mostly heard how gubbed we were.

After much messing around trying to empty the tank we discovered we couldn’t. Last resort I put 10 liters of unleaded petrol into the tank then towed the car to a garage (don’t start it). Filled the tank with petrol and a bottle of SPT and tried to start it. After several attempts the car eventually stayed on at around 500rpm (engine management light came on at this point), it was trying to clear itself. White smoke etc for 5 mins, didn’t move foot, left it gently pressing on accelerator. After 5 mins more it had cleared and had built itself up to sitting happily at 1500rpm, white smoke was all but gone. Another few mins and was revving at 3500rpm. Then moved the car away from the pump and let it sit at 3500rpm for another 10 mins. Drove it home and let it sit for 30mins in driveway turning over. Have heating on and door open to draw heat from the engine. Then to make sure it was clear I drove it from Glasgow to Carlise and back - which emptied 1/2 the tank. Car seemed absoultely fine, need to get someone to switch off the engine management light, and probably a good idea to change the fuel filter and spark plugs, but it’s working and I’m happy. My Mum’s even happier as she was looking at a very expensive bill to have car repaired.

Eoan, you may want to tell your neighbour what has happened to the car, as putting diesel into a petrol car can damage the catalitic convertor, which may mean the car won’t pass the next MOT. It would be best to have that checked out, before your friend next door does.

Further to me mis-fueling my Citroen Berlingo in September. I have covered nearly 5000 unadventful miles. In fact, I think the petrol has had a positive effect, and my diesel engine seems quieter and smoother, perhaps it’s cleaned out the injectors. I would not recommend adding petrol to your diesel, but not every case will be a disaster.

Hi, The car is a lease car due to go back at the end of January. We have told the neighbour, it’s up to them to tell the lease car company if they want a bigger bill.

My partner has just put 2 litres of Diesel in my petrol car, were advised loads not to drive car. Eventually after a long painful hour we were told fill this up with petrol and it will dilute this.

Do you think this will be ok??

A very anxious stressed out driver!!

Relax Dawn it will be fine ;) Problem is when petrol is put into a modern diesel car.

Putting diesel into a petrol car is also bad as it may damage the catalytic convertor.

Its only a one off slug of Derv not an engine burning oil, CAT will self clean. Its a very minor incident compared with running a common rail diesel on a tank of petrol.

Ive just been advised by my local repair garage that my car will not start because the diesel I purchased earlier in the week from a national fuel company is contaminated with water .Has anybody else had this experience?

I am sick! decided to top up my Merc CDI220 05 plate when half full of deisel but got distracted and put 7.5 litres of petrol in tank before I realised, panicked then filled right to top with deisel which was another 19 litres, drove 10 miles home no problems, apparently wrong thing to do. Having spoken to my Son he says I could maybe get away with it if I keep topping up frequently to dilute the petrol, though he feels himself it should be towed to a garage and drained off. Its done less than 20,000 miles am I fool not to? I came onto this website to find what others think now I am totally confused! its happened to so many and all different views so don’t know best thing to do……………..will it, won’t it do harm.

After a very trying day, i too did the unexpected putting petrol in my X Trail Sport. I had only put in a small amount before i noticed and then topped up with diesel with what little money i had left, 2 miles later i got home and car unaffected so tommorrow i will fill the tank to the brim to dilute it, and hope for the best. Apparently this has been done before with no adverse effects with of course a change of fuel fillter

lol, I cant believe I am having to add my own entry here. I just put 18 litres of petrol into my dads BMW 3 Series Diesel (I drive a BMW 3 Series Petrol). I realised what I had done and topped it up with 40 litres Diesel. It seemed fine on the way home (5 miles) so fingers crossed the 2:1 approx mix may be ok. I will let you know my fate!

I accidently put petrol into my diesel car about 3 weeks ago. I have delayed posting my experience until I had a ’solution’ to report. I first logged onto this site to get some idea as to what to expect would happen (what needed to be done, likely expence etc) and found some of the posts helpful but others quire scary. I also found posts which claimed to be authoritive such as ‘…your insurance will not pay for the damage…’. The danger with such posts are that they might put people off even asking the insurance company. Anyway, here is my experience…
As I had completely filled with the wrong fuel, not realised and so driven it until it stopped, diluting the petrol with diesel was not an option. I therefore got my car transported to the main dealer. Yes, the main dealer, not a generic garage.
Within a few hours they removed the fuel tank, emptied and cleaned it, cleaned the pipes, replaced the filter etc. The cost was £185 inclusive of VAT - which I consider to be reasonable compared with the AA charge and taking account of all that they did. The moral here is don’t be scared of asking your main dealer to quote - remember they will know your type of vehicle better than most generic garages will. Of course there was the ‘option’ of the additional work in case of potential future problems. This would have increased the cost to just under £2,000 inclusive of VAT.
I decided to let the insurance company (CIS) decide!
They paid for the initial work and put on record that if there are any additional symptoms then they will pay for the additional work if and when necessary.

