Kia C'eed 1.6d 114bhp - Mis fueled my diesel

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Mon 13 Aug 2018 21:17
Kia C'eed 1.6d 114bhp - Mis fueled my diesel - Jeff Heathcote

After 25 years of driving diesels I have finally done the unmentionable, yes put petrol in my tank without realising I'd done it untill the day after! Drove 145 miles without a problem except that I sensed it wasn't quite right, because every now and then I felt a very minor 'jink', though the beast ran very well. What it wouldn't do is start when hot; a well known syptom apparantly. I estimate the ratio was approx 50/50 when starting out. Having established from my receipt that I'd misfueled I was tempted to top up and carry on and fairly sure I may have got away with it. However, played safe and got it dained etc for £150. You can't be to sure can you.

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Mon 13 Aug 2018 21:45
Kia C'eed 1.6d 114bhp - Mis fueled my diesel - RobJP

At 50:50 you're guite fortunate to have gotten away with it, especially with so much mileage.

I'd probably be giving serious consideration to getting rid of the car, still plenty of time for faults and failures to make themselves (expensively) known.

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Tue 14 Aug 2018 11:40
Kia C'eed 1.6d 114bhp - Mis fueled my diesel - John F

If you google this, you will see all sorts of horror stories, mainly from outfits with the vested interest of making as much money as they can out of this. I even read of the risk of an engine 'exploding'!!

At 50:50 the fuel would still have been pretty oily. In such a short time I doubt if any significant damage has been done to the fuel pump and injectors. Bog standard engines, especially diesels, are pretty tough, so it should have survived a few stresses/jinking caused by pre-ignition (used to be called pinking!). If I couldn't have syphoned/drained some off, I would have just brimmed it, driven another 100 gentle miles, brimmed it again - and so on. Even if having to buy some expensive new bits, the cost would probably be less than the costs (plus the hassle) of changing the car. Looking on the bright side, it might even run better if it's an old car - it used to be (unofficially!) advised to add up to around 15% petrol to clean dirty old injectors.

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Tue 14 Aug 2018 13:36
Kia C'eed 1.6d 114bhp - Mis fueled my diesel - Gibbo_Wirral

Don't forget to replace the fuel filter.

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Tue 14 Aug 2018 14:04
Kia C'eed 1.6d 114bhp - Mis fueled my diesel - edlithgow

Did this with a hire car Renault Clio in Scotland. Probably only about a 3 gallon top-up. After a bit of agonising in the filling station I decided to just start it up and continue my journey, which it did with no apparent issues.

If I'd been in Taiwan I'd have added some 2-stroke oil to it to help lubricate the fuel pump, but the filling station didn't have any.

They seemed to take a long time to complete the inspection on return so maybe the EMS recorded something unusual, dunno.

Can't see why you'd replace the fuel filter particularly. Diesel does not "gel" when you put petrol in it, and the volume of a fuel filter is insignificant in context.

Don't see how it could suffer "pre-ignition" either, since ignition timing in a diesel is determined by injection timing, which won't alter.

Edited by edlithgow on 14/08/2018 at 14:12

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Tue 14 Aug 2018 14:41
Kia C'eed 1.6d 114bhp - Mis fueled my diesel - focussed

I wouldn't worry about it too much, they use petrol (gasoline) to thin the diesel out in the parts of USA that get extreme cold during winter. Add some two synthetic 2 stroke- oil, about 2% for about a couple of tankfuls, it doesn't make ash when it is burnt, lubricates the high pressure pump and injectors.

Edited by focussed on 14/08/2018 at 14:42

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