Small amount of diesel in a petrol engine

[The Pool Boy]

Hi all

I've just inadvertently put a small amount of diesel in my petrol car. I was filling up at Tesco and was fiddling with the pay at pump/pay at till button before I realised I'd put 4 litres of diesel in to the car. Strangely the pump fitted in reasonably well.....I spoke to the manager on duty and he said it would be no problem if I filled the rest with petrol. 06 Paasat is the car.

I put 60 litres of petrol in to fill the tank. I didn't have any problem but I've only driven 3/4 miles since. I've looked it up on the net and all it says is that I may experience some smoking from the exhaust until the next fill up....


Any thoughts...?

 

[SteelBlue05]

shouldnt be a problem. I think its a lot worse to put petrol into a diesel.

 

[Satanta]

What problems may occur if Diesel is put in an unleaded car

Diesel in a petrol engine isn't too much of a problem (nice bit of valve lubrication). Draining the tank will of course be required and then refill with unleaded petrol. The plugs may need to be removed and cleaned if the engine won't fire. Other than a bit of smoke for a while, which sound clear, there shouldn't be any lasting effect. The only consideration and possibly costly issue could be damage to a catalytic converter if fitted. - Updated: December 2, 2002
[broken link removed]


An emerging problem in Europe is motorists mistakenly putting gasoline into a diesel car (the converse is almost impossible because diesel pumps have a large nozzle which does not fit the filler, and diesel in a petrol engine, while creating spectacular amounts of smoke, does not normally cause permanent damage if it is drained once the mistake is realised).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_station





Given that you spotted the error before the tank was filled it may be comparable to having drained the engine and only a residue remaining, especially given the petrol dilution.

 

[clearday]

I started putting petrol into my diesel and was a third full when I realised.Rang AA and he said it should be alright and indeed it was.