The moral - don’t be afraid to ask your insurance company.

So far the car is running fine. But thanks to the insurance company I have some peace of mind.

Of course by not having the additional optional work done I have lost some of the warrenty, but as my warrenty only had a fortnight remaining I was not concerned about that. You may be in a different situation.

A final word of advice, if you will forgive me is - beware of so called ‘cheap’ insurance providers. Check their list of exclusions before accepting their offer - and don’t think ‘it would never happen to me’. ‘Cheap’ insurance can turn out to be very expensive.

I hope my experience might help others who turn to this site to find out what to expect… and please everyone - no scaremongering and no claims that there is one absolute truth.

Geoff

hi
i have just put £15 of unleaded petrol in my diesel car, i drove about a quarter of a mile before i realised. i am going to be getting it drained and refuelled but im sick to think of the damage i have caused to my two year old car. Any thoughts? can someone please put my mind at rest?

You don’t say whether the petrol was diluted either by diesel already in the tank or by diesel added after you discovered your mistake? Also, did the car come to a stop of its own accord?

Picture this: Less than a year old Mercedes Benz 320Cdi Estate on the forecourt of a busy BP … its distracted yet proud owner suddenly forced to do that sickening, slow-motion, incredulous double-take … bugged out eyes on stalks sweep from pump along length of hose to pump head where forefinger has depressed the trigger to the tune of 16 litres of UL…Follow gaze back from trigger along hose to pump stand… read: Cadbury Dairy Eggs 3 for £1 in big colour ad and then as an afterthought in small writing: unleaded …and continue back and forth and back and forth… Head screaming, “Noooooo!!!!!” Sheer horror. She begins phoning wildly - first husband, then friends, on the last pulses of a dying mobile. A man who sees her stricken face tells her there are companies out there that specialize in setting misfuels right. The man wishes he could remember the name of the company … but alas, he cannot. She calls AA (what about that FuelAssist thingy?) they say her membership has lapsed and she’d have to rejoin at a premium rate and then pay an additional £176 for the service totaling some £300. She ends up calling MobiloLife (her Mercedes is under warranty - they provide road assistance and replacement vehicles)… they send round a tow truck that takes the lovely yet tainted E320Cdi straight to the dealer. The lady at MobiloLife tells the inconsolable idiot that this sort of thing happens in the UK 400 times a day. WHAT?!

The girl looks on as her car is towed away on a flatbed and starts doing horrific sums in her head. What the devil is this going to cost?! She goes home and trawls the internet and reads other tales of woe. And her misery has LOTS of company.

Now, dear reader, if you’re looking for a happy ending let me just tell you what happened next. That lousy Mercedes dealership took the hardline and charged £500 to drain the tank and change the “sensors". Ultra Vac would have been the way to go (why couldn’t that darn guy on the forecourt of BP have had a better memory?).

When Mercedes was told that other companies charge £176 for doing a misfuel turnabout their reply was, “…No, no - those other guys just siphon you. We change out blah* blah* blah*” Hmmmm. Still feel siphoned.

Okay - enough third person - I go to get more diesel in my car (Mercedes put like £7 in and handed me back the keys!) There was a pool of petrol around the inside of the petrol door right by the cap) How did that get there if they didn’t do the very same siphon job? They can’t be that inept at pumping gas! Er … yeah, I know what I’m saying.

Save yourself some money. Call Ultra Vac and maybe change the filter out.

Anybody here have experience of Ford TDCi common-rail diesels?

My father-in-law borrowed the car and put 10 litres of petrol in it, realised his mistake and put (only) another 10 litres of diesel on top (so 50/50 ratio). He then drove it around for another 25(!) miles before returning it, and never had a single problem with it.

Having seen this thread, I called out ultra-evac and had it emptied, even though it was still working fine. The thing is, everyone on this thread and the ‘net says that if you drive a common-rail diesel just 5 metres you will kill the pump/engine at a cost of thousands….

