deisel engines

[desmoore1]

I have just filled up with unleaded instead of Deisel - what should I do?

[Mrs_Pegasus]

Dont drive the car!!!!

You will need the whole system drained which will have to be done by a mechanic or cerainly someone who knows what they are doing.  I would definitely wait until Monday when you can contact a garage and ask.

[marcus5771]

I would not get anyone to let it flush it in the drain. Water and fuel dont mix. It could cost up to �100 to flush out from the AA. Its not uncommon thousands of drivers do the mistake every year.

[Clanad]

Both of the answers are exactly correct... don't even think about starting the car... But I was wondering... I see this question listed quite often here and don't know how this occurs.  Here in the U.S. the filler nozzle from the pumps are a different size and the gas (petrol?) nozzle won't fit into the diesel equipped car.  Additionally, the supply hose to the diesel nozzle is required to be colored vivid green as opposed to black for the gasoline nozzle... Perhaps this isn't the case in England?

[depressedmgl]

my wife did it last week, all 60 litres of the stuff.  The car stopped working after a few miles.  Had our garage drain it, they charged us �60.  Car works fine with no lasting damage.   Be aware, some garages charge by the litre for disposal of the tainted petrol.

Fuel nozzles/filler holes here are the same as in the US, unleaded ones are smaller so you can't put diesel into them, of course it doesn't work the other way round.

[Mrs_Pegasus]

We have 2 cars, one running on diesel and the other petrol and I have attempted to put diesel into the petrol car but fortunately the nozzle was too big!!!  So its easily done, especially has I never drive the same car 2 days in a run!

[landie]

Wouldn't it make sense to have square nozzles and round nozzles, with the appropriate filler orifice, for diesel and petrol respectively?

[aljones90]

I confess to having stuffed my Mk4 diesel golf with unleaded. I found that it is not as bad as I was lead to believe.Firstly, I had not driven the car very far, and I do not know if that makes a difference. The fuel can be syphoned out of the fuel tank by opening the trap door under the back seat and carefully removing the fuel pump ( it is full of fuel). Syphoning out of the filler cap won't work because it is a doglegged pipe to the tank. Once the fuel is out the fuel filter has to be replaced with a new item and fresh diesel put in the tank. The golf fuel system does not have to be bled, but it takes a lot of cranking to get the car going, and I had to recharge the battery before the car started.Then it worked and has given no further trouble. A HAYES manual is useful, obviously, if only for the safety angle of messing with fuel.All the scary stuff with �3000 bills and duff jets and things is urban myth.