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Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by Ken Hudson on March 29, 2009, 8:39 am
Message modified by board administrator March 30, 2009, 8:15 am

hi
if someone phones in and tells you that their 2007 landrover defender 2.4 diesel was running on fumes and in their eagerness to fill the fuel tank, they put 9 litres of petrol in the tank before realising the mistake.
what should the advice be ?
an added caveat was although they did not mind paying for a tow in, the inconvenience of losing the vehicle would have been huge
also the vehicle would not be doing motorway speeds or extended journeys.
regards
ken hudson

Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by Ed Kaps on March 30, 2009, 5:59 pm, in reply to "Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #"
Edward Kaps

Don't even put the ignition on as the pre supply pump will pump through. Recover vehicle,drain tank, flush lines through with diesel,fill with diesel, No shortcuts-no compromise.
Ed Kaps

Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by Tony Sefton on March 30, 2009, 7:05 pm, in reply to "Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #"
Tony Sefton

>>>>>the inconvenience of losing the vehicle would have been huge<<<<<

Thats why it has to be done correctly as otherwise it will be off the road a hell of a lot longer after its done some damage.

If thats their position and the problem is that huge, They should have a backup plan, Either a spare vehicle or a hire vehicle to drop back on. ( Don't let them put the "HUGE" Responsibilty on to you, it aint your problem )

The Advice should not be to fill it up the rest of the way with diesel and hope it dilutes it enough to run ok. ( cos it won't ).

Tony.

Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by MARK DUHIGG on March 31, 2009, 6:26 am, in reply to "Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #"
Mark Duhigg

>>>>>the inconvenience of losing the vehicle would have been huge<<<<<
If you cant do it straight away someone else will!!! People are not loyal ,they have the only vehicle in the world!!!!

Mark

Re: Good or bad advice - Petrol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by pete greenow on March 31, 2009, 2:21 pm, in reply to "Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #"
Peter Greenow

Hi Ken

My advice would be the same as that given by Ed & Tony, Our normal proceedure is to remove all fuel from car, then put 5-10litres diesel in & purge system ( if possible at fuel return to tank ) then fill with another 10 litres , change fuel filter & put 1 can of forte in . Run for 10 mins & then fill up with diesel .

However this last sunday had a call from local farmer whose daughter had put 14 litres petrol in Golf PD on friday , then realised her mistake & filled up with 38 litres of diesel and drove from london to hereford & then topped up again & all seemed to be good. I warned him of possible impending disaster & he seemed to be ok to take the risk !

When cleaned out as above we have not had a problem even when the cars have been driven - but have heard of many horror stories - so it pays to err on the side of caution I feel.

Regards Pete

Re: Good or bad advice - Petrol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by Shaun Dale on April 2, 2009, 10:00 am, in reply to "Re: Good or bad advice - Petrol in Diesel vehicle #"
Shaun Dale

I seem to remember that VW put in the owners manual that in severe weather conditions it was permissible to put up to 20% petrol in the fuel for their TDi engines, but then they weren't common rail!
I am sure that you could probably "get away with" 10%, but I would never advise a customer that because I would hate to be found wrong and have them come after me with the bill.
Shaun

Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by Phil Dunmore on April 2, 2009, 8:04 pm, in reply to "Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #"
Philip Dunmore

Think the key phrase is "At your own risk".
Have personally seen many common rails run for some time on petrol with no damage, but the vehicle in question isn't common rail is it?
To take the greatest caution would require following manufacture's guidelines, some recommend engine replacement. This actually happens in dealer fantasy land, usually paid under an insurance claim.....

Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by Tom Yates on April 2, 2009, 9:32 pm, in reply to "Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #"

The Pump Duse injectors and all the later type pizo injectors can be destroyed with the smallest amount of any contaminant in the fuel including petrol, these later types of injectors work with a clearance of just 6 microns, the fuel filters (OE) have a 2 micron pass through,
they rely totally on the clean uncontaminated diesel to lubricate them, considering the switching speed of these units, even one milliliter of petrol or one grain of sand will do the same job,

So as Ed says "dont even turn the ignition on"

Tom

Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #

Posted by Steve Norman on April 3, 2009, 10:09 am, in reply to "Re: Good or bad advice - Pertol in Diesel vehicle #"
Steve Norman - Administrator

The Defender in question is a common rail.
If you see the amount of rusty water that's sucked in the tank breather system, on these, I am suprised they run at all

regards
Steve

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