what happens if you put diesel in a petrol car by mistake?

Answer 1

If there is only a small amount of diesel relative to the petrol already in the tank (say 10ltr diesel and 30ltr petrol). The only difference you will see is poor performance and lots of smoke out the exhaust.
If however you have filled up the car with diesel it will very soon stop running as diesel will not ignite with a spark plug.
You need to get the garage to come out and drain the tank and flush the system.

Answer 2

You may get lucky if: (A) The amount of petrol put in and the time the engine was run was minimal. (B) The tank was filled with diesel once the error was realised. If the car is less than 10 years old, however, the chances of there not being damage to the fuel pump is very low. Most modern fuel pumps rely on the diesel fuel to lubricate the bearings and even the slightest contamination by petrol can cause these to fail. The consequent cost of repair can be considerable. Older design diesel pumps are a little more tolerant and you may get away with it.

Answer 3

Put 9 litres diesel in 35 litre petrol tank filled up with petrol. Drove 150 miles and car drove as normal. Panicked after reading scary reports mainly by companies operating tank emptying and cleaning. Did not learn my lesson and put 5 litres diesel in this time and again car drove as normal have decided to keep driving as emptying tank with anti filter was a big job. So far So good !!

Answer 4

Rough running, pinking, smoking, low power, unable to start from cold. If you press on regardless with these problems possibly a new engine. If you get the tank drained as soon as you realise then no problem other than embarrassment.
Petrol in a diesel engine is much worse.

Answer 5

Most likely, the engine will quit running.

The best thing would be to drain the tank and start over again. So don't do it, and be careful.

I'm guessing that you haven't done this yet, or you would know what happens.

If it isn't too much put in by mistake, you may get lucky and it will mix with the gas, and it might run a little rough for a while, but will eventually clear up. good luck

Answer 6

Depends how much. I put a bit of diesel in my engine by mistake but filled it up with petrol when I realised. It ran a bit smokey until I used the tank up but it was okay.

Answer 7

It just wont work. petrol engines run on the concept of compressed petrol/air mixture being ignited by the spark plug and driving down the piston and rotating the shaft,diesel engines compress the mixture which will ignite under compression without the spark,you might think the diesel will work but try it and oyu will be left with a very expensive bill from the gareage for a complete system clean out

Answer 8

DONT not good for the engine if you ever do by mistake DO NOT start the engine a garage can sort this out with a petrol tank empty but if you start the it will smoke like mad and kangaroo all over lol

Answer 9

It mixes and will stop running after a few miles.
If you are in a breakdown scheme this may cover the cost of being towed in but from then on it is not only expensive but you feel a complete prat!!You'll need it to be pumped out by someone and checked for any damage and of course you'll need more fuel - not the supermarket price you may have paid either.

Answer 10

You suddenly have an environmentally safe vehicle that requires no fuel whatsoever. To make it go, all you have to do is push it downhill.
However, you'll have a problem with parking it in your garage if you live on the top of a hill.