Any thoughts here, the car still runs fine after ultra-evac, and no noises. Should I get the fuel pump/filter/system checked? will this cost heaps?

Thanks to anyone who can provide any info.

I drive a VW Polo 1.4 TDI… and tonight had 20 litres of petrol pumped into my 45 litre diesel tank. I realised the error before starting the car and driving away, and promptly called VW’s Roadside Assistance who organised a tow truck to get the car to the nearest dealership. Apparently the dealership has invested in a special machine that’s able to properly drain the tank etc. So tomorrow we’ll see what they say, and whether there’s any damage to the car.

I’m completely amazed at how many people have been through this exact same experience. The tow-truck driver was saying that he sees it on a daily basis!

Hey, I wrote in yesterday (above) about having put petrol into my diesel car. Volkswagen sorted it all out today, draining the fuel tank and fuel lines and replaced the fuel filter. Set me back ZAR 2400 (about £184) here in South Africa. Car is absolutely perfect, no problems whatsoever! I’m so relieved!

Oh God. I put 9 litres of unleaded in my 56 plate BMW320d yesterday… Have no idea what posessed me to make this mistake.. I immediately topped up with 53 litres of diesel….Guy in petrol station told me to top up with diesel should be ok as it will dilute it? Ran car for about 50 miles, without any trouble (apart from the gauge that indicates the mpg swinging left to right for a while, before settling down…. it’s ok now). When I got home I looked on the net for some assurance and found this site… now I’m worried!
Should I keep diluting with diesel? should I add anything to the tank? It’s a company car so I want to avoid trouble….

Just managed to put 3.8L of unleaded into my new corsa cdti just after the fuel light had come on. I don’t know what I was thinking. My old car had a petrol engine and I just did it without thinking. Luckily I realised before putting a large amount of fuel in. I contacted AA immediately and was put through to their technical services department. They advised me to fill the tank with diesel and to keep the tank above the half mark for the next few refills.

I really hope that no long term damage has been done and have so far driven 20 miles without any noticeable problems. Will update this site should I experience problems in the future…I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Just posted and forgot to say that the AA technical services advice was to top up with diesel as long as the amount of unleaded put in the car was no more than 5 litres.

Well, since my first post 20th April… did another 90 miles, then topped up with another 20 litres of Diesel.. drove from North Manchester to Luton this morning.. all motorway, without any noticeable problems. kept engine revs between 2500 - 3000.. I Now have put in 73 litres since my mistake… 73 diesel to 8(not 9)unleaded. Hoping I can keep doing this for a week or so.. Only concern is does the Unleaded mix and work through.. or does it sit on top of diesel? IE, will I always have the 8 litres UL in my tank and if the tank gets low, will I then have the problems?

Anybody know if my engine management system would have picked this up? everything seems fine and performance just as good!

Oh, Ive just joined the club after owning my 02 golf tdi for 10 months and not having even come close to putting petrol in, I stood there at the pump making my choice between Unleaded and Super Unleaded, idling away the minutes by checking fuel prices and puzzling as to why they were so alien to me lately, ah yes since I changed to Diesel…….40 litres later..
Didnt start the car,towed home by the rac, had the tank drained (cost less than £70) car drives fine as per normal, my positive spin on this is that the tank could have probably have done with a could clean out after 135k miles
Alternately scared senseless and reassured by this site :-)

I was in the unfortunate position of having 1 petrol & 1 diesel car in the family - the solution I came up with was to epoxy glue a green & yellow ribbon to the insides of the fuel filler caps. As long as the fuel filler pipe colour matched I was ok :-)

One thing in common BP Filling stations in a lot of cases i suspect.
Cost insurance company 5k for my Disco3

DDN Limited have invented a filler cap which will not allow you to put petrol in a diesel car. they don’t seem to be in the shops yet, but look out for them.

I put £1.40 of unleaded into vauxhall diesel combo 1.7 TDi today (53 plate) before realising what i had done. Immediatly filled up with about 45 litres of diesel. Called an aquaintance who has claimed to know wabout engines in the past and he said it should be ok with that dilute mix. Van seems to be running the same as ever but having read the above i’m wondering if my “friend” is overplaying his knowledge. Any advice? Should i just keep filling/diluting evry time the tank goes down a quarter?

