Fuel Blunder

[Brigadier]

I put a couple of quid of diesel in my mate's mini, in the late 80's.
When I realised, we decided the best course of action - the garage woman told us she was closing, and to do one! - was to brim it with as much petrol as we could afford.
I think seven squid topped the tank to brimming; good times

Worked fine for a day or two.

After that, think Gulf War oilfield fires  following us down the road

His older brother took the carbs off, cleaned the black gunk out, and all was right in the world again

 

[fixitflav]

but a siphon may be possible.

Could be wrong, but I thought tanks had baffles these days to prevent that sort of thing.

 

[robinbanks]

I did this a few years back, stupid bint

You say it like it was her fault you didn't look where your nozzle was going..

put the rest through my own grass cutter and chain saw, so not a complete loss.

bet you've chosen a different container to carry it home in ever since!

Don't forget to clean out the fuel filter too; from my experience misfuelling an old merc 308, petrol and diesel seem to not mix that well and you can end up with a filter that's mostly petrol, giving your engine a nice glug of it on steeper hills

 

[robinbanks]

cleaned the black gunk out, and all was right in the world again

I wonder what the black gunk was.. Doesn't sound like diesel

 

[robinbanks]

Could be wrong, but I thought tanks had baffles these days to prevent that sort of thing.

Some do, some don't I think; my Galaxy seems to, my A4 not. It's a quick thing to test whether one does or doesn't so worth a try for clipping 2m of hose pipe off.

 

[Brigadier]

I wonder what the black gunk was.. Doesn't sound like diesel

That's what his brother said but, as I knew so little as to put diesel in a mini, I wasn't going to check or argue

 

[Mottie]

When we going away to the Peak District in our Diesel Evoque, I was going to fill up with fuel on the A12 before we got to the motorway. It had a delivery tanker in so was closed. We carried on. M25 then the M1 and then we were getting desperate so I pulled into the motorway services. I thought I’m not paying motorway prices, I’ll just stick enough in to get us off the motorway and I’ll fill up then. I started fuelling but the pump kept clicking off. I then realised that the Mis-fuelling dafety device in my filler neck had closed…..because I was putting petrol in! I only got half a gallon in it. I had to empty the boot out to get the missfuel release tool. Release the flap and then brim the tank with the most expensive diesel I’d ever bought.

 

[norseman]

£25 of fuel isn't that much. Half or a full tank does become a much bigger issue to store, especially if at home.

Not sure of the limits off hand but there is a legal limit at home

If you are talking about legal fuel storage it's 30 litres in 'suitable' containers with a max cap. of 20 ltrs, the same limit applies to petrol or diesel.
Fuel contained in a fuel tank ie generator is disregarded.

 

[norseman]

Won't happen. A diesel nozzle is too large to fit into a petrol car.

Funny you should say that, we have an elderly neighbour who did just that.
When I said that isn't possible he replied 'it is if you force it'
We've never let him live it down !

 

[robinbanks]

and then brim the tank with the most expensive diesel I’d ever bought.

Which was probably about half the price we pay for diesel now?!

 

[Mottie]

Which was probably about half the price we pay for diesel now?!

So true!

 

[robinbanks]

I'm not very old, but I can remember buying red diesel at 15p a litre, white was about 45 I think..

 

[cdbe]

I recently had to replace the low pressure lift pump in my golf diesel - 5 minutes to remove the back seat then 2 minutes to remove the pump assembly - this leaves a big hole in the top of the fuel tank where the petrol could be extracted - syphonage if you have the guts to take a gobfull of petrol, otherwise a ladle of some kind - slow but so is earning £300. The fuel filter housing in the engine bay is worth checking - mines a 2 minute job with a torx key. If it's got petrol in then tip it out, if not you're good to go - a tiny bit left sloshing around with a full tank of diesel won't hurt.

What I did find out when I changed my lift pump was that it didn't actually run until the engine started - I wanted to see the new one run before I closed the tank off - which it didn't, the ignition switch did nothing and it wouldn't start, metered the plug terminals and nothing there - after much frustration and searching for relays and wiring faults I filled up the fuel filter housing - off she went!! I did wonder, with it being a fairly modern car, whether your supposed to do something in VCDS to run a priming sequence.

 

[Old Salt]

You could purchase a syphon device or make your own. A length of garden hose, not too long though, with a small cable passed through. Attach a small piece of sponge to the cable. The sponge has to be small enough to go through the hose at a tight fit to the hose walls. Drop the hose in the tank and then gently pull the cable through the hose. If you’ve got it right it will pull the fuel through and syphon the tank contents.

 

[ADS4GAS]

Thanks to all who contributed, apologies for the delay in updating.
The RAC were useless and didn't want to know even though he had full cover for recovery and roadside assistance.
A local mobile mechanic sorted it for £100. He drained the petrol into 2 containers, added some flushing agent and filled up with diesel. Took 30 minutes, he hasn't had any problems with the car since.