Scooby Snacks 23

Wife's Qashqai has had a safety recall and she's been given a Fabia for a couple of days whilst they sort it out.

She's just rung me in a panic to say that she's realised she's put £5 unleaded fuel into the Fabia which is in fact a diesel. She said she was never told it was a diesel and is it's so quiet, so didn't think. Our daughter was screaming in the back when she actually put the unleaded in and said she didn't look at the petrol cap, so admits to not paying any attention.

She said the fuel level was 2 bars (1/8 of a tank I guess) when she got the car, she put £5 unleaded in a mile or so away from the garage and she has driven 10 miles to our hours without noticing anything. I've told her not to drive it anymore but don't know what the implications are.

Without the obvious comments please (silly bint etc ), what damage could (or has) she done???

Snazy

Skoda's are one of the best cars to have refuelling mistakes corrected on apparently. Filter change and little more, as long as its not driven too much. The fact that its not showing signs of problems, it "sounds" ok.

Personally if you have AA or RAC, call them out, get them to take a look. Chances are, throw a load of diesel in there, change the filter and it will be ok.

Fingers crossed for you.

Scooby Snacks 23

Update - it's not a Fabia (as it was supposed to be) - it's a Suzuki Swift!!!

boxst

I didn't think it was that bad to put a small amount of petrol in with diesel as the engine is quite resiliant. Certainly it should now be diluted by topping up with diesel. I would call a dealer and ask them.

Just to clarify, I have no experience and do not necessarily know what I'm talking about (thinking about it, I should put that at the bottom of my emails).

Steve

Alan-G

I'm only guessing here - but if diesel is more dense than yer mussus - sorry, than petrol I meant, surely the unleaded will be floating above the diesel ?

If so, surely the deisels at the bottom of the tank where the feed is ?

Keep a fiver of deisel in it till it has to go back and let the next punter of the hire car descover the mistake.

Scooby Snacks 23

I too thought that unleaded in a diesel engine is not as bad as diesel in an unleaded engine but I didn't know if I was right. I'm sure there's a bit of merit in diluting it by putting some more diesel in.

Although any engine damage will probable (hopefully!) be covered by their insurance, there's £150 excess.

Scooby Snacks 23

[QUOTE=Alan-G;8068519]I'm only guessing here - but if diesel is more dense than yer mussus - sorry, than petrol I meant, surely the unleaded will be floating above the diesel ?

QUOTE]

Even though I'm panicking for my wife, that comment made me laugh

jonny_693

iTrader: (5)

You can put a percentage of petrol in diesel in anycase to stop the fuel freezing so £5 worth will be fine. If you want to be on the safe side dilute it with more diesel. Don't tell the garage a thing!

Alan-G

just as well a diesel nozzle filler wont fit in a petrol tank inlet

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Just brim the tank with diesel and it should be ok

Alan-G

In all fairness to yer missus mate - easy mistake to make specially if the quasqai is petrol.

Who the f*** thinks up some names for cars ?

I think with the barrage of positive responses here should put yer mind at rest though.

Tell the missus to fill it with deisel and you'll take her to dinner tonight

Scooby Snacks 23

Thanks to all who have responded - indeed, I am not panicking as much now as I was when she first told me!

I'm gonna get her to shove another £5 or £10 diesel in (and keep the receipt) and not to worry.

As for the dinner tonight (Alan-G), I think she owes me no!!

Cheers again

David Lock

If you are going to **** it up then put diesel in a petrol and NOT petrol in a diesel.

Diesel acts as a lubricant and modern diesels have high pressure pumps which require this lubrication. If the pump breaks you will probably stuff the engine - $$$.

But you haven't put much in so, if it was me, I'd top up with diesel, drive gently, and take a chance.

But it's not my car

dl

David Lock

No. Put as much diesel in as you can. dl

Leslie

Petrol and diesel will mix together as the fuel goes in the tank.

Remind me never to trust you as far as I can see you!

Les

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Definitely. It might run on the petrol/diesel mix but it won't be doing the pump much good because diesel lubricates the pump. One of my sister's ex partners put £5 or £10 of unleaded in her old diesel 306. I got him to brim it with diesel and it ran. We ran it as low as possible and I changed the filter and there was metal particles from the pump in the filter housing It never broke down after that though.

Coffin Dodger

Get real Les, it's a fricking dealers courtesy car, they get a lot more abuse than just a bit of unleaded being chucked in a diesel tank.

It will be fine, just dilute the petrol down as much as you can, but yes I can understand you may also not want to fill it as I'm sure it was supplied to you with bugger all fuel in it.

SteveScooby

iTrader: (2)

It's a courtesy car, who cares!!

worley

Did this in my old Bora, I topped the tank with diesel and no issues. Put 1/2 tank of diesel in it and hand it back. As mentioned, it's not your car and to be honest the dealer wouldn't be too concerned even if you told them.

And relax....


Nik

al4x1

if you tell them don't be surprised if you get a mega bill. You may well find refuelling with the incorrect fuel is excluded from their insurance so they could band you for a dealer repair and replacement of all sorts.

As said put some diesel in and just hand it back odds are it will be fine.

PP aren't the filters in 306's before the diesel pump, in which case its strange you found metal bits in it

Spoon

****!! Could putting petrol in have really made that much difference?

PaulC72

take it to a quiet country road and burn it?

Joking aside fill it up and accept the 40 odd loss when you return it it'll be cheaper than the drain / repair you could face and only use it to the garage

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

While we are at it can we confirm what you put respectively on Wasp and Bee sings as I get confused and also whether its ok to feed a cat dog food and vice versa.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

Absolutely no idea, there was quite a bit of metal in the filter housing though.

little-ginge

who is to say it wasn't the previous user who foofed up and put petrol in it.. I'd do as the guys say and put some more diesel in, get a receipt so you can show you'd did put fuel in and then deny all knowledge if it goes wrong

Luan Pra bang

Brim it with Diesel drive it and then fill it some more.
If they give that car to somebody else who has problems beccause of the mix up the garage could well accuse the wrong people of puting the wrong fuel in and cause a massive argument/ court case over your wifes mistake.

mart360

My seat, (Tdi) handbook actually advises putting upto 10% petrol in the tank, to aid winter driving


it all depends on what pump/ system it has, if i recall the bosch stuff is better than the lucas or the new PD stuff

scare storys about not unlocking the car, and thousands of pounds worth of

damage, are just that.


Mart

Devildog

Em, no, they are not just scary stories.

Unlocking the car primes the high pressure pumps in many new diesels.

And if you want to keep your warranty in a new BMW, starting up (let alone driving) with petrol means at least £4,500 of replacement fuel system.

SWRTWannabe

Diesel has to be compressed to combust, petrol doesn't. So, just chuck a lit match into the fuel tank and it will burn off the unleaded, leaving you with just the diesel. Remember not to put the cap on otherwise this might cause a build of pressure sufficient to ignite the diesel.

Hope this helps

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

Throw some diesel on a bonfire, it burns just fine with a strong enough flame.

Or maybe you alread know that, hence the ,