Just managed to put 10 litres of petrol on top of 5 litres diesel on my Golf 19tdi. Drove 2 miles got it home and drained the tank, Very easy to do, look under the rear passenger seat you will see a black cover with 3 screws. Remove them and you will see a black screw around 20 cms and a white plate underneath with 2 pipes and an electronic fitting. Mark the position of the white unit remove the pipes(push button on fitting), electric fitting (pull of clip) and turn the black large plastic screw cover. You may need to loosen with a screwdriver and hammer (be careful). The underneath unit will spring up enough to get a siphon tube in. Suck the bad fuel out and reverse instructions. Be careful as the white unit has a gasket on it to stop fuel coming in the car, try not to disturb it. Leave the rear seat off for a couple of miles to check that you have replaced the piece correctly, you will soon know if you havent I guess!!! I changed the fuel filter and brimmed the tank. After refuelling the Golf there is no discernable difference, I did put some stp fuel cleaner in the full tank.
I did sh!t myself and called VW, they wanted £184 to drain it, I did it at home in less than 30 minutes and I am no mechanic. I did get the technicians advice at VW and they said (off the record) that it should be ok even without draining it but given how easy it was why take the chance.
Dont go giving the main agents your hard earned.
Fingers crossed.

hi,it is not advised to drive a diesel vehicle if has been run on petrol,as diesel systems are self lubricating and the petrol removes this causing damage,usually to the fuel pump.I have seen a number of vehicles that have been misfueled and have cut out weeks or even months after,this happens because this fuel pump has broken up inside,causing a drop in fuel pressure and sometimes blocking fuel injectors.This is most common in more modern diesel engines due to the introduction of high pressure pumps.Generally I have found particals of metal in the bottom of fuel filter housings suggesting the breaking up of the pump.These components can be very expensive to replace,and dealers will be very reluctant to replace them if there are any signs that the vehicle may of had the wrong fuel in it in the past.

Hi Iv’e done this twice. Stupid I know but it’s easy to do if your mind is elsewhere. Anyway Iv’e taken loads of advice but appears that the sensible thing to do it to get it drained. Cost me about £150 which is cheaper than a new engine. Apparently cars earlier than a Y reg, could be topped up to the max with diesel and if you only had a bit of petrol in that would be o.k. But for newer cars, diesel is a lubricant for parts in the engine and petrol doesn’t do that, so your buying yourself a whole heap of future problems if you just ignore it.

Well, since my original post on 20th April, I have done another 6,000 miles and had a BMW service. There has been no noticeable side effects yet and the car is running as well as ever. basically, I ran it 3/4 full and topped up for the first couple of weeks, then down to 1/2 full for a couple of weeks… then I chanced it and ran it all the way down to below 1/4… then filled up. Then took it for a service.
My theory is that if you put less than 10% in and keep diluting, it should be ok.
Hopefully this will allay some fears.

Steve’s contribution is very valied but no one really answered his previous question, quote “Only concern is does the Unleaded mix and work through.. or does it sit on top of diesel? IE, will I always have the 8 litres UL in my tank and if the tank gets low, will I then have the problems?” unquote. Any takers?

Another question to the pros: Does water in the tank sit idle or does it pass through?

diesel mixes with petrol, there is no separation layer. water however stays separate and the fuel filter causes it to remain in the water trap at the bottom of the filter housing. if you took a typical fuel filter off its very unlikely there would be any water present. However almost all cars now have a dash light that lights up if water is detected in the bottom of the fuel filter.
If this lights up STRAIGHT AFTER refueling, turn the engine off immediately as its possible (highly unlikely) that the fuel was contaminated with water.
Keep fuel tank as full as possible in winter to avoid condesation of water from the m oist air in the tank and do not use fuel additives that get rid of water. This means that the additive takes it through the high pressure pump- the last thing you want.

All fuel filters have a drain screw for water, but with normal BS590 pump diesel its rare to find more than a drop or two after say 20,000 miles. Often there is none. Just keep on top of fuel filter changes as eventually they will plug with asphaltines, which is a `normal` process. Stick to EN590 pump diesel if you want no problems from Common rail diesels.

Thanks Mike B. Your professional answers clear a lot of points raised by many.

help, just put 20quids worth of petrol in my diesel astra 1.7 04 plate van. didnt start it but put 20quids worth of diesel straight in. have driven it about 10 miles since and it seems fine. can i just keep diluting it? there are a lot of conflicting ideas

I strongly suggest you read Mike B.’s contributions otherwise you will get very conflicting (unprofessional) views. Perhaps Mike B. can address your personal problem vis-a-vis the quantity of petrol you put in.

