Tip of the Day: Don't put Diesel into a Petrol engined van!

[pandkh]

Our story begins with the P of pandkh, driving 600 miles to the French/German border to watch the Tour de France. Epic weekend, cycling was great, van was great, lovin' it. Quite thirsty these VW's though, think I stopped 3 times to fill up on the way down. My mate in the diesel T5 was laughing as he made it on a single tank. T5 man stayed on but P has work on Tuesday morning, so drives back on Monday, Bastille Day, a French public holiday. Fill up first thing, get a few hundred miles in on very quite French roads. Music on, sun shining, van driving great, couldn't be happier.

What happened next shall always remain a bit of a mystery to me.

Need more fuel, down to 1/4 tank. Pull in at French services, height barrier on the car lane, must go down the lorry lane. Not quite sure which nozzle is correct. Tramp comes up to me, smell him before I see him. Wants a lift back to the UK. I politely declined, before filling up with 60 litres of diesel. (into my 1.9DG Petrol)

I pay and drive off, loads of time before my shuttle crossing, take it easy, maybe fill up on some booze if I have time. Now, I think I may have just crossed the give way line to rejoin the carriageway, when I had the first hiccup from the engine. A couple of seconds later and I thought I'd gone to 3 cylinders, lost some power, change back to 4, big black cloud from the exhaust. Bit perplexed, van was running so well. Tappets very noisey and noise getting worse, complete loss of power, roll to a stop on the hard shoulder.

Sinking feeling as a I google 'Gazole'. 'Oh dear what have I done!'. I won't share with you the text message I sent K from pandkh, but it had lots of words beginning with F in it.

Warning triangle out. Walk to the orange phone. Talk to the lady on the other end and with a mixture of a little English and a little French, the tow truck is on the way. Sit in shame on the top of the bank for 45 mins until tow truck arrives. Wallow in my own stupidity, wonder what's going to happen next. How much is it going to cost me, how long is it all going to take, will I still be in France tomorrow, or the next day, is the van going to be alright?

Tow truck arrives, nice gentleman doesn't really know much English, my French is better and my French isn't great . Through a mixture of the two he gets the message that van is a petrol engined vehicle, but I have put gazole in it. No option but to put van onto the back of the truck. Man pulls van onto the back of truck and sees the fuel filter (new) and petrol tank, you get a great view when the van is 7 feet up in the air. 'Reservoir?'. 'Oui'. Pick up triangle, get in truck drive off. Secretly google-translate various French phrases which may come in useful when we stop. We drive to the next junction, go through a small town, into an industrial unit and pull up at a Renault main dealership. 'Ah, this must be where he's based out of'. Van off the truck. I deliver my well rehearsed phrases, 'what happens now?', 'can you fix it?'. A quick conversation about whether I have AA cover to pay for the recovery from the motorway, followed by, 'You pay cash for fix?'. An interesting development! 'Oui, ne pas de problem'. 'Ok let's see'.

Disconnect fuel filter, drain 60 litres of diesel out of tank. This takes 1hr 30 mins. Sit on forecourt, google varies threads about wrong fuel in cars. Doesn't seem good, 'is this really going to work?'. 'I don't think he's a mechanic!'. Tank empty, reconnect fuel filter, pour in 10 litres of 'essence', turn the engine over, lots of black smoke. Keep turnng it over, more black smoke, keep going, smoke gets a bit greyer, still won't idle. Keep going, getting clearer, running on full revs, won't idle. Keep turning over, idle not great keeps stalling but restarts. More turning over, now fragile idle, drive round in circles, idle getting better, start trying to calculate if I can still catch my shuttle crossing. Shake hands, pay him 130 Euros cash in hand, drive down the road to petrol station to fill up with Petrol. Only got 10 litres in, really need to get more in for maximum dilution effect, Idle still quite fragile. Only 1 pump working, 5 cars in front of me, longest 10 mins of my life!!, 'please don't stall!', 'please don't stall!'. Fill up, back on the motorway, 60 mph, can't quite believe it. Drove 200 miles to Calais without any problems. Missed my intended crossing in the end but got back home eventually and only 1.5 hours later than planned.

Of course I'm highly embarrassed about the whole affair and with my own stupidity. I'm not sure how it happened, I got confused is all I can say. However despite my embarrassment I thought I'd write it up and share it with the group for a few reasons.

Firstly, so that people read it, remember it, and don't put diesel in your petrol engined van!
Secondly, I think it's an interesting story, which hopefully will aid in remembering it. It's certainly something I will remember!
Thirdly, and selfishly, can anyone tell me if I'll have done any long term damage, and what if any parts need replacing in the short term?

[AdrianC]

Thirdly, and selfishly, can anyone tell me if I'll have done any long term damage, and what if any parts need replacing in the short term?

No, you won't have done long-term damage, not like petrol into a modern diesel can do.

Chuck a new fuel filter in it, mebbe some new plugs, and just keep topping it up with petrol. PETROL. Essence. Sans Plomb... The one with the green handle...

[marlinowner]

I filled my 1.9 DG with diesel, but luckily I was about half full before. It just about ran with copious amounts of smoke. Drove it the 10 miles home, drained tank, put petrol in, it was fine.

[nobbyfox]

Oh dear. Sounds like you were lucky. I once filled up my old Yamaha Fazer with diesel, luckily realised my error and had only put in about 3 litres. Topped up with petrol and never had any problems. Won't do it again though.

Steve

[New Kentish Campers]

As the others have said, unlikely that any real has been done. Later made vehicles have a smaller fuel nozzle inlet specifically to stop this but of course our old girls dont
If you had diesel and put petrol in then thats when harm can be done. The diesel injector pump gets its lubrication from derv as it's an oil whereas petrol is a spirit and that will soon wash out the diesel lube and wreck it.

[kevtherev]

New engine in a modern car.

[tforturton]

Sounds like you were very lucky, but hats off to the French mechanic. Bet you were only too pleased to hand over your hundred notes....

[keith]

I can understand people doing it....the temptation to run on the fuel of champions is a strong one.

glad it worked out well in the end.

[chapperss]

Did the same thing in my old petrol van a few years ago. Luckily less than a mile from home on the way to the Inlaws which we didnt get to! So did myself a favour in the end really . drained diesel like you did, but hell did it smoke for a while when I got it re started!! filled the whole street with white smoke!! But just filled up with petrol again and that was it, drove that van another 90 thousand miles. no problems( now I always double check the colour of the pump when I fill up)