HELP !wrong fuel problem

cookie

Guest
Hello to all,
Can anyone please help,:help: my hubby has just put 4* unleaded fuel in our MH:cry: and driven about 1 mile when it dawned on him what he had done and stopped immediatley. what he is wondering is if he drains off the fuel and fills it with deisel then primes it through manually (as you would when you run out of fuel)if this would flush out the injectors or can anyone recommend another way? also if this is possible does anyone know if our citreon 2.5 ( 1991) engine has a bung on the fuel tank to perform this? poor hubby is beside himself for making the mistake, he automatically picked up petrol as we had been out in the car earlier which is petrol. I would be gratful if anyone can assist.
many thanks.
 
hi.i would drain quite alot out . not all of it .then fill with diesel . then driver on . keep what you drained out and use agallon to a tank full of diesel. you shouldnt find any probs . i regularly put petrol through all my diesel vehicles very often 25% it helps clean the engine etc . if its not been filled right up top it up and drive on . but only if it as had say twenty quids worth put in. we have all done something similar. not as bad as putting diesel in a petrol . they just wont run.

my lad did it once in his vw . i got to him . drained the carb. pumped out the fuel from fuel pump . fitted a petrol can in the engine bay put the fuel feed in to it . blocked the line from the tank. got him home .chucked loads of clean petrol in his tank . connected up normally he was on the road in an hour . i got loads of diesel /petrol to burn in my truck . bit of work but wasted very little.
cheers alan.
 
I did the same thing when I first got a deisel car, called the RAC and let the mechanic sort it out for me and he even gave me enough deisel in the tank after flushing for about 60 miles, not sure if they still do this at the home or road side as they did a few years ago but they will at worst take you to a garage to get it flushed through correctly, and you wont have to worry about the disposal of the contaminated petrol.

Hope this helps.

Squibby.
 
cookie said:
Hello to all,
Can anyone please help,:help: my hubby has just put 4* unleaded fuel in our MH:cry: and driven about 1 mile when it dawned on him what he had done and stopped immediatley. what he is wondering is if he drains off the fuel and fills it with deisel then primes it through manually (as you would when you run out of fuel)if this would flush out the injectors or can anyone recommend another way? also if this is possible does anyone know if our citreon 2.5 ( 1991) engine has a bung on the fuel tank to perform this? poor hubby is beside himself for making the mistake, he automatically picked up petrol as we had been out in the car earlier which is petrol. I would be gratful if anyone can assist.
many thanks.
Click to expand...

There is a mobile service in your area who will come out straight away and drain it all out......but its not cheap
 
ohhhh dear, hopefully it will be ok. i once put unleaded in an LT then drove about seven miles. only when it stopped did i realise what i had done. hubby syphoned most of it out then we put loads of diesel in, turned it over till it started and thankfully it was ok, it just ran a bit unevenly for a while. that engine was bullet proof!
 
hi. vw say you can run upto 30%petrol in the diesel in winter to stop waxing .(fuel can freeze). so if you keep adding diesel as much as you can it,ll be ok . i was a vw mechanic and have regularly been the guy called out by aa/rac to drain tanks etc .ran lots of vehicles for nothing in a good year. well nearly have to put some diesel in sometimes . drain some but keep it . add it at a later date . or bring it to cornwall i,ll run it in mine .hee hee . not funny i know . you will laugh later. cheers alan.
 
Cookie, you need to tell us some info,

How much diesel was in the MH when you added the unleaded?

How much unleaded did you put in?

How much room do you have in the tank now?
 
wrong fuel

hello all, thank you so much for all the advice, I think we will have a go at draining it (if we can find a bung in the tank) poor hubby has been beating himself up all night about it. we have had to leave it where we stopped so hes worried about that, but at least its not in anyones way.
Alan - your right we will probably laugh about it later :lol-053: but it might take a while yet if plan A doesnt work:eek:

Squibby- The AA still come out for this but its a seperate service now that cost around £230 for members more for non members, which is the average cost of most of the mobile people that specialise in this problem
so I think we will try draining first and if we cant I will call someone out.

Kimbowbill. Im not going to argue either (but Im sure someone told me that also ) but keep it to yourself ! I have been known to be wrong :eek:

thanks again folks for the quick replies will let you know the outcome.

pat.
 
Miz said:
Cookie, you need to tell us some info,

How much diesel was in the MH when you added the unleaded?

How much unleaded did you put in?

How much room do you have in the tank now?
Click to expand...

I agree with this. First and most important, What engine do you have and how old is it? If it is very new then get it to a dealership asap. If it is old then you might be ok. Second question, How much 4* went in and how much diesel in tank at time of filling? Important because if mixture not too rich in petrol, again might be ok.

Yes you can drain off the fuel. On Ducato type models there is a fuel filter with a largish grub screw (under the bonnet, upper right hand side looking at it) which you can completely unscrew to do this (put something underneath to catch it or there'll be a mess).

Best case scenario, you won't notice the difference, just fill up with diesel to improve the mix (some diesels will run on virtually anything). Worst case is non-start or bad mis-fire in which case call breakdown in first instance and don't drive it hoping it will improve.

Also has yellow/red engine management light come on at all?
 
wrong fuel

Miz said:
Cookie, you need to tell us some info,

How much diesel was in the MH when you added the unleaded?

