Advice after I put petrol in my TDI by accident!!

[jettadsg]

Distracted and talking to the other driver after a near miss in the service station forecourt, I accidently put petrol in my 2.0 Golf TDi and drove it. After about 3 blocks it shut down and I realised what I had done... aggghhh**$?
NRMA came and trucked thew car back to the depot. This happened on the Monday after Christmas and nothing is open until Wednesday. The nearest VW dealership is 80 Km away.
I would appreciate some advice
1) What sort of damage / repairs can I expect will need doing?
2) Should Iget the car taken to a VW service centre?
Regards,
jettadsg

[STV4SYT]

It's not a good thing. Probably best to call your insurance company first for advice.

http://motortorque.askaprice.com/articles/auto-0711/help-ive-put-petrol-in-a-diesel-engine-frequently-asked-questions.asp

[Transporter]

I'm sorry to hear that.

The no. 2) is the best option. They will also tell you what damage was done. The other alternative would be to drain the fuel system replace fuel filter and put diesel in the tank and see what happens. I would still get the car checked by VW. If you don't have DPF, I would put 1L of Lucas fuel additive to increase lubricity.

How much petrol did you put in? Did you just top up the tank?

[Greg Roles]

That's nasty, but I think I'd do what transporter suggets, drain out as much petrol as possible from the fuel tank / lines / injectors, replace with diesel, and pray!

[Buller_Scott]

can you drain the fuel from the tank / pump, cut off the diesel to the engine via a tdiclub-style luqui-moly injector clean (NOT via the tank, but straight outta the can into the fuel feed lines), and curtail the problem that way?

should i get some links? (as in, i've read a bit about the whole she-bang on tdiclub, with pics etc.... reckon it would help?)

cheers,

scotty

[Gti Dave]

Sorry to hear that mate. Wish you the best of luck with the fix and let's hope transports advice saves you plenty of dollars.

[ryana89]

Does petrol actually damage or upset the injector pump and injectors? (question for the experts here)
If not, could you then simply drain the tank, refill with diesel, remove glow plugs and turn the engine over untill all the petrol is 'blown' out?
Just a suggestion/question to anyone who knows more than me

[Garbon]

Hi Mate

This happened to me 12 months ago, I got my Mk3 TDi towed to a VW mechanic, they drained the tank replaced the filter and bled the system until diesel was going into the motor. It started up no worries after that...

I was surprised that not much happened at all to the motor, I was expecting the worst but it is still good today

Hope this helps

[jettadsg]

Followed Transporter's advice. The guys at Motortorque in Grafton drained the tank, replaced the fuel filter, flushed it out and used a lubricating additive in a rich ratio with diesel for a 100k's or so. Its running sweet as a nut and fingers crossed it will continue to. Thanks for the advice guys.
jettadsg

[Voora1ZN]

Great news, good to hear a positive outcome. Hope it continues running well. I too always fear that I might have grabbed the wrong nozzle at the servo, being my first diesel after many petrol cars.

[Transporter]

Buying always from the same servo can help. Also keep the receipts, just in case that contaminated fuel cause some troubles to your engine.

[gldgti]

Does petrol actually damage or upset the injector pump and injectors? (question for the experts here)
If not, could you then simply drain the tank, refill with diesel, remove glow plugs and turn the engine over untill all the petrol is 'blown' out?
Just a suggestion/question to anyone who knows more than me

you could do that on an older diesel for sure... but these modern diesels are sensitive to fuel mainly because there are some very high pressure parts in the system using the fuel as a lubricant. petrol is a terrible lubricant.

[gldgti]

Good to hear that is going fine OP.

as an aside, I used to add some petrol to my tank on purpose every now and then to keep the injectors clean on my old 1.5D (about 10%).

Also, I was convoying on a holiday with my Dad a couple of years back. He has a 1974 Merc 240D. I'm not sure how big the tank is (maybe 55L) but he put about 20L of unleaded in before he realised. He just filled the rest with diesel and kept driving - also fine!

[Greg Roles]

Mate that's BAD to even mention to the PD folk let alone the ultra precarious comon railers!

[NiekSavio]

Great news, good to hear a positive outcome. Hope it continues running well. I too always fear that I might have grabbed the wrong nozzle at the servo, being my first diesel after many petrol cars.

I am so paranoid that I always check 15 times before getting the diesel nozzle out and then check another 10 times before actually putting it in the tank. Glad it all worked out for you so far jettadsg