My daughter put petrol in her Audi A3 TDI - should the fuel tank be flushed?

My daughter, having recently exchanged her car for an Audi A3 2.0 TDI, made the mistake of filling the car with petrol. The car was taken as instructed by her insurers/breakdown company to a non-Audi garage. They have changed the filter but up until now not flushed out the fuel tank. Surely this must be a requirement? Thoughts please.

Asked on 26 October 2013 by JR, Newquay

Answered by Honest John
You can usually get away with up to 10 litres of petrol in a 60 litre tank. Fill up with high lubricity diesel (Shell V-Power Nitro Plus), and keep filling up. Never let the tank get more than half empty for around 2000 miles. At first, the petrol will float on top of the diesel and won't get sucked into the low level fuel pick up. Then, very gradually, it will disperse into the diesel fuel. But if you put more than 10 litres in you need to have the tank drained. If any of the petrol has got through to the high-pressure injection pump you will be in serious trouble. You can’t fill a current Ford, BMW or Citroen diesel with petrol because the filler orifice will not allow you to.
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