I feel awful about doing so - it's mums car. Can any one advise on what to do? The car is a new Peugeot 307 hdi. It was towed home by RAC, and I hadn't started then engine. Exept the guy who towed it turned it on to see what the milage was!!
When I opened the fuel cap after this some gas came out. Is that a bad sign?
What can I do about this? Will syphoning it work or will it still need cleaned out? How much should this cost? Has someone on here done this with a similar, and fairly new diesel car? Help?
2007-07-22 06:51:59 · 29 answers · asked by Sue 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
as long as you havent started it youl be fine
first drain the fuel syphon it all out
now fill the tank all the way up with new diecel
start car and drive normal
if youre overyly concerned after you drain it put in 5 galons of diecel and re drain the tank
i did a car that put 15 galons of gas into a car i drained it and filled it at the gas station never had any problems
$10 worth of fuel isnt that much as fuel costs $80 pre gallon now
2007-07-25 02:40:33 · answer #1 · answered by mobile auto repair (mr fix it) 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You should not start or let anyone else sart the engine again. You will need to drain the fuel tank. A mechanic can do this for you very easily. It is not difficult or time consuming to do. Hopefully it should not cost much at all. If you know about cars then it would be easy to do it yourself. There is a part underneath the car that you can uncover to drain the tank. But remember when removed all the gas will come out. It could be messy if you don't collect the gas properly.
If you can syphon most of the gas into a container, then maybe you can uncover the gas tank and let the rest evaporate or drain it without causing to much mess or wasting the gas.
Considering it is a new car maybe you should get a mechanic to do it for you.
If there was already diesel in the tank when you put the unleaded then you will not be able to reuse it.
Consider towing the car to the mechanic. You should have towed it there instead of home. But don't worry about it it is already done.
There should not be any damage done. Just try not to start the car again.
I hope your mom is cool.
Good luck!
2007-07-22 07:30:09 · answer #2 · answered by Coolman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hi sue
You really need to have the fuel tank completely emptied. If you hadnt started the engine then the petrol wont have gone anywhere. Even though the guy turned on the car,... it shouldnt have made its way in there.
Dont start the cat at all.. look under the car see where there fuel pipes come out and disconntect them and drain the fuel taht way. 10 pounds id anlly over 2gallon or there abouts so it should be quite diluted and not leave a lot of residue in the tank. reconnect everything and then fill up with deisel.
The problem with sphiponing is.. that the tank has a anti syphon devise fitted. also... you will probabily leave more petrol in the car as the petrol floats on top of the heavier deisel ... a few pints or even a gallon may remain in the tank. you have to make sure you get it all out...
DOnt take any chances by just filling up the tank and hoping... 2 gallon is a lot of petrol and can do a lot of damage as it has a lower flash point than diesel. Also the diesel has glow plugs not spark plugs. Glow plugs stay hot all the time. and so as soon as the petrol enters the cylinder it burns...and doesnt explode like you want it to to drive the piston up....This will cause serious damage to the engine.
Best advise is to call a local garage monday get them to pick up the car and flush the diesel fuel tank.
Shouldnt cost more than 100 pounds..
2007-07-22 07:11:33 · answer #3 · answered by tony b 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Nothing will happen to a diesel car if petrol is put in accidentally though it can not be said with confidence the otherway around. Petrol actually would have cleaned your fuel lines. So. take courage, Siphen out as much fuel as you can ( You can loosen the connection at the inlet of fuel pump and drain out as much petrol you could from the system) fill in with 10 pounds sterling worth of diesel into the fuel tank, wait for 15 minutes for the diesel to mix with the residual petrol and start the engine. No harm will come on the engine in the long or short term. Believe me. Most of the autorickshaws of Delhi are running on 50:50 mixture of petrol and diesel. I am a qualified automobile engineer. Kindly do act as advised and report back the results. With the best wishes! Adieu!
2007-07-22 07:13:51 · answer #4 · answered by Pandian p.c. 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
My dad did the same thing. He put £10 of petrol in too an he just filled it up with diesel to dilute it but he has a 4x4 an there petrol tanks are bigger.
Do not start it again with just the petrol in it it will damage the engine, i cant belive the RAC guy started it! he shoulda known better.
Get a garage to pick it up an give it a good clean out an it should be fine no need to tell mum.
2007-07-22 07:01:09 · answer #5 · answered by samantha 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
hi there, i work for citroen we use the same diesel engines. we see this happen so often you will not believe how many people do this in a week. the think to do is take it to your local peugeot dealer thay will need to remove and drain the fuel tank, blow out all the fuel pipes, and replace the fuel filter. i am not sure about the price but it take's about 3-4 hours to do so i dont think you will get much change from £350. when you look at most car dearlers charge £60 per hour plus parts ! hope this helps
2007-07-22 07:11:10 · answer #6 · answered by lotsofsmoggies 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Depends how much was in the tank already. I'll get loads of thumbs down for this, but if it was empty and you'd have filled it TO THE BRIM with diesel *after* the putting the petrol in, it wouldn't have made any difference at all. It would have run just fine.
£10 is 2.5 gallons. It probably has a 10 or 12 gallon tank. And petrol dissolves into diesel.
2007-07-22 06:55:31 · answer #7 · answered by ? 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Drain out the tank and refill it with the proper fuel. A small amount of gasoline won't hurt the engine. In fact truckers add gasoline to diesel fuel in very cold climates to keep it from gelling.
Your biggest worry is ruining components in the fuel pump because diesel fuel has some lubricating properties.
2007-07-22 07:37:38 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi syphone the fuel out of the car both petrol and the diesel, change the fuel filter and stick a diesel fuel treatment in when you fill it up. I have done loads of these mistakes at work, to get it done at a garage you will be looking at about 1 hours labor plus your fuel filter.
Good luck
Hope this helps
2007-07-22 06:58:15 · answer #9 · answered by Debbie G 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you should make an attempt to get out as much as you can. then fill the tank with diesel and purge the lines. if you can't get every last drop you will be OK but after the tank is refilled you must purge out the system. so you don't have any concentrated gas in there. that could damage the engine if ran. good luck
2007-07-22 06:58:07 · answer #10 · answered by doug h 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