I put diesel fuel into my unleaded car. What do I do?

Question

I put about 6 litres diesel fuel in my unleaded barina. I asked them to cyphon it but a mechanic working at the service station told me to fill the tank with unleaded and the diesel will dilute and work its way out of the car. It was a bit smoky to start with, but then it began to overheat. Turns out the car was running water through the engine and it had only been running on 3 instead of 4 cylinders.THe mechanic and some RAC staff told me the diesel fuel could not have caused this to happen. I've just spent thousands getting the cooling system fixed is it because of the diesel this happened?

Answer 1

i dont think its because of the deisel either

Answer 2

First of all the mechanic at the service station is wrong to an extent. Diesel fuel will dilute when adding gas to the gas tank but it depends on the amout of diesel to gas.. What happens is that the spark plus will not properly ignite due to the diesel fuel and gas mixture,this will cause the spark plugs to foul. The oil in the diesel fuel has such a high ignitieability that it cannot not burn completly and that is why u had smoke..As for your question about the cooling system such as the radiator,thermostat,hoses,heater core, there is no way that diesel fuel could have caused this problem. It was probably due to the lack of maintence on the cooling system. But as for your driveability concern (missing,running rough),that is caused by the diesel fuel, You will need to remove the gas tank,drain the tank thourly, replace fuel filters,spark plugs,and clean the fuel lines. It is possible that damage to the fuel pump and the injectors has occured. As you refer to water running through the engine I suspect that you mean coolant? If the engine was running hot the question is how hot was the engine temp .If the engine temperature increases to much it can cause a blown head gasket which will run coolant onto the pistons and into the oiling system. It depends on where the head gasket was blown if it was between the cylinder walls it will cause the engine to run very ruff because the compression will transfer from cylinder to cylinder causing that individual cyliner to missfire. If it blows in a coolant passage coolant will enter the engine oil. The coolant contains water within the oil and when it contacts the bearing surfaces the water is not a lubicrant and the bearings scars, When enough of this happens on the bearings they get worn and oil pressure will be lost and engine temp increases. At this point its time for a rebuilt engine or an crate engine from your local dealership or parts stores.Just remember that what you pay for is what you get........Jeff Webb, Burnsville,NC

Answer 3

Unleaded fuel engines are designed to run on minimum 87 octane fuel. Any dilution of that fuel with diesel will lower the octane and cause the engine to knock from detonation.(fuel igniting from the compression of the engine, rather from the spark.)
The detonation by itself is enough to ruin a good engine. It is possible cylinder pressure built up enough due to detonation to blow a head gasket, because the fuel ignites too far before top dead center.
Since this car is in the Mini category the gas tank probably is not big enough to dilute 6 litres of diesel to a safe level for use as a motor fuel.
The water in the engine could be just a bad cooling system job, or something that was not discovered and fixed.

Answer 4

Since you didn't put that much diesel in your car, as long as you put gasoline in the car before starting it you should be fine. The diesel will dilute down. Diesel fuel and gasoline are oil based, the difference is where in processing they take it out. Diesel fuel has a large amount of paraffin wax in it that can clog your injectors and plug stuff up. It shouldn't cause an over heating problem, however. If you still have some in the tank, I would run the car until it is 1/2 full and add more gasoline to dilute it more. After you run all that gas through, I would recommend changing the fuel filter and having the fuel system flushed with a cleaner.

DO NOT MAKE A HABIT OF PUTTING DIESEL IN YOUR CAR!!

Answer 5

The diesel acts as a lubrcant and should not harm the engine. It might cause it to smoke and run rough. I think you now have a different problem to deal with. Water in an engine ,points to a leaking head gasket or a cracked block or head. The plug could have foiled out from the diesel. Where you get into serious trouble is when you run gas in a diesel. It washes down the cylinders, losing lubracant, required by diesels. Hope this helps. Have a fun day.

Answer 6

No, it is not damaging to a gasoline vehicle. Unless you ran it before you filled it up with gasoline, then it would just foul out your plugs. If you put gas into a diesel engine it will harm it and burn it up, but not the other way and they are right about dilution. Diesel is oil based and will not harm it, sounds like you have other proplems with it. You may also want to run some gasoline additive cleaner to clean your system and heads.

Answer 7

I'm pretty sure the fuel didn't cause the problem,sounds like a blown head gasket or a cracked head or block,get ready for another grand or so,sorry.

Answer 8

drain the fuel tank than blow out the fuel lines than change fuel filter put in regular gas and than your good to go

Answer 9

buy a new car