jimbob23   10 #1 Posted October 5, 2008 At Morrisons garage I filled a green (unleaded identification) Morrisons petrol can 2/3rds full then went to top up the car's tank in a hurry folowing a 12 hour night shift and hectic morning shopping and financial problem solving, I was well aware that a Diesel nozzle wouldn't fit fully into unleaded tanks but due to the wide top of the green can it does fit that and hence ... it took only seconds for my twisting, turning nozzle not going fully home to make me check back at the dispenser and see DIESEL writ large...Oh @####! I had put £8.40 in both can and car tank with the can 2/3rds full so I'm guessing at bulk being in the can about £5 worth leaving £3 to £4 worth of diesel in my tank I went into the paycentre and asked advice, my instinct being to drive straight home (I live about half a mile away and I had, had about a third of a tank to dilute it when I arrived) drain off the tank, flush with unleaded and refill but the staff and customers all thought at that ratio it would stall at the pump and I would be stuck with expensive towing charges and advised I should dilute by filling tank fully before starting. I did this, giving the canned diesel to some happy chap and refilling the can with unleaded - my intent being draining of tank and using canned unleaded to flush clean and a little to get back to refill properly BUT the car appears to be running perfectly with no visible emissions problems no misfiring or signs of problems starting ... which is a little suspicious? is the diesel sat like a crocodile at the bottom of my tank waiting for a low tank to enter the fuel system or has it mixed and is simply lowering high octane ratings or are my filters etc being thoroughly gutted in cleaning the diesel out of the fuel feed - I drove the car home only since then but have restarted and idled several times to check if there is some emission or starting problems developing before risking using it for a work trip. The current mix must be around 10 to 1 petrol to diesel. This is purely a get to the new job car so any knowledgeable professional or personal experience would be welcomed:confused: my car is a 95 Fiat Cinquecento. Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
muckynees   10 #2 Posted October 5, 2008 I know a couple of people that have done this, they quickly filled the tank with the fuel they did want and hoped for the best. They didn't notice any ill effects with the car although a qualified person may say that there was some unseen damage but they are still driving the same cars today so maybe you got lucky Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Mr_Squirrel   10 #3 Posted October 5, 2008 TBH i wouldnt worry about it too much with it being a Cinquecento, thats no put down on your car just to say that its not the most technically advanced car in the world, that is probably your saving grace,see the wrong fuel in modern cars can do all sorts of damage, mainly to engine management sensors, cat converters etc but a tiny amount of diesel in your car i wouldnt have thought it will do much harm.  In the old days, people used to put a small amount of 4 star in diesel cars in cold weather in order to stop the diesel from freezing up, do this with a modern diesel and you will be facing a huge repair bill. Also, in older cars, if you put diesel in a petrol car by mistake the only thing that would happen is the car would puff clouds of grey smoke out of the exhaust.  There is alot to be said of 'meat pie' engineered cars, if they broke down, you could lift the bonnet, take the part off yourself and hit it with a hammer until it worked again, you cant do that nowadays......  Mind, old cars used to break down alot..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
jimbob23   10 #4 Posted October 5, 2008 I know a couple of people that have done this, they quickly filled the tank with the fuel they did want and hoped for the best. They didn't notice any ill effects with the car although a qualified person may say that there was some unseen damage but they are still driving the same cars today so maybe you got lucky  Cheers for that, it's a little settling knowing the advice was sound and to know others also took the risk of using the mix; can't really afford to dump £30 of petrol as I have just started full time work only 2 weeks ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
jimbob23 Â Â 10 #5 Posted October 5, 2008 TBH i wouldnt worry about it too much with it being a Cinquecento, thats no put down on your car just to say that its not the most technically advanced car in the world, that is probably your saving grace,see the wrong fuel in modern cars can do all sorts of damage, mainly to engine management sensors, cat converters etc but a tiny amount of diesel in your car i wouldnt have thought it will do much harm. Unfortunately the Cinquecento does have fuel management with lambda exhaust sensor, fuel filters and cat convertor according to the lbrary's manual I scan read today... not that this all means much to me...oh well! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Heyesey   11 #6 Posted October 5, 2008 From what I can gather, the real killer is filling a diesel car with petrol - diesel is very oily, and the engine relies on that oiliness to run. Use petrol, and there's no oily effect, and the engine seizes up completely and knackers itself. Diesel in a petrol engine probably just won't work, since a petrol engine doesn't reach high enough temperatures to ignite the diesel.  That said, plenty of people have claimed that they've used the "wrong" fuel and got away with it - and plenty of others have claimed that it cost them the thick end of a thousand pounds to fix the damage. Make your own mind up who you believe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Scozzie   10 #7 Posted October 5, 2008 From what I can gather, the real killer is filling a diesel car with petrol - diesel is very oily, and the engine relies on that oiliness to run. Use petrol, and there's no oily effect, and the engine seizes up completely and knackers itself. Diesel in a petrol engine probably just won't work, since a petrol engine doesn't reach high enough temperatures to ignite the diesel. That said, plenty of people have claimed that they've used the "wrong" fuel and got away with it - and plenty of others have claimed that it cost them the thick end of a thousand pounds to fix the damage. Make your own mind up who you believe.  I'm used to eating oven baked chips. If I eat Oily fried chips, I tend to feel queasy. I'm overly cautious, I would change it. Oil is bad for the arteries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
shuispoo   10 #8 Posted October 5, 2008 A while back i put about £2 diesel in an older rover, paniced but went into the rover garage about 100yds away and they said do not worry, so I filled it up with unleaded  Found out later that there are cleaning agents in diesel that, I was told so do not try it yourself esp with newer cars, garages can put in a petrol car to help clean things up  No probs with the car until it failed its MOT, nothing to do with the petrol/diesel though!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Dave650 Â Â 10 #9 Posted October 5, 2008 Fill it with super unleaded! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
kenthack   10 #10 Posted October 5, 2008 it should be allright as youve diluted it down (might even do it a bit of good cleaning it) but dont do it the other way round or you are in for a big bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Cyclone   10 #11 Posted October 5, 2008 From what I can gather, the real killer is filling a diesel car with petrol - diesel is very oily, and the engine relies on that oiliness to run. Use petrol, and there's no oily effect, and the engine seizes up completely and knackers itself. Diesel in a petrol engine probably just won't work, since a petrol engine doesn't reach high enough temperatures to ignite the diesel. That said, plenty of people have claimed that they've used the "wrong" fuel and got away with it - and plenty of others have claimed that it cost them the thick end of a thousand pounds to fix the damage. Make your own mind up who you believe.  Diesel engines also run completely differently with very high compression ratios and no spark for ignition. Petrol ignites much more easily and you get pre ignition in every chamber and much higher temperatures. That's why it wrecks the engine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
H da fella   10 #12 Posted October 5, 2008 The price of fuel nowadays means you have probably got about a cup full of diesel in your tank, dont worry about it as long as its running fine, be an idea to check the spark plugs in about a few weeks though to see if they are clean....:thumbsup: Nice to see not only i have done this but petrol into diesel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...