Numpty of the week contender - Petrol into diesel RR

Rob Dublin · Sep 17, 2012

Don't know what I was at... threw 20 quid in cos was in a rush, got 4 miles down the road and engine cut out. Had terrible thoughts about hot starting issues but then dawned on me what I had just done.

Luckily was 50 yards from a petrol station, threw a load of diesel in, got a can of Easy-start and after a lot of canking over, she spluttered to life.

For all it's reputation for unreliability, it only ever seems to break down when I've done something stupid to it. Wonder what I'll do next....

JohnnyCrash · Sep 17, 2012

Rob Dublin said:
Don't know what I was at... threw 20 quid in cos was in a rush, got 4 miles down the road and engine cut out. Had terrible thoughts about hot starting issues but then dawned on me what I had just done.

Luckily was 50 yards from a petrol station, threw a load of diesel in, got a can of Easy-start and after a lot of canking over, she spluttered to life.

For all it's reputation for unreliability, it only ever seems to break down when I've done something stupid to it. Wonder what I'll do next....

Ooooopps

Advice - throw in some 2 stroke oil as this will help prevent the diesel and petrol seperating out into seperate layers over night

and get set to change your fuel filter soon too as the petrol will help lift crap off the inside of the tank and will start to clog up your filter

StuckAgainSteve · Sep 17, 2012

JohnnyCrash said:
Ooooopps

Advice - throw in some 2 stroke oil as this will help prevent the diesel and petrol seperating out into seperate layers over night

and get set to change your fuel filter soon too as the petrol will help lift crap off the inside of the tank and will start to clog up your filter

Good tip, cheap mineral two stroke oil though - not the synth stuff. It'll also reduce damage to the high pressure fuel pump. Stick about 400ml in and top the tank with diesel.

Rob Dublin · Sep 17, 2012

Stirring up gunk from the bottom of the tank... oh joy. Almost exactly 24 hours before I head off to France with it.....!

Cheers for the 2-stroke oil tip.

JohnnyCrash · Sep 17, 2012

Rob Dublin said:
Stirring up gunk from the bottom of the tank... oh joy. Almost exactly 24 hours before I head off to France with it.....!

Cheers for the 2-stroke oil tip.

Pack a filter and spanner for bleeding the fuel line - it's a really simple job - I've done mine at the roadside on other cars with much less room to work on

Rob Dublin · Sep 17, 2012

Nice one, will have a go at it this afternoon to practice. Might bring more than a few spanners at this rate.

2.0_hippo · Sep 17, 2012

you might want to book a hire car for the journey

Rob Dublin · Sep 18, 2012

Might be as well getting the train....!

Few miles under the belt, few coughs and splutters and a bit tough on start up but hopefully no major harm done (repeatedly touching the wooden floor) Seems to have cleared up the amount of black smoke I produce on throttle, tho slightly down on power.

Datatek · Sep 18, 2012

Rob Dublin said:
Might be as well getting the train....!

Few miles under the belt, few coughs and splutters and a bit tough on start up but hopefully no major harm done (repeatedly touching the wooden floor) Seems to have cleared up the amount of black smoke I produce on throttle, tho slightly down on power.

Adding 5/10% petrol to diesel was a common trick in cold weather to stop waxing, so doubt you have done any real long term harm as you realised quickly and topped up with diesel

flookyk · Sep 18, 2012

Rob Dublin said:
Don't know what I was at... threw 20 quid in cos was in a rush, got 4 miles down the road and engine cut out. Had terrible thoughts about hot starting issues but then dawned on me what I had just done.

Luckily was 50 yards from a petrol station, threw a load of diesel in, got a can of Easy-start and after a lot of canking over, she spluttered to life.

For all it's reputation for unreliability, it only ever seems to break down when I've done something stupid to it. Wonder what I'll do next....

^^^^:hysterically_laughi:hysterically_laughiHa Ha ....

....... oh sorry I did not mean to laugh .....oh OK I did mean to but at least you did it the right way to cause the least problems ...... good job you did not put diesel into a petrol.

...... and before anyone says I was cruel for laughing, YES I have done it myself ...... around 3 years ago I put diesel into a Honda ST1100 PAn European motorcycle .... grabbed a pump and shoved 22 litres of the stuff in, got around a mile away before it stuttered to a stop.
Had to call the AA to drain the tank at the roadside then take me to the next petrol station to fill it with petrol .... then took around 3-4 mins of rough running before it picked up and I could get away again.

