smart51
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 01:14 PM |
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Help - Petrol in a Diesel
I've just taken the wife's car to fill it up and accidentally put 25 litres of petrol in it. Doh. I didn't start it and green flag
have just taken me and the car home. The driver remembered me from when the big end shells on the vortx went and he took me home (which was over 2
years ago) so he showed me how to do it, removing the pump from the tank below the passengers seat. It is a Citroen C3 1.4 HDi by the way.
I have a couple of questions before I start, first can you give me any hints or tips. Second, what can I do with about 32 litres of fuel which is 80%
petrol and 20% diesel? If its any use to you, you can have it for free.
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Bigheppy
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 01:20 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by smart51
Second, what can I do with about 32 litres of fuel which is 80% petrol and 20% diesel? If its any use to you, you can have it for free.
I have some given to me by a mechanic neigbour. Its ideal for removing the oily mess found on engines and running gear. Best of all it was free 
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r1_pete
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 01:24 PM |
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Beaten to it, parts washing would seem a good use....
I put quarter of a tank of petrol in my old company peugeot HDI, a couple of years back, I just thrashed it till the tank was nearly empty and
re-filled with diesel, don't know if I did any lasting damage, but it seemed ok afterwards and never let me down in the next 30,000 miles. So
you probably don't need to completely drain the pipes and pump etc.
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gregs
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 01:31 PM |
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as said, don't worry about the lines etc, but do change the fuel filter - get a bottle of millers diesel power plus, get as much as you can into
the filter, and put the rest of the bottle in the tank. This stuff lubricates the pump so minimizes the risk of damage. Available from Halfords.
Fill the tank to the brim with clean diesel as soon as you can.
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smart51
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 01:50 PM |
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This is going to be harder than I thought
The pump is held on by a huge plastic screw on ring which just won't budge. I've tried WD40 and tapping a screwdriver with a hammer
against one of the plastic ribs on the ring, which has broken off.
How can I loosen this screw on ring?
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ReMan
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 02:06 PM |
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If possible I would have pulled the fuel pipe under the bonnet and let it pump tv fuel out and into a pipe and can(s) as said either use it for
cleaning or put it through with a further dilute
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prawnabie
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 02:06 PM |
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Colin
I do this all the time at work (drain them not put the wrong stuff in!, take the fuel feed to the filter off, connect some rubber hose to it and use a
12v pump to pump the tank out.
When empty pump a few litres of diesel through and reconnect.
Change fuel filter after about 50 miles
DO NOT run the car until you have done this. HDI pumps run on very close tolerances and rely on the diesel for lubrication.
I wounldn't rmove that ring on the tank either. if you must, then jack the plastic tank up from underneath to minimise the chance of it
warping!
[Edited on 5/7/09 by prawnabie]
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ReMan
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 02:06 PM |
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If possible I would have pulled the fuel pipe under the bonnet and let it pump tv fuel out and into a pipe and can(s) as said either use it for
cleaning or put it through with a further dilute
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BenB
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 02:11 PM |
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A friend of mine filled his almost-completely-empty diesel van up with petrol and drove 200 miles. The only problem happened when it wouldn't
start after he switched it off later on (ie it would run on the unleaded but not start on it). Got the tank drained, filled it up with diesel and bobs
ya uncle....
I know unleaded can knacker pump seals etc but it certainly didn't in his case.
I'd be tempted to disconnect one of the hoses are the fuel pump and let it pump all the unleaded out into a jerry-can. A small amount left in
the tank won't be a major problem if you brim it with fresh DERV.
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clairetoo
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 02:12 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by smart51
The pump is held on by a huge plastic screw on ring which just won't budge. I've tried WD40 and tapping a screwdriver with a hammer
against one of the plastic ribs on the ring, which has broken off.
How can I loosen this screw on ring?
What I do at work to remove these things is do a quick sketch , have the CNC router guy turn that into a program , and bingo - I then have a `spanner`
that fits , made from 12mm ply .
If you have a jigsaw and a bit of patience .......
Its cuz I is blond , innit
Claire xx
Will weld for food......
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SteveWalker
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 02:32 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by BenB
A friend of mine filled his almost-completely-empty diesel van up with petrol and drove 200 miles. The only problem happened when it wouldn't
start after he switched it off later on (ie it would run on the unleaded but not start on it). Got the tank drained, filled it up with diesel and bobs
ya uncle....
How old was the van? From what I've read, older diesels are very tolerant, but modern diesels aren't - hence why many modern diesels ruin
the injector pump fairly quickly if run on high percentages of straight vegetable oil.
