what not to put in a diesel.....

Don't panic!
You will get away with it. It has happened to me TWICE. (Not my doing mind you..) What you need to do is drain the tank first. The best way to do this is lift the rear seat. There are two covers held on with four bolts, one each side. Take these off, under them are the retaining rings (for the fuel pump on the right, filter on the left). Tap these loose with hammer and drift.The tank is effectively split in to two chambers, so be sure to drain both sides.
Once that is done, and be patient putting the retaining rings back on, replace the underbonnet fuel filter with new one. Be sure to fill the new filter at least half full with fresh diesel before fitting. Then fill the tank with fresh diesel.
Switch on the ignition, and let the pumps fill the filter. Turn the engine over, the car may not start straight away. When the car starts, it will run a bit rough for a few minutes as the last of the petrol in the pipes is used up.
Finally, it may be a good idea to do an oil and filter change, just in case of any dilution by unburnt petrol.

 

50 miles hmmmmm thats an odd one, be very careful petrol is an extremely volatile vapour any form of spark/ignition is very dangerous . flyer.

 

I thought the fuel pumps were lubricated by the diesel and if so then wouldn't the petrol have caused the pumps to run unlubricated for awhile and this might lead to problems in the future.

 

sadly yes , could take a while to show up though, flyermg2:

 

Hi I did the same 2 weeks ago, run the car for 30 miles with no adverse effects. Had the tank drained and lines flushed and a full service. Have now covered another 350 miles without incident - bur it may be too soon for any damage to materialise. I have since bought an alarm that fits next to the filler that reminds me to use diesel!!! good luck

 

I have since bought an alarm that fits next to the filler that reminds me to use diesel!!! good luck

surely a sticker/label will see you right????

Russ

 

Just shows how hardy these diesels are. By contrast the 1.8's seem to have problems going more than 30 miles without incident on the correct fuel! (only joking guys )

 

isnt diesel a "heavy oil" and could it be in the bottom of the tank with petrol floating on top untill its used?

 

Oh well, I'm ashamed to admit, after pumping out the tank (2 hours) it transpires that it wasn't petrol at all. I will never trust an AA man again. You just naturally take their word don't you ?. You expect them to know their business. I should have known when there was no smell of petrol at all, when we were pumping the tank out. While the tank was being pumped, I was busy emptying the plenum where the ECU sits, as it was half full of water (Now you've got it havent you!) The bloody ECU was drowned, and over the 5 hours we were sodding about with the fuel, it looks like it had dried out enough to get started. It conked out once more after about half an hour, but has been fine since Monday night. I have the Mastercard, and till receipt from the garage, stating that it was diesel that I put in, and paid for. I have checked with the garage, and looked at the pump. I'm told that the receipt is automatically stamped with the type of fuel, the cost, and the pump number, so there can be no mistakes. I'm afraid that I now have to get in touch with the AA and report the guy for getting it so wrong. I don't really want to get him into trouble, but if it's on record that I put petrol in the tank, it could invalidate my warranty, and I still have nearly 18 months on it.

 

thats why i said 50 miles hmmmmmmmm , still at least you wont be getting pump failure in the months ahead. flyer:O

 

wow i know what you mean about trusting the aa you think they are the experts ! Hope its all sorted for you know mate

 

some good ,some bad , some ruddy awful . flyer:err:

 

i joined 15 years ago when i moved from glasgow to this godforsaken desert , only kiddin its a haven of peace in a mad world , i have the 75 and my hack , the hack gets most call outs for obvious reasons , i have never thought of them as anything other than a tow service [and cheap at the price rob] as you say rob they are motivated in diff ways . i just dont expect them to fix my vehicles and like you i tell them i need a tow truck . flyer:dd:

 

I must have got one of the duff ones then. I wasn't with the car when he made his diagnosis of the problem, or I might have taken a close look at how he came to his decision. I mean, FFS, if you poke your snout into the fuel filler, surely even the bluntest knife in the drawer could tell the whiff of petrol?
I haven't been in touch with the AA, as I have no real proof that he was wrong now. The tank has been pumped, and although I have the receipt for diesel, he could just say I filled up with petrol later and paid cash .( I never do). As long as he does what he said, and just reports that he found a fault and fixed it, my warranty should be OK, but if he makes a false report about petrol being in the tank, I'm ***ked.
From now on, the AA are a tow you to a garage service only, for me, they're not getting near the engine of my car.