I got a bit of stick for that I can tell you but when it was mentioned to a couple of ex police riders who run the local Bikewise training one of them laughed and pointed at the other one and said he had done the same while in service on an extended tour with around 8 Police bikes, luckily he only filled one with diesel before realising.

Saint.V8 · Sep 18, 2012

Friend of ours - she filled an empty diesel tank to the brim with petrol and didn't realise...drove for about 3 miles until the engine detonated and detroyed itself, the fuel pumps etc....insurance company wrote the car off due to cost of repair, they did have wrong fuel cover but they changed their insurance company only 3 weeks previous and the new policy didn't have that coverage.....

He was furious as the car was only a few years old and the insurance payout didn't even cover the outstanding finance on it and are still paying for it....she was gutted and was not flavour of the month for a while!!

Problem was she knew her mistake yet tried to drive it home to get him to sort it out only for her to destroy the car - golden rule, anymore than 10% capacity of the wrong fuel - stop and drain it.....

lorri789 · Sep 18, 2012

Breakdown cover often has wrong fuel, but sometimes it's an extra. According to the AA's site, the wrong fuel is one of the most common call-outs.

Rob Dublin · Sep 30, 2012

All's well that ends well, 1400 miles to France and back. Cheers for all the support ( ...and otherwise

)

Indicated 30mpg, at least till I knew I was late for the boat and had to go ton up! Kept a record so will work it all out when I've sobered up from all the cheap rouge I brought back....

Don't know what all this unreliability talk is all about, it was absolutely faultless all the way. From the horrendous rush hour traffic in Nantes in 33deg to the abuse during blast back to the boat. Not to mention the immaculately comfortable 60mph cruising when not in panic mode.

rodntod · Sep 30, 2012

Rob Dublin said:
All's well that ends well, 1400 miles to France and back. Cheers for all the support (and otherwise )

Well done sir!!! That IS a journey. Good ole RR

defenderdavie · Sep 30, 2012

Rob Dublin said:
Don't know what I was at... threw 20 quid in cos was in a rush, got 4 miles down the road and engine cut out. Had terrible thoughts about hot starting issues but then dawned on me what I had just done.

Luckily was 50 yards from a petrol station, threw a load of diesel in, got a can of Easy-start and after a lot of canking over, she spluttered to life.

For all it's reputation for unreliability, it only ever seems to break down when I've done something stupid to it. Wonder what I'll do next....

it all started when yer made the idiotic decision to buy a doozil rangie

i have doozil injuns in most of my landies but when i recently aquired a rrc that had been chopped up for an off road toy i made sure it was a v8

if i can ever afford a rangie for the road it will be a v8

you put right fuel in you just have wrong engine

Robbo5833 · Sep 30, 2012

You don't even come close to being numpty of the week...I went out on a break down to a guy who'd run out of both LPG and petrol...he was not even a mile past a garage that sold both! That's a proper numpty!

chort · Sep 30, 2012

Two guys at work had driven 50 km on petrol with a Renault Kangoo dCi diesel. Only then a MIL light came on and they stopped. The engine seems fine, as does the fuel pump, but that's a common rail diesel... Anyway, diesel can run on almost anything.

defenderdavie · Sep 30, 2012

chort said:
Two guys at work had driven 50 km on petrol with a Renault Kangoo dCi diesel. Only then a MIL light came on and they stopped. The engine seems fine, as does the fuel pump, but that's a common rail diesel... Anyway, diesel can run on almost anything.

to true mine has run on 70% burst engine oil and 30 deilsel before i bought it and veg oil engine oil deilsel mix before that

LSE3.9 · Oct 1, 2012

flookyk said:
...... good job you did not put diesel into a petrol.

I guess it can't be good but what are the ramifications of doing this?

aerofabrique · Oct 1, 2012

LSE3.9 said:
I guess it can't be good but what are the ramifications of doing this?

You really have a well lubricated petrol engine! If you get it started... If you're going to do it Its better to do this way round than the other.

Petrol into a diesel, if started will knacker all the delicate internals of pumps injectors etc due to lack of lubrication they rely on from diesel fuel.

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