v23 Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 I've made a proper [censored] up this morning. Going back to work after paternity leave. No sleep for two weeks. Put unleaded in my Passat TDI, drove for a couple of miles before it cut out. How bad is this, am I looking at a couple of grands worth or more? Or is the engine clever enough to know it's got the wrong fuel and cut out before any massive damage is done? Garage isn't open yet, and I'm shitting myself. Please help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loddrik Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 Oops, AFAICR it is far worse putting petrol in a diesel than the other way round, have you tried calling the RAC/AA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v23 Posted May 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 Thanks for the encouragement. I've not tried calling them yet. I'm gonna call my VW dealer once they open. Only thing is I had to come in to work, cos I've been off for 2 weeks and I'm just thinking the worst until I can talk to VW and get them to come and pick it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snail Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 I remember fatcat put petrol in his tractor once, and it cost a couple of hundred quid IIRC, but he hadn't driven his. Unlucky mate, i hope it doesn't cost too much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brabus Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 How did it cut out? Electronically or did the engine seize? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
23DJ Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 It is indeed worse to put petrol in a diesel. I filled up a merc 270CDI with the unleaded in Germany, but luckily for me it was a company car. Also I didnt drive it, having realised my mistake when looking at the receipt. Anyway I don't know about a passat, but the recovery bloke told me that it causes serious damage if driven. Brace yourself. The merc would have cost £3k Hopefully your passat isnt so bad - and obviously a main dealer would cost alot more to do the repair work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v23 Posted May 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 An update - spoken to VW, and it doesn't appear to be as bad as I thought, they've got to pick the car up, bleed everything, change the filters, fill it up and bleed it again, then it should be fine. Couple or three hundred, a lot better than the new top end I had been imagining. And I've since discovered my insurance covers me for such faux pax so I should be OK. Phew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snail Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 [ QUOTE ] An update - spoken to VW, and it doesn't appear to be as bad as I thought, they've got to pick the car up, bleed everything, change the filters, fill it up and bleed it again, then it should be fine. Couple or three hundred, a lot better than the new top end I had been imagining. And I've since discovered my insurance covers me for such faux pax so I should be OK. Phew. [/ QUOTE ] Thats not that bad (although a feckin expensive tank of fuel!). I think you need to make like that VW ad, and put stickers saying diesel everywhere your car goes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPLiiX Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 That's ok then - well its not ok but you know what I mean! Anyway, how is the baby? (you were on parental leave?) As long as you do not give it Tennants instead of SMA!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v23 Posted May 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 Yeah, should be OK, I hope, it's at the garage now. The baby is fine, although knackering, hence the diesel/petrol mix up. I'll try to remember to feed the baby only SMA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v23 Posted May 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 Another update. Just picked up the car from my VW dealer. £163 including a tenners worth of diesel. Thank fcuk for that. Apparently not enough unleaded had got into the system to cause problems. Cheers for all the help guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munki Posted May 10, 2004 Report Share Posted May 10, 2004 Just for future reference it is worse to put diesel into a petrol engine, because the diesel does not ignite. A diesel engine works by compressing the oil until it explodes, so if you put diesel into a petrol engine it coats everything in oil that won't ignite, and you have to change the plugs and everything. If you put petrol into a tractor it ignites more than it should, but there should be a bit of diesel in the tank (unless you ran her dry) that will reduce any effects. I know a bloke that said he used to put a bit of petrol into his diesel every now and then to "clear it out". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shao_khan Posted May 11, 2004 Report Share Posted May 11, 2004 Glad you got it all sorted and for not too much money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatcat Posted May 12, 2004 Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 Maybe us feckwits should form a club ??? pretty limited membership Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo-S3 Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 [ QUOTE ] Maybe us feckwits should form a club ??? pretty limited membership [/ QUOTE ] can the rest of join just so that we can have a good laugh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markcnash Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 I have done this before !! Now dont laugh I put petrol in my diesel Citroen BX and when it stopped I called the RAC. Now to this day I cant remember putting petrol in but anyway the RAC came out and could not find out what was wrong> He thought it was the head gasket gone. So when I got the car back home (tow by RAC) I started to have a little look around to see what I was going to do (Burn it came to mind) When i thought I can smell petrol and sure enouth petrol it was all I did was drain all the fuel out (on the road and down the drain) got some diesel put in and cranked it over for a bit and away she went and I never had any problems with the engine on her it was just about everything else that went wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snail Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Found Just the thing for you guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPLiiX Posted May 19, 2004 Report Share Posted May 19, 2004 Nice One! Why did I not think of that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drpellypo Posted June 2, 2004 Report Share Posted June 2, 2004 I did this a few weeks ago. Went to the pump, put the nozzle in, settled back, leaning on my rear wing, ready for the 5 minutes it takes to fill the tractor up, and then thought.. pants! This is petrol!! Luckily, I only put about 30p in.. so just filled the rest of the tank up with Diesel. Seemed OK.. thankfully! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techdata Posted November 25, 2004 Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 Hi there, I did the same yesterday. I drive a 2003 Golf 4 1.9TDi. I filled up 5 litres petrol, then realised my mistake. I then filled up the car with 40 litres diesel until it was full. I'm assuming that the Golf has a 50 litre tank, so will the 5 litres (petrol) do any harm to the car? Please advise if you are able to. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UBM Posted November 25, 2004 Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 Hey you guys - don't forget some filling stations pay for your mistakes if you get it wrong - was it Esso? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munki Posted November 25, 2004 Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 I din't think it should do too much damage as it is pretty well diluted. You might get more smoke than usual and a few coughs and splutters. Also fill up every five miles or so or at least as often as you can for quite a while to keep diluting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v23 Posted December 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2004 Hello again. It was/is BP who are compensating. They coughed up the cost of the clean out after my mishap. ^^^techdata, I'm assuming you're OK, but I'd check with a garage anyway, just to be sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustynuts Posted December 3, 2004 Report Share Posted December 3, 2004 [ QUOTE ] Found Just the thing for you guys [/ QUOTE ] Since when did Subaru make a diesel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astonsr Posted March 25, 2005 Report Share Posted March 25, 2005 note to every one !! if you had called the aa or rac they would have towed the car to the local approved garage and it woul have cost about £75 to pump the fuel out and about £35ish for new filter and a gallon of fuel (used to work as agent for recovery groups) as for merc's they don't like petrol at all it knackers the injectors !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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