 

iIf you suspected you had put the wrong fuel in why did you not check the receipt before you got the AA out? Failing that you could have phoned the garage to check the pump you used.You cannot fail to tell diesel from petrol when it was being pumped out of your tank.A double check at the pumps is all it takes to avoid this kind of disaster.

 

Funnily enough mate, because , A) I didn't break down in my living room where the receipt was, I broke down in the peeing rain and dark, 40 miles from home,without a phone, and B) I wasn't there when the AA man came, nor when the fuel was pumped out. And C) Hindsight is 20/20.
OK?
I should add, at no time did I suspect that I had put the wrong fuel in, I was totally dumstruck when I was told. It wasn't until after the work was done that I realised that the AA employ all sorts of people, and that it was more likely him that was wrong than me.

 

oh the gift that god wid gie us tae see oursels as others see us {RABBIE BURNS} it looks like some of us have never cocked it up , [IM PERFECT MYSELF BTW} :scary:flyer

 

god god , you would have to read this to believe it , looks like he just didnt want to admit he was wrong . flyer:indiff:

 

Still thinking about reporting the guy. I hate getting people into trouble, as jobs aint so easy to come by these days. Maybe if I had been with the car when he said there was petrol in it, I could have put him straight. I'll give it until Monday , then make a decision.
Cheers for the PM flyer, spot on.

 

ive had some experience of the AA because of my job , i had the nerve to speak my mind on here about them a while back and an AA man who is [was] a member done his nut , called me for everything under the sun it was some rant and i gave it back , he hasnae been seen or heard of since [not my doing of course] :haha: must say though, [HE HASNT BEEN MISSED :rotflmao:flyer

 

Sorry for sounding like a smart a....!!! It did sound funny that you managed to travel 50mls.My father inlaw filled his diesel mondeo with petrol and managed 2 mls before it stopped.We drew the fuel from the tank from the injection pump inlet pipe with an electric drill pump.He then filled it back up with diesel and it ran fine.

 

usually a few litres through the two or three pumps [more so the hp pump ] is a long term death sentance , everything seems hunky chunky for a while then the small niggles kick in [misfire] judder then the inevitable failure , some are lucky some not . flyer:devil2:

 

In my opinion the AA are only good for towing you home. I was on Holiday in my old ZR a couple of years back. The car started missfiring. Normally i'd take a look myself but being so far from home i just called the AA out. He came out and automatically diagnosed it as Head Gasket Failure, turned out to be a dead spark plug

 

the cost of a tow these days is outrageous so being a member makes some sense , more so for the likes of myself as i have a taxi and the rover, have to be honest and say i can tolerate the dodgy reputation in return for the towing , flyer :slap:

 

“Hi, I work for the AA and was very concerned to see the problem referred to on your post. If you would like to contact us on 0845 607 6727 and quote ref 3109174,we’ll do our best to resolve it. It’s not about getting anyone in trouble, it’s about making sure you get the right service. AA patrols are all highly trained guys – we provide around 7,000 training days a year plus one-to-one coaching – but if one gets it wrong, we need to know so that we can put it right.”

 

hey debaa you say you work for the AA [in what capacity] because you come across as intelligent !!!! my guess is you aint a guy in a yellow van .
whilst your guys do a thankless job i must say some of them should be doing other things [and that is the exact words of an aa guy on here ] before he took the huff and pushed off , might i suggest you or someone at the AA moniters the input here with regard to the AA [you will get a shock mate ] flyer.:scary:

 

Cheers Debaa, I'm away from home on business at the moment, but I will ring when I get home next week. As I said, I don't want to get the guy in trouble, but it cost me quite a few quid to sort things out. Luckily, my brother has an engineering firm, and was able to pump out the "" diesel"",without going to a garage, which I'm told could have cost up to £600. It took 4 hours to go through the proceedure of pumping out and re-filling the car, and getting the pump back in action after losing fuel pressure. It did cost me £47 to have the radio re-programmed as I did not have the code to re-set it after having the battery off for an hour.

 

Yes I havn't been over the moon with The AA, called em out one morning at 3 am when leaving work after a 10 hour shift, as car wouldn't crank over. I had tried a jump start from another car to no avail. A locum AA man turned up in a dodgy looking breakdown truck 1 hour and 40 mins later. I told him what I had tried and he promtly tried the same !!. He then put his little continuity tester on a few irrelevant places, told me it needed a new starter motor, and gave me a tow start. Next day I took off the Starter motor terminal and gave it a good clean. No further problems for the last 4 or 5 months. Aged but not senile, regardless of what my son says.