This evening I have put £20 of unleaded perol in my VW Golf TDi. The cars fuel light had just come on so i assume the fuel tank was nearly empty at the time. I soon noticed my mistake and did not start the engine. Can anyone offer some advice.
I have been told it would be relatively easy to siphon but don't know what i would do with all that fuel -i know it would be illegal to dump.
The car is a T-reg (1999) diesel, would i cause more damage if i were to just fill the tank with diesel and just keep topping it up? or should i just bite the bullet and pay £80 to have the tank emptied at a mechanic?
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So yours is a non high pressure system I think. Assuming your tank holds 60 litres and you put 20 litres of petrol in it, the best you can do is 2/3rds to 1/3rd mix. Thats a bit high to safely run it with no chance of damage tho some people on here have got away with it.
To be safe get the tank drained as a minimum and fill it with diesel.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Syphon it. I've twice put £5 of petrol in mine and then filled to the brim (approx 10% petrol) and had no problems. £20 (nearly 40%) is too much in my oppinion and I'd get it syphoned.
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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I thought that petrol nozzles are bigger than diesel nozzles and won't go in a diesel filler neck ~ I've never had a diesel.
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L\'escargot.
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I thought that petrol nozzles are bigger than diesel nozzles
Other way round - diesel nozzle is bigger then petrol.
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We may be stupid enough to put petrol in our diesels, but were not stupid enough to buy a funnel to help us do it ;-)
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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I'd guess that the amount of contamination of the petrol would leave it pretty useless for any petrol engine, even a mower - as you are likely to have 5-10 litres of diesel in the tank whren the light came on. Either ring the local authority for a safe disposal site, or go to a garage workshop and ask what they would/could do with it.
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Whats this talk of siphoning fuel out; I thought all cars had had anti-siphon filler necks for years? Or do you mean siphon it from some other access point on the tank?
One mechanic I spoke to about draining fuel tanks said he disconnects the fuel line from the engine and uses the cars' own fuel pump to pump the fuel out. I assume he meant the low-pressure delivery pump, where fitted, not the injection pump?
When I did it, it cost me £70 to have the tank removed and drained, new fuel filter, fuel disposal, and price included £12 worth of new fuel.
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The car in question does'nt have a low pressure pump.
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2 Dirty VW diesels and a Honda with an 18 inch blade
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Buy a 25 litre container, 5 pounds from for example a fuel oils seller, or more like 15 - 20 pounds from a rip off merchant.
buy some polyethelene (? see through stuff) pipe from B&Q 10mm diameter will be ok if not go back and get smaller. buy 3metres.
put car in such a position that the fuel tank is quite high up, i.e. either jack the car up a few inches or park where there is a hieght difference eg sloping driveway or on a pavement and jacked up on the pavement, withthe container on the road.
Suck petrol up pipe and quickly transfer to container, I find the best way is the suck it up a vertical length and keep putting your finger on the end or squeeze the pipe to stop it going back down when it's at the top squeeze the pipe and bring it down below the tank level into a contianer and release the pipe.
if you try sucking with the pipe alreeady at low level you get a mouthful and air bubbles.
Or look for a siphoning tool.
Tow car back to garage to get a fill up.
I've done this on a V70, you can use the siphoned petrol 1 - 2 liters per tankful of diesel
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Agree with Horatio.
Dont dispose of it, add it in small quantites to fresh diesel (5%). Also serves as a good injector cleaner.
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just come from a bp garage,and now diesel pumps have black pipes and unleaded have green.so how hard was that.
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All deisel normal diesel pipes are black and Unleaded green. What are you on about. Did I miss something. Regards Peter
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I presume it was a reference to BP branding their ultimate fuels as blue for both petrol and diesel, something that catches out thousands of people per week (apparently, I've certainly come across a few) and con be horrendously expensive if you're diesel is common rail.
Cheers, Gord.
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Oh dear, wish there was an edit button.
Obviously I meant it *can* be horrendously expensive if *your* diesel is common rail.
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>All deisel normal diesel pipes are black and Unleaded green. What are you on about.
Not at BP I remember going there and they had blue pipes!
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Don't think so, that is the colour introduced when they developed the Ultimate range of fuels. It is confusing though particularly if you have pick up a hire car and quickly trying to refill it before returning it to the rental company. Regards peter
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Hi
Doh
Just put 19 litres of unleaded into a megane diesel - this topped the tank - not sure what the tank capacity is but prob about 60 ltres- will i get away with this ratio??
Thanks
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which year/model
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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06 model done 12500 miles
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nivek
Unlike an old-fashioned diesel system; a common-rail's high-pressure pump won't tolerate any petrol. Don't even switch the ignition on; get it professionally drained and the filter/pipes cleared out before refilling. Otherwise, you'll think that you've got away with it - for about two months.....
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high-pressure pump won't tolerate any petrol. Don't even switch the ignition on;
Some cars fuel pumps are also primed upon unlocking or opening the drivers door as well, so be aware.
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Yup BP ultimate diesel was blue pipes as was the ultimate petrol.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I have a 12 volt fuel pump for draining tanks,it came off a Mitsubishi van IIRC.Fitted with tubing and croc clips to connect to the battery it proves useful on occasion.Get one from a scrapyard.
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"Fitted with tubing and croc clips to connect to the battery it proves useful on occasion.Get one from a scrapyard."
One spark and you are an accident statistic.
Crocodile clips when pumping petrol??
I know H&S gets soemtimes carried to extremes.. but crocodile clips.!!!
One slip, one spark and you and your car are toast...
madf
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I've got a Black & Decker hand rotary pump which has proved useful on occasions but not seen them for sale recently.
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We have a 45gall. drum at work for storing fuel mixtures. It's properly marked and isolated, and it costs £70 to have a full barrel removed and replaced with an empty one.
I guess that most garages have similar arrangements. Considering the extra labour costs involved in disposing of someone else's fuel, the earlier inconvenience of a barrel change, and a small profit, I would think that a disposal cost of £2.50 per gall is realistic.
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