A neighbour of mine recently purchased a Picasso diesel. After signing for the vehicle,the salesman drove him to the local Tesco, one and a half miles away, and put £40 worth of fuel in to it.On the way back 1 mile from Tesco the engine stopped and was started and driven 1/2 mile to showroom, where he was told that the salesman had put petrol into the tank.After waiting 4 hours he was told everything was O.K. now and he took the car home.He has had no trouble since,but wonders if any long term damage has been done
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Is this a new car?
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Sorry,it is 3 years old, with 86,000 miles
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I would get a written warranty or guarantee from the dealer, along the lines of "we put petrol in by mistake, we will rectify free of charge any fuel system problems for the next xxx miles"
Being an HDI the fuel system may have been damaged on running on whats sounds like almost pure petrol. (40 quids worth is a lot)
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Over the years I have done this four times, twice in a 1.9td Xantia and twice in my wife's 300td Merc. estate. The Xantia ran on for many miles, and had an unrelated engine fault at 158,000, about 100,000 miles after the last mistake. It is still running on a different engine. The td may not be the same as a hdi in this respect of course. The merc shows no ill effects at 70,000+. I suppose that in theory the bores might be washed with petrol and suffer some wear, but they don't run far after the petrol gets through! It takes less than two miles, in the last case I didn't even get out of the petrol station! I wouldn't worry, but still get some sort of warranty from the dealer if you can, for peace of mind.
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I think the biggest worry with these things is damage to the high pressure diesel pump. The petrol takes away vital lubrication. I'm told that replacement of the pump along with cleaning and repair of associated parts can cost thousands!
Even although the pump may be working OK at the moment, being starved of lubrication might have worn vital parts badly - to the extent that they will soon give up the ghost.
A written assurance from the dealer would be a good move - make them aware you know of the possible conseqences.
Graeme
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Over the years I have done this four times, twice in a 1.9td Xantia and twice in my wife's 300td Merc. estate. The Xantia ran on for many miles, and had an unrelated engine fault at 158,000, about 100,000 miles after the last mistake. It is still running on a different engine. The td may not be the same as a hdi in this respect of course. The merc shows no ill effects at 70,000+. I suppose that in theory the bores might be washed with petrol and suffer some wear, but they don't run far after the petrol gets through! It takes less than two miles, in the last case I didn't even get out of the petrol station! I wouldn't worry, but still get some sort of warranty from the dealer if you can, for peace of mind.
Not really relevant experience. The car in question has an HDI fuel system.
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In the older technology diesels you could get away with this. Not with modern high pressure diesels. Can lead to big bills.
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Thank you all for your responses,I have relayed these to my neighbour and he will see what the dealer has to say.
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I find this difficult to believe ,once the petrol has got through the system and the engine stops it will never restart and run. As you state it was filled with £40's worth of fuel it must have been running on the diesel fumes and when it stopped it must have had pure petrol in the tank .You can put upto 25% petrol to diesel mix and it will be ok on a one off basis but not the other way round.it will give the injectors a good clean NOT to be recommended though
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