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smart51
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 03:16 PM |
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I can't get the pump on the car to run, despite priming it using the rubber bulb. I suspect it will only run if the engine is running, which I
don't want to do. The pipe out of the tank is on the top, so I can only pump it out and I don't have a pump. I've even tried to
syphon it but the flow stops after barely a second. What else can I try?
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Humbug
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 03:17 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by prawnabie
Colin
I do this all the time at work (drain them not put the wrong stuff in!, take the fuel feed to the filter off, connect some rubber hose to it and use a
12v pump to pump the tank out.
When empty pump a few litres of diesel through and reconnect.
Change fuel filter after about 50 miles
DO NOT run the car until you have done this. HDI pumps run on very close tolerances and rely on the diesel for lubrication.
I wounldn't rmove that ring on the tank either. if you must, then jack the plastic tank up from underneath to minimise the chance of it
warping!
[Edited on 5/7/09 by prawnabie]
How do you change the fuel filter after 50 miles but not run the car until after you've done this? Tow it for 50 miles? 
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prawnabie
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 03:32 PM |
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How do you change the fuel filter after 50 miles but not run the car until after you've done this? Tow it for 50 miles?
Use common sense?
[Edited on 5/7/09 by prawnabie]
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hillbillyracer
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 03:51 PM |
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We got an 03 reg Astra diesel with the Isuzu engine in at work, it would start cold but not hot & did'nt run just as sweet & down on
power. It had petrol in, they owner has their own white diesel tank but it was needing a refill so they filled up in town. They said the black nozzle
on the pump had an out of order tag so they used the green one!
The concentration of petrol to diesel must have been pretty high because it stunk of petrol but it had done 50-60 miles like that! It was drained
& refilled, seems to be fine about 3 months down the line.
A mate who does a lot more with modern motors reckons most cars would have been seriously damaged by it but it seems fine, an older diesel just
would'nt have run on it but I'm thinking the modern ECU controlled engine compensated for it.
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froggy
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 04:14 PM |
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first disconnect the feed to the starter solenoid then hold the key in the start position and see if the pump will run continously ,if not then you
will need another pair of hands with a big flat blade screwy and a hammer so both of you tap the ring from opposite sides at the same time .
[IMG]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r187/froggy_0[IMG]
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 04:19 PM |
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Can you disconnect the multiplug form the top of the tank and test to see which wire is the live feed for the pump and also the earth connection?
Should then be a simple matter of disconnecting the fuel pipe from the filter then using a hose into a can, connect a live feed and earth to the
connections on top of the tank and pump the fuel out. . Releasing the ring on the top of the tank may well cause problems .
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BenB
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 05:07 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by SteveWalker
quote:
Originally posted by BenB
A friend of mine filled his almost-completely-empty diesel van up with petrol and drove 200 miles. The only problem happened when it wouldn't
start after he switched it off later on (ie it would run on the unleaded but not start on it). Got the tank drained, filled it up with diesel and bobs
ya uncle....
How old was the van? From what I've read, older diesels are very tolerant, but modern diesels aren't - hence why many modern diesels ruin
the injector pump fairly quickly if run on high percentages of straight vegetable oil.
3 years old! I couldn't believe he got away with it!
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BenB
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| posted on 5/7/09 at 05:09 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by rusty nuts
Can you disconnect the multiplug form the top of the tank and test to see which wire is the live feed for the pump and also the earth connection?
Should then be a simple matter of disconnecting the fuel pipe from the filter then using a hose into a can, connect a live feed and earth to the
connections on top of the tank and pump the fuel out. . Releasing the ring on the top of the tank may well cause problems .
Someone must have a haynes manual for the car which will show which wires are the +ve and -ve for the pump... Find that out and job done...
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smart51
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| posted on 6/7/09 at 04:55 PM |
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How much?
Gave up and had the car taken to the main dealer. 3 hours labour they reckon. £262 all in. How long? They drained and flushed the whole system
including the filter and pump. 3 Hours!? Plus £51 of diesel.
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Vindi_andy
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| posted on 7/7/09 at 08:44 AM |
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£262 sounds about right for a main stealer.
That about what I got charged when I did it to my diesel Cmax one morning. Fortunately I had only put £5 of unleaded in but I was just going to brim
it with diesel and drive it. The guy in the forecourt told me not to run it. so i got the AA to get me to the ford dealer who was 100 yards down the
road
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Benzine
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| posted on 7/7/09 at 10:10 AM |
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sell the contaminated fuel to someone with a big old truck that'll run on it like a Zil 131. DO WANT
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02GF74
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| posted on 7/7/09 at 08:46 PM |
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you are not alone
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