Petrol In Diesel Engine Opinion needed

[Steven715]

Hello there all, I am in need of some help.
My dads girl friend has put petrol in his TDI Passat fortunatley she put in about 5 Litters (£7 worth at 135.9p per litter) they was out driving and the car conked out on them (engine just died) My dad went over there got the car started and drove it home about 3-4 miles. It died on him a couple of times.
This morning I went there with VCDS no fault codes have been logged.

I did start the car it ran with a bit of smoke and seem to idel ok.
I want to know will it be ok if we cleand out/renewed the fuel filter and filled up the tank with Primiam Diesel the gauge shows just above the red section.
The car in questian is a 2004 Passat 1.9 TDI AWX engine with 89k miles on.

Any idears welcome.

He is prepared to empty the tank if we have to.
Also is the damage already been done with them driving it on a mix of petrol/diesel.

Thanks and sorry for the long post.

Regards Steve.

[yaman]

Its all about the % of petrol in the diesel, opinions differ but from what
you say it seems there is around 50% mixture (a gallon of each?),
which is dangerously high. If that is true then don't start it till you
drain the tank and drain and replace the filter, then half-fill the tank.

Regards
Jim

[snapdragon]

Just fill the tank with jerry can to about 1/4 and then drive gently to the petrol station and fill right up.

It is also a good idea to add two stroke oil to the fuel. Only a small amount. Maybe 1/4 of a bottle to a whole tank.

[Steven715]

Thank you snapdragon I was thinking of some kind of oil to put with it. Do you think that this will have any effect to the injector pump at all?

[Steven715]

Thanks for the reply Jim Hmm Like you say its a very high mixture even with approximatley 50 Litters of diesel do you think that he will get away with this or would you drain the tank any way.
I think that may be the way to go. I think I will start searching how to remove the fuel tank.
Thanks again. Steve

[yaman]

Since there's not much in it, can you not drain it by taking
the feed off the filter (into a large coke bottle) and switch the
ignition on?

Regards
Jim

Edit; oops, no lift-pump in a PD sorry. You might get away with
just filling it. The choice is yours.

[davemidd]

Hi Steve. Did the same one day,I had put 6 litres petrol into my Polo tdi.
I just filled the tank up with diesel and drove away. Spoke to a mechanic at the garage and he said that as long as the car is topped up asap (pref diluting it with a jerry can first in your case) to get you back to the pump then you should be ok. He reckoned that no more than 20% of the tank could have petrol in it as long as it was topped up before it
Although it was in a different car i'd assume the principle is the same.

[Steven715]

Since there's not much in it, can you not drain it by taking
the feed off the filter (into a large coke bottle) and switch the
ignition on?

Regards
Jim

Thats a good idea did not think of that. Should be able to get a 25 Litter drum from somewhere and put it in that and see if the recycling centre can take it in. or even a petrol station.
Thanks again.
Steve.

[Steven715]

Hi Steve. Did the same one day,I had put 6 litres petrol into my Polo tdi.
I just filled the tank up with diesel and drove away. Spoke to a mechanic at the garage and he said that as long as the car is topped up asap (pref diluting it with a jerry can first in your case) to get you back to the pump then you should be ok. He reckoned that no more than 20% of the tank could have petrol in it as long as it was topped up before it
Although it was in a different car i'd assume the principle is the same.

Thank you for your reply this is so far has been very 50/50 I am not sure what way to go yet but i have not got to make that desision thankfully.
I personley would just fill it right up and drive it arround carfully. But my dad was talking about emptying the tank. I think that he will drain it as that is what he wanted to do in the first place and since its so easy to do as Jim sergested and since there is not much fuel in there.

Thank you for your reply Steve

[yaman]

Thank you for your reply this is so far has been very 50/50 I am not sure what way to go yet but i have not got to make that desision thankfully.
I personley would just fill it right up and drive it arround carfully. But my dad was talking about emptying the tank. I think that he will drain it as that is what he wanted to do in the first place and since its so easy to do as Jim sergested and since there is not much fuel in there.

Thank you for your reply Steve

RE-READ POST 6!!

Regards
JIm