There isn`t a straight edge to quantity.. If its were more than an egg cup full I would drain the tank.
It`s about peace of mind….. People think they have got away with it and maybe they have. It might be the next owner that needs a new pump.
Watch for difficulty with tickover or/and shards of metal in the bottom of diesel fuel filters.
Time to PX to a dealer then and let it go on their behalf through auction.
Personally, I would never buy a used common rail Diesel. Buy new or buy petrol….

Latest member of the wally club - 38 litres of ultimate unleaded in a rover75 diesel (had qtr tank of diesel to mix it with).Ive done 35 miles since I filled up and only noticed the car running lumpy at low revs, going to drain it tomorrow, refill with diesel and get it serviced on wednesday, hope it all goes well and no damage!

Hi, I’ve joined you guys. Whats the membership perks? do we have an annual meet?

I put 7 quid petrol in my audi a4 TDI sat night. Realised mistake and put 50 quid diesel before starting to panic about it. Should have got it towed there and then- wish the garage had advised me that instead of “top it up with diesel". Drove it two miles home and its been sitting there two days. going to get AA drainage out in the morning. Will let you know how it goes.

By the way- i’ve just read through this entire thread- Has anyone noticed the repetative negative comments by the entity known as ‘Ricky, Micky and Nick’? I wonder if this is all the same person and what his agenda is. maybe he gets off on scaring people.

Had the AA misfuel guy out in his van to drain the tank and put in some additive. Very friendly, excellent service. I’ll let you know if it blows up

Its been almost a year since my Megane 120 dCI tasted Petrol, flushed out by my local garage, and no noticible effects til…….7 months later apparently needing glow plugs, the light went out if i restarted after a couple of miles.
Thinking back to my misfuel experience i decided to change her for a VW Golf TDI, it does make you wonder…..so be careful when you’re at the pumps!
Mick :)

Peugeot 306 2.0 hdi meridian year 2002. One of these ‘common rail’ diesels, but with 100000+ miles on the clock so it’s not worth much fuss. I put in 2.69 litres of unleaded by mistake. I topped it up immediately to 50 litres in the tank with 40 litres of diesel, and drove off the forecourt. (Note the amounts if you ever do this, it’s critical) Later that day I added some injector cleaner. My garage advised me I’d be OK. The normal diesel knock disappeared, there was some loss of power, and one more turn of starter was needed to start the engine. I ran the car the 400 miles till nearly empty before refilling it, to get rid of the petrol as much and as soon as possible. I am now half way through that refill. And I am now having to do some retries to start it at 3C. That’s possibly unrelated. It’s a damn cold winter for us! Lu

I accidentally put a small amount of petrol in my 320 CDI (common rail) engined Mercedes. I live abroad and called the local Mercedes importer/dealership, who recommended that I would fill the tank with diesel fuel. After this, the amount of petrol in the tank was 5.6 percent. According to the dealership, this small amount should not be a problem, however the car’s emission diagnostics might notice the petrol and trigger a warning which would need to be reset by the dealership. They also recommended that I would top up with diesel once after 10 litres of fuel had been consumed.

I have done as was recommended and have now driven 160 km and have not noticed any difference in the engines behaviour. I plan to top up diesel regularly, and I am considering to have the fuel filter changed as well.

Like a total plonker put 35l of petrol in my 2005 BMW X3 3.0D and ran it for 5 secs. BMW Dealer quoted £8,000!!! Local garage flushed it and changed filters for £200 and never seen one bad effect. Petrol never got to engine. Just shows…

I put 20 pounds worth of petrol into my brand new Captiva in October 08. I drove a bout a mile before conking out. AA came and drained the tank and flushed through with diesel. It cost 160 pounds and started perfectly. I have now driven nearly 4000 miles since and still feel sick every time I go out in the car. Am I in the clear yet and if anything goes wrong now will the insurance cover it?

forgot to say the tank was empty when i made the boo boo!

Heyho I joined the club on Wednesday with no excuses as we have has diesels for years put 43 lites of ul into a 1/4 tank at a BP garage drove for 1.9 miles before I realised had to phone OH to confess. Got a tow home Oh has drained the tank and refilled with the good stuff and changed the filter, so far, so good I am praying there is no permanent damage.

