Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Rcs on February 28, 2010, 07:53:40 am

Title: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Rcs on February 28, 2010, 07:53:40 am
out early this morning filled up mrs car done my van straight after still half asleep and put 15 quids worth of un leaded in tank before i  realized
whats best thing to do
can i fill the tank right up with diesal and eventually the petrol will burn off or does it need to be drained
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: MNWC on February 28, 2010, 07:57:10 am
Dont touch it

If your in the aa call them

If not drain your tank from underneath
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: russ_clark on February 28, 2010, 08:11:01 am
I have done that with a diesel £10 worth of petrol then filled to brim with diesel
and got away with it  ::)
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Rcs on February 28, 2010, 08:40:10 am
just tried britannia
thet exclude sticking in the wrong fuel so charge to drain
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Londoner on February 28, 2010, 08:51:54 am
The AA charged me (I think) £186 to drain it, and I had to wait about four hours for them to come. If it hadn't been a tankfull I would have tried to dilute it. I did that once with my taxi and got away with it. In fact they put petrol into the tanks of deisel taxis prior to them going for their emissions test and them blat them up the motorway to blow out the cobwebs. Its called a Cockney Tune Up.
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: jonnyald on February 28, 2010, 08:58:59 am
The AA charged me (I think) £186 to drain it, and I had to wait about four hours for them to come. If it hadn't been a tankfull I would have tried to dilute it. I did that once with my taxi and got away with it. In fact they put petrol into the tanks of deisel taxis prior to them going for their emissions test and them blat them up the motorway to blow out the cobwebs. Its called a Cockney Tune Up.

 love it !  ;D
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: DAVID WARD on February 28, 2010, 09:00:34 am
Hi
did this once and also used aa

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuels-and-environment/misfuelling.html

and i was not a member of the aa

great service but costs
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: daz1977 on February 28, 2010, 09:02:51 am
fill it up with diesel and keep toped up for 2 weeks, put red ex in it as well,  i have done this my self,  it migth run crap but shoudl be ok, the problem is when you put diesel in  a unleaded
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Jack Wallace on February 28, 2010, 09:15:58 am
At todays prices 15 quids worth of fuel is only about a cup full.  >:(
if it was me I would risk filling up to dilute and then keep it topped up for a few days to keep it diluting.
I did this once a few years ago, picked up a brand new van to have for the weekend on test, put £60 of unleaded in before I realized, the dealer had to come and get it but fortunatly they never charged me for the drain. I felt a right chump!!!!
I went to a different dealer after that  ;D
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: chopsie on February 28, 2010, 09:18:46 am
I am no expert,but diesels run on vegtable oil and all sorts of crap,so if you dilute it down with a full tank of diesel,am sure it won't hurt,after all,you do not get a lot of petrol for £15 any more at prices up to £1.15-20 a litre  :(
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: landy2 on February 28, 2010, 09:19:50 am
just fill it up with diecel you will be ok   but if you filled a petrol engine with diecel you would of ruined it
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: jarvy on February 28, 2010, 09:31:13 am
You should be able to get away with a 10% mix of wrong fuel,like said before just fill with as much diesel as you can,should be ok.
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: scud on February 28, 2010, 09:32:41 am
just fill it up with diecel you will be ok   but if you filled a petrol engine with diecel you would of ruined it

  I think you will find that it is the other way round.

  deisel engines use the fuel as a lubricant for the fuel pumps, petrol will strip moving parts in the pumps of thier lubricant and thus cause damage.

  If you have less than a quater tank of fuel, brim it with deisel and keep it toppe up for the next couple of weeks, any more than that DO NOT run it, get it drained.
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: prestigeclean on February 28, 2010, 10:42:47 am
i did this a month ago , put £40 of unleaded in diesel van , once i realised what i did i put £20 of diesel on top and drove 10 miles to a pals garage who drained the lot for me and then put 5 gallons of diesel back in and i,ve had no problems since , drain it for sure , if it ruins your injectors that will be very expensive regards alan
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Londoner on February 28, 2010, 10:48:41 am
I am no expert,but diesels run on vegtable oil and all sorts of crap,so if you dilute it down with a full tank of diesel,am sure it won't hurt,after all,you do not get a lot of petrol for £15 any more at prices up to £1.15-20 a litre  :(

It depends on what engine you have. The old engines will run on anything but the latest generation of engines designed to run with the aid of an engine management computer its probably not worth the risk. 
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on February 28, 2010, 10:55:46 am
if its only £15 quids worth thats about 12/13 litres just fill to the brem with diesel and it will be fine never done it before but a mate of mine has done it twice
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: trevor povey on February 28, 2010, 11:33:55 am
a local garage may drain it out for 70/80 quid if its a cheap motor go for it ,otherwise use the AA and have it done right.. I filled up with unleaded inststed of dieslel just b4 xmas it cost me £190.

WHY DON,T THEY HAVE DIFFERENT SHAPED NOSSELS FOR DIESEL AND UNLEADED SO THIS THING DOESN,T HAPPEN?
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: SB Cleaning on February 28, 2010, 11:46:27 am
Fill the tank up with diesel and you will be fine, i have done it several times mate, the van may smoke for a while but it will be fine the petrol will clean the injectors :)
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Mr T on February 28, 2010, 05:10:32 pm
How olds the van.
I did it with my van . I filled it up with deisel but it kept cutting out. My van had a manual pump on the engine so when it cut out I just pumped the fuel manually back into the engine and it was fine
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Ryan @ Transparent, Carlisle on February 28, 2010, 06:01:12 pm
where you lads going for garages to chage that sort of money for draining out? :o

I once got caught running on red diesel, and customs told me to get the tank drained. A garage quoted me 40 quid. a thought that was steeep  ;D so i removed the sender unit & drained it myself  ;)
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Dougaldum on February 28, 2010, 06:27:19 pm
Happened to me once. Syphon the petrol out then fill the tank with diesel. Whatever you do don't start the engine with petrol in it! because then there will be no petrol in the pipeline so you won't have any hefty bills from the garage.
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: tompoole on February 28, 2010, 06:31:54 pm
depends what van it is, its true a small amount of petrol will clean out the injectors, butit can also rot the seals in the fuel pump so if you chose to top it of with diesel i would use it up promptly so petrol doesnt have a chance to rott seals in fuel injection pump, best realy to drain and go for long run
tom
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: krave on March 01, 2010, 12:52:09 pm
a local garage may drain it out for 70/80 quid if its a cheap motor go for it ,otherwise use the AA and have it done right.. I filled up with unleaded inststed of dieslel just b4 xmas it cost me £190.

WHY DON,T THEY HAVE DIFFERENT SHAPED NOSSELS FOR DIESEL AND UNLEADED SO THIS THING DOESN,T HAPPEN?

Im pretty sure they do, Diesel nozzle wont fit in petrol.

Maybe this is because you can get away with petrol in a diesel more? Maybe a hidden clue?

Hope you get it sorted. I personally would syphon some out myself then top up with diesel.
Even if you only syphon out 5-7 ltrs thats a majority.
Title: Re: filled up van with wrong fuel
Post by: Bobs Window Cleaning on March 01, 2010, 05:00:17 pm
This happened to me only last week. I put £12ish petrol in my Audi Diesel. I was told to fill her up  with deisel and might get away with it.

A couple of days later I went to pick up the kids from school amd after returning to the car, she wouldnt start so I left her there overnight and the next day it started albet a lot of splutterin.

Its now been one week and the car has not had any other problems other than spluttering first thing in the morning. I will keep topping it up with deisel and hope I aint buggered the deisel pump :-\

Bob