Petrol in Diesel

[Skody]

Hi

I put petrol in a 1.9 TDi on Monday. I didn't start it and was towed to the garage and the tank was drained. It started fine and I've driven 100 odd miles since. The problem is that as the revs increase around 3000 the engine stutters. Is something broken, is it an air lock or maybe a blocked filter ? Has anyone else made the same mistake and experienced a similar problem. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Skody

[mannyo]

How much petrol, and how much diesel was left in the car when you filled up.

[ednmra]

Interesting article in newspaper a couple of days ago - comparison of what happens [cost wise] when wrong fuel goes in and how garages rip off owners with exaggerated claims of cost of putting things right.

Would you believe Skoda came out best, for draining off, flushing, new filter etc. Still 3 figures though, bit over £100 I think. Owners of "posh" cars were being charged 4 figures in some cases.

[Octavia5]

As the tank was drained before you started it there should have been minimal petrol left in the system so no serious damage to the fuel system should have occurred, if the garage did a proper job.

Did the garage fill you with fresh diesel, flush the fuel lines and fit a new fuel filter, before starting the car, if they did you should be OK after a few days/couple of hundred miles to flush any minute drops of petrol from the system. If stuttering continues then all that should be required is another new fuel filter.

If they did not flush the fuel lines get a new fuel filter fitted straight away and ask them why not - if they left petrol in the fuel lines then the injectors might have been damaged and if so you could have a claim against them for not doing their job properly.

[slider]

I have to admit that I did this in my previous car - Mk1 1.9tdi octy.

I didn't realise till it conked out

tank was drain, lines flushed and new filter - ran perfectly after that.

[Organist]

The general concensus of opinion with various motor magazines that have done reports on this very problem is that the 1.9 Tdi enginge is about the most forgiving diesel engine. Even the Skoda Assist man I know says that even if they are run with petrol in them they almost always recover perfectly!

[Captain Kremen]

What about the newer 2.0 diesels?

[Exhausted]

The main reason I moved from Citroen HDi to Skoda PD was the above regarding petrol in diesel.

There are horror stories on the French car forum and the Ford diesels have a poor repution of reliability if petrol is accidentally used.

The reason seems to be that the common rail pump has to be made to very very close tolerances and uses the fuel as a lubricant. Petrol isn't a lubricant and I guess that the seals might not like it either. The pump doesn't show problems until some time later.

This is not so much of a problem when buying new as you know what you are doing ------ ? Buy secondhand though and who knows.

[moley]

A couple of years ago a friend filled his Renault Laguna diesel with petrol, he did not start the car and had it towed home. he pumped the fuel from the tank(under the rear seat cover) and put a five litres of diesel in and it started OK. He drove about a quarter of a mile to the petrol station and filled with diesel. There was a little bit of smoke for a couple of miles, but after that the car was fine. As you didn't start the car I wouldn't have thought any petrol had entered the system. So how good a job did the garage do in draining the tank?

[Lummox]

Missfire at 3000 ish RPM sounds like a faulty lift pump to me but also can be a blocked fuel filter. But really they should have replaced that anyhow after the wrong fuel is used.