Club Arnage

Filled the car up yesterday and not until I had put £33 worth in did I realise I was holding a green nozzle instead of a black one. I topped up with another £55 of Diesel which means I now have a tank with about 40% unleaded in it. The car starts and runs OK and isn't making any strange noises. I will keep diluting the tank with more diesel as I use it.

Can anyone tell me if this will cause any permenent damage?

Do I need to drain the tank or will topping up with more diesel as soon as I can be OK?

Simple question,

Whats the car, and how old?

Sorry Bob, But the only help I can give you is:

You Plonker!

2000 Disco TD5

I wait to be corrected, but in the mean time

From what I have been told, over a period of time, the old diesel engines where OK to run with contaminated fuel. You just run it as normal, but keep topping it up, to dilute the petrol.

The new common rail diesel engines, run with higher tollerances, so you have to be very careful, so any contamination, may cause more than expected damage, seals are prone to damage as well

I think, petrol is lighter than diesel,  so it will sit on top of the diesel, so until it the fuel level goes down. So there should be very little damage at present.

For what its worth, I would get the tank drained and refilled. It will stop any problems in the future. A question, can you call out the AA and will they do it?

But I would still take better advice than mine, I have been told at times I make very little sence at the best of times.  ;D

Good luck,

May be worth checking on a Disco forum.

Thanks Neil.

 I ran it a couple of miles yesterday back from the services and 5 miles this morning to work. I will take it to a local garage and get it drained to be safe

Its happened at work a few times with our engineers, which begs the question what else do they screw up while on site!

The last time it f**ked up the fuel pump and that seems to be the most common problem.

My first thoughts exactly. Be safe Bob, drain the tank.

Has the Disco got an "Army-like" fuel tank with a release bolt, so you don't have to tip the car over? ;)

I'd always imagined that petrol and diesel would mix, but it seems not after a bit of a Google.  If they did, I'm sure that someone would suggest it as a "go faster" trick, and I've never seen this suggested (and do look as I have a TD4)

Views on engine damage vary, but it seems that as petrol is not a lubricant (and diesel is) there is a risk of terminal damage to common rail injectors (I assume the TD5 has these) or to an old fashioned injection pump.

Best bet is to dump the lot, but what do you do with ten gallons of sh!te fuel

I've spoken to a LR dealer. Yes, my car does have common rail injectors. His opinion is that it is 90% sure to cause damage and recommends draining the tank. One saving grace is that diesel is more viscous and therefore the two would stay seperate with the unleaded on top so it will be OK to drive it to a garage. Bolox, £88 of fuel got to be dumped.

I'm not the only silly bastard. hundreds like me on here. Lots of conflicting views on how to rectuify

http://www.simong.org/index.php?p=902


 

Depending on your policy, excess vs cost vs no claims discount etc, your insurance company may be able to pay out if it starts to look pricey.

Keep the old fuel for conflagraions at LM.

Isn't there a design for a water heater/shower on here somewhere.

Combine the two and you'll have a flame thrower.  Should keep the pikeys at bay

That must have cost £100 ;D

The only clever idea I've seen is to mix engine oil in with the petrol.  I think the dealers right.  When you refill it with diesel, leave the ignition(!) on for a minute before you start it, to flush out the fuel rail and filters etc

Bob a few years ago when I used to run a truck abroad I used to stick 50lts of petrol in my volvo F12 when i filled up to stop the diesel waxing up when it was really cold

Ah the mighty F12! Globetrotter perchance?
 My Fave truck as a kid ;D
 Oops- out pops my classic truck fetish again ;D ;D
 Regards the fuel problem- i'd get it drained too. Save the old mixture for cleaning oily parts- it works a treat!
 Ps. Get the old girl rustproofed whilst your underneath- they are shockingly bad for rotting out.

She is being drained today. I ran for a couple of days (about 35 miles) there was no difference in performance or engine sound. On the way home last night the fuel pump started to whine (just like Mrs U when I told her what I had done) so to be on the safe side it's being sorted.

£200 that is gonna cost me plus another tank of DIESEL and they wanted to charge me £60 to get rid of the contaminated fuel. My company's waste oil tank will get a nice top up later today

£200 to drain a tank of fuel??
 I'm in the wrong game!

As usual, I scanned quickly across the 'recent posts' and then ran away somewhere.
After a little while, I had to wonder why Bob U was having Mrs U drained, and exactly how this would happen. Is he going to go private? Is it for the better or worse?
Either way it sounds interesting. Can I be drained too?
H

£200 .......sh*t me thinks you were ripped off, should have cost no more that half that, as for the globetrotter no such luck, just an A plate F12 (1year old) with 330 horses and 16 gears haha but my favorite has always been my old 88 volvo .......that was a proper truck no mod cons (crap heater)  but fun to drive lovely sound too eeeeh I can hear that turbo screaming now as I wound my way up to the mont blanc tunnel  ;D ;D ;D

Final bill  £111.80. 1 1/2 labour, a new filter and a couple of gallons of diesel. Happy with that, could have been a whole lot worse. Memo to self, do not attempt to fuel car when suffering from a screaming hangover.

 I blame the Welsh. If I hadn't enjoyed seeing them loose to Fiji so much I wouldn't have drunk so much

Alternatively

http://www.dieselguard.com/

you might look a bit daft every time you open the fuel flap, but not as daft as someone having their tank drained by the AA on a forecourt. ;)