Spent the day crying because my hubby who loves his car more then me. warned me while he was away with work, “what ever you do don’t put petrol in my car” Drove to the garage spotted the diesel sign pulled in, never spotted the 2 different pumps 1 green and 1 black no need to tell u the one I used. Anyway the tow truck removed it. A bottle of wine later Im here feeling a little better after reading the comments,that I don’t think Il be replacing an engine, just waiting for the bill, thank god he isn’t back untill next week.
This is our little secret.

Mary, I would tell him. I didnt tell my OH for 4 months but it just ate away at me worrying if anything was gonna go wrong. Every time I got in the car I felt panicked by it. I eventually told him last week and he was really good about it, feel as if a massive weight has been lifted, good luck xxx

Put Half a tank full of diesel into a Datsun petrol once. topped it up full mark with petrol ran it on half choke for 150 miles. Got it home Never drained it just kept it full of petrol. You could not do this with a modern car. Petrol and parraffin have been used for many years as a antifreeze in diesel. But modern diesel is antifreezed by law.

UPDATE:

As I wrote above, I misfueled my 320 CDI (common rail) Mercedes with petrol. The dealership recommended that I fill the tank with diesel. After this, the amount of petrol in the tank was about 5.6 percent. They also recommended that I would top up with diesel once after 10 litres of the diesel petrol mixture had been consumed.

I followed their advice. In addition, I topped up with diesel again when 20%, 30%, 40 % and 50% of the petrol diesel mixture had been consumed (to dilute the petrol). I did not change the fuel filter.

I have driven the car a lot, no bad effects to report (yet).

I was looking at a car to buy on saturday. I asked for a test drive and he said they couldn’t because it didn’t have any diesel in. I said, put some in? He said it was going to get flushed to clean it out before they refilled it. Is this because they’ve put petrol in it? And would any of you still consider buying the car if after it had been flushed out… or is it too risky? Thanks.

After a long day i filled up an empty VW POLO 1.4TDI 2004 WITH 40 LITRES UL PETROL. In common with many panicy writers, i do not know yet the outcome of this mishap. I can only assume from the common thread of many of these “awaiting diagnosis” comments that the outcome was reasonably affordable as it is rare that any further updates are posted by the originators advising that the costs ran into thousands…..

Managed to put about a litre of diesel into 15 litres of petrol. Realised straight away, then topped up with 45l petrol. A friend of mine said i should put additive, so i did. drove the car for a mile, just to get to my van, had to take wife to the airport. should i get it flushed or quantity is limited enough to get away with. car is 04 reg audi 2.0 fsi. would b thankful to any comments

My god i’m joining your club stupid me asked my 21yrs old idiot son to put fuel in my mercedes c220 which was empty while I went in to pay £40 paid 2 miles later funny noise, son looks guilty and say whoops, towed to a garage will need to see what happens, phoned merc dealer who quoted £6500, son for sale,,,,,,,ahhhhhhhhhhh

I have joined the club today, put 8 litres of petrol into a near empty tank then realised, paid and filled tank with diesel (40 odd litres). Seems fine so far but only gone a few miles, fingers crossed the dilution is OK.

Saab 93 tid meant to have diesel, filled up an almost empty tank with £10 of unleaded. Drove about 4 miles, car went into limp home mode so I stopped and got towed by On Time guys.. Really worried that i have broken the car… any advice?

Update - had it drained.. £100 and seems to be running fine.

Shell are selling V-power - better for performance better economy -BUT it doesnt say diesel or petrol on the nozzle!!! Just V-Power - 99 octane. Techs amongst you will know what that is -but does mr or mrs Average? It helped me to do the classic of 40 litres into my Volvo D5.
Do I have recourse against the garage for incredibly poor labeling?

put 10 litres of unleaded into volvo s40 diesel. I was advised by 3 local garages to fill up with diesel and keep refilling every quarter of tank, have had absolutely no problems wouldnt even know it had petrol in it, in fact drives better much more responsive, have done 440 miles no problem.

Filled my Renault Megane with petrol (whole tankful) instead of diesel last week and drove 1 mile to work. Very stressful week went suddenly worse. Car wouldn’t start and called AA who diagnosed immobiliser problem; I didn’t realise what I had done until Renault phoned the next day to say there was petrol in the tank. Renault say tank needed draining (natch) at c£200 + possible replacement of pump bead(?) at further cost of c£750. V Expensive mistake possibly.

