Petrol into Diesel

[Trig1903]

Hi, first post on the forum and an embarrassing one at that.

I recently collected my new A3 1.9 TDI. Having always driven a petrol car before I made the stupid mistake of starting to fill up with petrol last night instead of diesel. I was just short of 6 litres when I realised having had approx 7 lires of diesel left in the tank as the fuel light had not long come on. I then proceeded to fill up the rest of the tank with diesel therefore giving me a tank with about 49 litres diesel and 6 litres petrol.

Being clueless with cars I drove home and then drove the 20 miles into work this morning and the car is fine so no problem I thought. I then did a google search (possibly not the wisest info source) to find all sorts of horror stories and panic has ensued. I've spoken to a couple of knowledgeable folk and have been offered advice from get the tank drained and fuel filter changed to don't worry, put some diesel additive in and keep topping the tank up to further dilute things and ride it out.

If it's a temporary blip that I can ride through then fair enough but I'm concerned that I may do real and expensive damage to my car if I don't get it fixed properly. From what I can gather (again that dangerous google thing) it would harm a common rail system more which I don't think mine is.

Anyone any advice or experiences they can offer ?

cheers

[Crasher]

Personally I would have it drained dry, fit a new fuel filter and refill with fresh diesel.

[hugh jass]

Hi, first post on the forum and an embarrassing one at that.

I recently collected my new A3 1.9 TDI. Having always driven a petrol car before I made the stupid mistake of starting to fill up with petrol last night instead of diesel. I was just short of 6 litres when I realised having had approx 7 lires of diesel left in the tank as the fuel light had not long come on. I then proceeded to fill up the rest of the tank with diesel therefore giving me a tank with about 49 litres diesel and 6 litres petrol.

Being clueless with cars I drove home and then drove the 20 miles into work this morning and the car is fine so no problem I thought. I then did a google search (possibly not the wisest info source) to find all sorts of horror stories and panic has ensued. I've spoken to a couple of knowledgeable folk and have been offered advice from get the tank drained and fuel filter changed to don't worry, put some diesel additive in and keep topping the tank up to further dilute things and ride it out.

If it's a temporary blip that I can ride through then fair enough but I'm concerned that I may do real and expensive damage to my car if I don't get it fixed properly. From what I can gather (again that dangerous google thing) it would harm a common rail system more which I don't think mine is.

Anyone any advice or experiences they can offer ?

cheers

A nice big sticker on the fuel cover does the trick

[Trig1903]

Thanks for the replies folks.

I ended up speaking to four different mechanics, all of whom said they personally wouldn't worry given the small ratio and just to run the tank down to halfway and then fill right up again (with diesel, I'll makesure this time). One also mentioned to put some diiesel additive stuff in which I've done. I then went for a 150 mile drive to start emptying the tank a bit. Car ran completely fine. Will try to do similar mileage tomorrow to get down to half a tank for refueling.

However, a couple of times it's not started first timeand taken three or four go's to start. Both times it was parked on my drive which is on a reasonable slope. Back end of the car at the bottom of the slope. Anyone any idea why this could be ?

Now thinking I should have done the sensible thing this morning and got it taken to be seen to.

Cheers again.

[prolfe]

They shouldn't separate despite being two different types of fuel.

I did the same with my old diesel. not the one i have now.

I filled up with 6 litres of petrol then brimmed it with diesel. It was a bit lumpy and then over the following few weeks got better and better.

I can't remember if I used it all up before filling it up again or if I kept it topped up with diesel. I think it was the former.

You should expect it to be a bit rubbish until you can top it up again with diesel.

[dandam]

I've a 2.5 TDi A6, gave that 2 litres of unleaded once, then put 65 litres of diesel on top of it, car is still fine, then again I have heard that the 1.9 is far less accepting of this sort of thing.

Personally I would have had it drained, keep your fingers crossed.....

[Trig1903]

Phoned the garage yesterday re the difficulty in starting up. They said not to worry unless it kept doing it. Since I phoned it's been perfectly fine and started first time no problem.


That's me used half the tank now so going to fill up tonight. To be honest I haven't noticed the car performing any differently at all bar the couple of times it didn't start first time. Not to say that something won't arise through time I suppose.

Cheers