mate put petrol in a diesel... what now?

**lojik** · 21-01-2006, 01:40 AM

So my mate put petrol in his diesel hilux surf, and managed to drive around 10k's before it conked out and he realised. We are going to go syphon the tank and try to get it going again tomorrow. What do we need to do to minimise more damage etc.

I imagine the following would be a good start?
Syphon tank
Purge fuel lines (Disconnect fuel line at engine and short fuel pump to battery I assume?)
Change fuel filter
...?

I've read a bit online that suggests permanent damage is likely, what do you reckon the chances of getting away with no damage here is?

**Cressida91GLX** · 21-01-2006, 01:55 AM

Nahh Diesel are tough engines. Just flush the whole petrol out of fuel system and it should be alright. Otherwise your mate is gona learn a big lesson( chances are very little).

**fade-e** · 21-01-2006, 02:00 AM

did that to my dads van once... just syphoned the tank, put diesel and started it for a while till the unleaded was al wasted... started right after that no issues and no problems ever occured

**lojik** · 21-01-2006, 02:42 AM

cheers for the replies guys, hopefully it all goes well.

**mc68** · 21-01-2006, 03:17 AM

maybe running some injector clean through it after it gets going again?

who knows...but deisel injectors (the direct kind) ae different to the ulp kind, are they not?

**o_man_ra23** · 21-01-2006, 10:34 AM

they are different, but run on the same principals. Just do the purge, and now might be a good time to take the injectors in and exchange them. Deisel is actually corrosive and wears away at the injector seat, making them run rich and blow black smoke. getting a reseal and clean isnt going to cut it on a deisel that does this, so this is a perfect opportunity to do them while your at it.

Cheers, Owen

**RA23** · 21-01-2006, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by Cressida91GLX

Nahh Diesel are tough engines. Just flush the whole petrol out of fuel system and it should be alright. Otherwise your mate is gona learn a big lesson( chances are very little).

Yeah we did the same thing with a 3L diesel Nissan Cabstar from work. We only syphoned the tank and put 25L of diesel in. Then turned it over till it started. Lots of smoke (and I mean LOTS) for a few minutes and then she ran like before again. This is well over a year ago and no probs since...

**Unforgiven** · 21-01-2006, 04:01 PM

Yeh, if your that worried just grab some diesel injector cleaner from repco or supercheap or something.

**lojik** · 23-01-2006, 03:11 PM

I think he'll be right.
We didnt end up getting to the car ourselves but he had a diesel mechanic (friend of family type) look at it.

Apparently the fuel pump may be bung, but the car was due for a service. So will be cheap insurance to just get it done now.
Cheers