How much unleaded did you put in?

How much room do you have in the tank now?
Click to expand...

hello, fuel light had just come on and we stopped for fuel straight away.only put £20 worth in, approx 14 litres and travel 1 mile up the road when it dawned on hubby. so fuel gauge only showing quarter tank of fuel (luckily we were heading the few miles home and I wont be using it till weekend so never leave it sitting with a full tank.) normally takes over £60 to fill the tank, so tank is still pretty low.
hope this helps am not really up to speed on the statistics of the van as we have only had it since about may.


pat
 
wrong fuel

fairytooth said:
I agree with this. First and most important, What engine do you have and how old is it? If it is very new then get it to a dealership asap. If it is old then you might be ok. Second question, How much 4* went in and how much diesel in tank at time of filling? Important because if mixture not too rich in petrol, again might be ok.

Yes you can drain off the fuel. On Ducato type models there is a fuel filter with a largish grub screw (under the bonnet, upper right hand side looking at it) which you can completely unscrew to do this (put something underneath to catch it or there'll be a mess).

Best case scenario, you won't notice the difference, just fill up with diesel to improve the mix (some diesels will run on virtually anything). Worst case is non-start or bad mis-fire in which case call breakdown in first instance and don't drive it hoping it will improve.

Also has yellow/red engine management light come on at all?
Click to expand...

hello fairytooth, the engine is 2.5 LTR Citreon from 1991 so its an oldie and it doesnt have an engine management light . approx 14LTR put in as soon as petrol light came on so it would have been fairly low on fuel when we put that in.
 
do what VW alan says. people have been adding petrol to diesel for centuries, and in some countries its a must.

im out of touch with modern engines, and esp diesels as im new to them but in the colder countries its normal to add a bit
 
OK, so as it was still running when you realised and stopped it, I would suggest that you get it back to the station (towing would be best) and fill it with diesel, hopefully it will start again, if it does, run it and once it is down to 3/4 of a tank refill again, do this a couple of times and then buy a bottle of wine and sit and have a laugh about your near miss..

Have a look at Misfuel Prevention and Diesel Misfueling by Solo Diesel if you quote SD OCT1 you get a £5 discount..
 
hi, if it was mine i would fill it with diesel and drive on. you only put 3 gallon in . it,ll be ok, those older engines love a bit of petrol in them. best is every time oh puts fuel in take the piss time and time again. hope it was a diesel light came on . you dont want to put more petrol in.
the point is you must keep reminding him specialy in company . cheers alan.
 
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wrong fuel

thanks to both of you ! I will keep reminding him but I might just pospone taking the p**s out of him just yet, what makes it worse is yesterday he saw stick on badge thingy that goes beside the fuel fill to remind you its "DIESEL" and didnt get it because he thought to himself no " IM NOT THAT STUPID " :rolleyes2: (thats a leading question and I am not prepared to answer ! ) let you know how it goes. fingers crossed


Pat
 
hi, drive it steady ,keep filling it with diesel. you have to take the piss its part of the cure . in our house it could go on for the rest of his life . in 50 yrs time you say do you remember that time ????????/
tell all his mates that helps as well. for his birthday get him a badge ,,, i put petrol in a diesel van . he,ll love you for it .ha ha . cheers alan.
 
wrong fuel

Ha Ha Alan your right I best start straight away then coz in 50 years time I'll be 114 ha ha ha and I probably wont remember his name let alone his mistakes !:confused: I might in all probability be an :angel: by then ha ha ha


Pat
 
cookie said:
hello all, thank you so much for all the advice, I think we will have a go at draining it (if we can find a bung in the tank) poor hubby has been beating himself up all night about it. we have had to leave it where we stopped so hes worried about that, but at least its not in anyones way.
Alan - your right we will probably laugh about it later :lol-053: but it might take a while yet if plan A doesnt work:eek:

Squibby- The AA still come out for this but its a seperate service now that cost around £230 for members more for non members, which is the average cost of most of the mobile people that specialise in this problem
so I think we will try draining first and if we cant I will call someone out.

Kimbowbill. Im not going to argue either (but Im sure someone told me that also ) but keep it to yourself ! I have been known to be wrong :eek:

thanks again folks for the quick replies will let you know the outcome.

pat.
Click to expand...

Yeah cookie, the difference with my prob was that I had engine management problems, and the petrol had caused the rubbers to rot on the sender unit (i think) anyway whatever it happened a while ago and if i leave the fuel to go right down the engine management light comes on and i cant go above 30 miles ph unitl i have the code thingy put on it, so i keep the car topped up all the time, some good advice coming through from others, i was just sharing my experience and sometimes its not as easy as some folk make out,

Jen
 
wrong fuel

Hi Kimbowbill, Oh I think I read that on here when I was looking for a solution, Our MH is an old one so probably doesnt have half the things on that the new ones have these days, which is sometimes a blessing.
I know my friend ruined a Kia people carrier belonging to his cousin by doing the same except he hadnt realised,as he had just lost his wife and was on route to pick the son up from train station next day he borrowed it and put petrol in without thinking but kept driving and as he approached the station in the center of Durham it broke down, although it was in the garage several times they could never get it back to normal for some reason. hope your is ok now and Im hoping tomorrow we can get ours sorted.

Pat
 
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