Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - JamesUK

Just got a 2.0 Touran around Christmas and it's had problems with the 'engine management system' and 'catalytic converter' ever since we got it. Practically it means the engine depowers and I drop to half speed if I'm lucky, sometimes I'm at 15 mph max with my foot to the floor trying to get the kids to school.

Our old garage (very experienced guy) said the only way round it was to always buy premium diesel. We've been doing that the last 3 months, but that's not fixed it.

Today it happened again and meant we couldn't go on holiday (first holiday for a long time and we can't get a refund - it's been a crap day), so we called around everywhere and I took it to another garage as an emergency. He said it might be the filter or ERG (I think) and it's incredibly common on the 1.9 and 2.0s, apparently he sees it all the time. He gave me some filter cleaner and told me to go down the motorway in 3rd gear at 70mph for half an hour to push the cleaner through. I did. It didn't depower, but the 'catalytic converter' light has stayed on all the time. He told me to also add 2 litres of petrol into the tank and do it every 3 months to clean the engine, but I haven't done that yet.

Am I being taken for a ride here? It seems ridiculous that VW have designed their cars to only take premium diesel and/or to need petrol in the diesel engine?

We paid a lot for this VW and it's the first we've had, I'm seriously considering selling it and never going VW again. It's been a nightmare, it's cost us our first holiday in ages, and no one seems to know how to sort it :-(

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - elekie&a/c doctor
No way do you put petrol in a diesel car . This can cause serious damage . I would suggest you find a VW specialist who understands how these work . Faulty egr valves are a common failure on these and can cause lack of power.
Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - Railroad.

Unfortunately on an eleven year old car some wear and tear is to be expected. Common problem areas on many modern diesel engines are clogged inlet manifolds causing a restriction in air flow, partially stuck open Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve causing excessive exhaust gasses into air intake on which the engine will not run very well or not at all, or a worn turbo or stuck turbo vane geometry.

The latter will cause an overboost condition which will trigger a fault code. This will cause the Engine Control Module to set a limp home mode which itself is not a fault. It's a protection against serious engine damage which will occur if the turbo boost is not controlled at source. If the turbo vanes are stuck you will find the problem will occur at around 3,000rpm at which point limp home will be set. Shutting the engine off and restarting will reset it, until you hit 3,000rpm again. So if that is your symptom then you can bet the turbo needs attention or replacement.

Then there's the Diesel Particulate Filter which on a car of this age will be well past its best. This could be heavily blocked and unable to clear properly with every regeneration. And that's assuming both you and its previous owners have driven it in the necessary way to keep it clear. Modern diesels are not suitable for local short trips. They need to be doing 'hot miles', that's mainly motorway and trunk route motoring. They're ideal for commercial use, but not for shopping and taking the children to school.

Many garages just don't have as good an understanding of modern cars as they should do. This is due to a lack of adequate training and investment, so it doesn't really come as much of a surprise that you're struggling to find someone to properly repair it. The truth is many simply don't know what the problem is.

I apologise for sounding critical but you probably should've gone for a petrol car rather than a diesel. Modern diesels give better fuel economy, and that's what attracts people to them. But they are also a LOT more problematic and inevitably much more expensive to maintain than a petrol engine car, so anything you save in using less fuel more than costs you in other ways.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - skidpan

I apologise for sounding critical but you probably should've gone for a petrol car rather than a diesel. Modern diesels give better fuel economy, and that's what attracts people to them.

Not the case with modern small petrol turbo's. The best diesel we have owned for mpg was a Ceed SW 1.6 CRDi 115 PS, Over 5 years it averaged 51 mpg and would do about 56 mpg on a holiday trip. Move onto the Superb 1.4 TSi 150 PS, over almost 4 years it averaged 45 mpg and on a holiday trip it would manage about 54 mpg.

But take into account the facts that the Superb was much bigger and did not have the advantage of the 40 mile round trip commute the Ceed did 3 days a week the overall figure would have been much closer.

Back in the 90's turbo diesels had a big advantage of their larger N/A petrol cousins but not these days.

No more diesels for us.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - annarose

Hii thanks so much for this reply we took it into a garage today who ran the diagnostics and said it's the egr valve. They said they could either replace it at a cost of £400 + labour or they could get a blanking plate to stop it feeding gases back through and get the ECU guys to tell the car that the egr valve wasn't there anymore. They said replacing the egr valve was expensive and it might only last for a few months anyway. Is the first option a viable solution? Thanks very much for your knowlege and help.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - elekie&a/c doctor
You need to get it fixed properly or don’t bother. A blanking plate is not going to do the job.
Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - Railroad.

Hii thanks so much for this reply we took it into a garage today who ran the diagnostics and said it's the egr valve. They said they could either replace it at a cost of £400 + labour or they could get a blanking plate to stop it feeding gases back through and get the ECU guys to tell the car that the egr valve wasn't there anymore. They said replacing the egr valve was expensive and it might only last for a few months anyway. Is the first option a viable solution? Thanks very much for your knowlege and help.