My boyfriend borrowed my Audi A6 avant tdi quatro on Thursday and put a full tank of petrol in to it. The car just stopped about two miles down the road and is still in the Garage the bill is currently running at £380 thereabouts but the garage say it starts then when they try to start it again it wont start. They have drained tanks put diesel back in but they say there is a problem still I dont know if they are trying to earn a bit of extra cash for there staff xmas do out of me or wether other faults can occur as result.. They reccon that the V6 Quattro is the worst car to do it too.. any experts out there tell me different please just what we needed before xmas grrr

Just got the Megane back. Not too bad £200 + cost of whole tank of fuel. However, I was warned that there may be future increased wear of parts affected.
Took several minutes to check and double-check I had the correct fuel the following day. Lesson hopefully learnt.

2002 toyota diesel , 20 squids of petrol in it drove about 20 miles over 2 days, then it gave up , drained the tank, put in some diesel , first turn of the key and started with a puff of blue smoke, happy days, johnny, ireland

Put 21L petrol in my Citroen C3 HDi diesel 2004 on 08/12/09, which had approx. 5L left in the tank. Realised my mistake, drove it 100m out the station and left it. Had it lifted to a local independant garage. He drained the tank dry, swabbed it out with paper, changed the fuel filter and refilled the tank with non-supermarket diesel. Total cost £154. Seems to be running fine.

I did exactly the same thing in my Galaxy(9 days after I bought it) Garage towed it in, drained out petrol and it has never suffered any effects from my mistake,never did again though. Good luck

Today I joined the dreaded BP Ultimate Confused Club. After 40 years of motoring I made the mistake of filling a new Honda Accord with 60 pounds worth of petrol instead of diesel and came to a stop half a mile down the road. Yea Ok I should have known the difference between a green nozzle and a black one but the point I would like to make is that when one is in a hurry the BP Ultimate sign is the same for diesel and petrol and can easily be confused. So come on BP change the bloody sign. ps I hope I’ve got away with just a fuel tank drain

Worked in the motor trade for many years

I have read your site with much amusement.

Never done it myself but been out to hundreds of cars where people have.

A small amount of petrol mixed in with a lot of diesel does no real harm.

Lorry drivers always mix ten gallons of petrol in with 100 gallons of diesl to stop ut waxing during winter. Look how many thousand miles a month they drive.

I recently borrowed a nissan warrior and the handbook clearly states in winter add two gallons of petrol before filling with diesel to stop the diesel going slushy in winter. This info is actually supplied by the manufacturer.

Have also done it myself (intentionaly) the last two winters put a gallon of diesel in and filled up with ten gallons of Diesel. Results

Car starts first touch of the key even at -10 and a lot less diesel clatter.

Cant comment on tdci but the dilution ratio of petrol in the diesel is minimal and petrol is missible with diesel.ie as soon as you add diesel to petrol it mixes immediately. A small amount of petrol does little to lower the lubrication qualities of the diesel.#

Just as a footnote had more problems putting biodiesl in my car. It swells the seals in the pump and jammed the stop solenoid

Just reread my last comment, I should of said during winter I put a gallon of petrol in followed by ten gallons of diesel
Ps I run a 2.1 litre TD Peugeot 406 and a 1.9 litre 405 diesel

Just managed to put 2.5 litres of petrol into a new common-rail Golf Tdi. Realised the error and brimmed the tank with diesel. It runs fine, but will stick in some injector lubricant tomorrow and try the dillution trick. Very much appreciated the real life experiences recounted on here, I tend to be wary of advice from people with financial incentives for getting you to buy into the horror stories.

My husband on sunday borrowed my toyota celica which had about £10 petrol in tank, he filled it up and went on his way. Monday she was ok on way to and from work, i then filled her with £15 more petrol and drove to workon tuesday, hour and half later i had to go to a meeting and when she started i knew she wasnt right, arriving at my meeting i did notice smoke from exhaust. Then she was dead, no power at all, builders started her for me and drove 2 miles and she started mis-firing. Towed her to a garage and they said theres diesel in her tank, my receipt says i put in unleaded so he must have done it. Is it likely that he drove for nearly 100 miles and then she sat all night and day till it reacted the way it did. Shes being drained and fuel filter and plugs changed and then fingers crossed shes ok. Seems BP ultimate diesel is smaller nozzle and also green.

My clever wife just filled up the BMW X5 with £100 worth of petrol instead of diesel! Thanks all for your feedback - going to drain the tank and sell the wife!