I'll bet that a new EGR valve will not solve your problem. The EGR valve is a valve. It opens and closes. That's all it does. It should be closed at idle and at full load. It opens during cruise conditions to allow an amount of exhaust gas back into the air intake which lowers combustion temperature and consequently NOx emissions. It does not serve any other purpose. If the valve moves freely between fully open and fully closed then there will be no point in replacing it. What's much more likely is a heavy build up of carbon deposits around the EGR valve and in the air intake manifold.

Blanking off the EGR will not solve anything either, and here's why. When the engine is running the ECM is monitoring air flow via the Air Mass Sensor. When the EGR valve is closed the only point of entry for the intake air is via the Air Mass Sensor. When the ECM commands the EGR valve to open, air, or rather exhaust gasses can enter from another point. This causes the Air Mass Sensor to see a lower volume of intake air. The ECM knows this because its built into its mapping software. If no reduction in air flow is detected the ECM will take corrective action by reducing engine power to ensure the correct NOx levels are suitably maintained.

I'm more inclined to think your garage is guessing rather than arrived at an accurate diagnosis. What they should be doing is road testing the car and monitoring what's happening in real time with diagnostic equipment, rather than simply relying on fault codes.

If you're going to pay £400 to have the EGR valve replaced you should seek assurance from the garage that you'll be expecting a full refund if the problem is not resolved.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - John F
No way do you put petrol in a diesel car . This can cause serious damage .

If neat, yes. Assuming a brimmed tank holds over 50 litres I wouldn't have thought a 4% petrol mix would hurt its injector apparatus. Don't they add petrol to diesel in the Arctic when it gets very cold? What is the mileage of this sick engine?

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - skidpan

No way do you put petrol in a diesel car . This can cause serious damage .

I seem to remember that in our 1996 Golf TDi the handbook gave you percentages of petrol to add to the diesel to prevent waxing of the fuel should winter diesel not be available.

But this was before common rail diesels and very high pressure pumps. Would not want to even try it with a modern diesel. It could be a very very expensive mistake.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - R.Turpin

The handbook of my dad's 1976 Peugeot 504 Diesel stated that you could add up to 1 third petrol or Kerosene in winter.

I know that's a long time ago, but draining the whole tank for 4% petrol is crazy. If you are really worried why not add a little engine oil.

My brother in law added 20 litres of petrol to his Diesel E class Mercedes, but then filled it with Diesel. never had a problem.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - R.Turpin

Also, you can drain a tank by disconnecting the fuel delivery hose under the bonnet. Turn the ignition on repeatedly and the fuel pump (which cuts out so ignition back on again) will drain the tank. No need to pay anyone £250 to drain a fuel tank.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - Andrew-T

Also, you can drain a tank by disconnecting the fuel delivery hose under the bonnet. Turn the ignition on repeatedly and the fuel pump (which cuts out so ignition back on again) will drain the tank. No need to pay anyone £250 to drain a fuel tank.

It might be advisable to catch the fuel somehow.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - RT

The handbook of my dad's 1976 Peugeot 504 Diesel stated that you could add up to 1 third petrol or Kerosene in winter.

I know that's a long time ago, but draining the whole tank for 4% petrol is crazy. If you are really worried why not add a little engine oil.

My brother in law added 20 litres of petrol to his Diesel E class Mercedes, but then filled it with Diesel. never had a problem.

Given the cost of a new High Pressure Fuel Pump on a common rail diesel using Ultra Low Sulphur Fuel, it's worth draining the tank for much less than 4% of petrol.

I you want to live in the past that's fine, but don't advise others to do so.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - Xileno

A 504 diesel would probably run on bunker fuel!

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - R.Turpin

Yes, well Rudolf did design the compression ignition engine for vegetable oil in the first place.

My mother aged 98 plus lived in Scotland and took local cabs everywhere. They bought vegetable oil from Tesco. Illegal of course, but nobody seemed to mind.

It's interesting though that nobody ever posts about the damage done to their engine after running AS A ONE OFF with a even 10 litres of petrol in a diesel.

Volkswagen Touran 2012 2.0 - Garage says put 2L petrol in my diesel engine? - madf

Yes, well Rudolf did design the compression ignition engine for vegetable oil in the first place.

My mother aged 98 plus lived in Scotland and took local cabs everywhere. They bought vegetable oil from Tesco. Illegal of course, but nobody seemed to mind.

It's interesting though that nobody ever posts about the damage done to their engine after running AS A ONE OFF with a even 10 litres of petrol in a diesel.

Perhaps no-one is so stupid as to do so.

And if they are and it costs them money, they are hardly likely to tell the world they are a plonker.