Engine: D52447: Petrol in a diesel car – misfueling.

[ianu]

Originally Posted by NCS XC90

..... I managed to drain approximately 45L through this hole (it took about 3 hrs to do this) by just putting containers underneath it and letting the fuel flow out. After the 45L the flow stopped. This left 25L still in the tank. When looking under the car there is only one tank but its split into two as it goes over the propshaft onto each side. I decided that the remaining 25L was still in the tank on the far side but could not see a way of getting it out.
Others may not agree with this but I am simply relaying my experiences. The get the remaining 25L out I had to turn the ignition on so the fuel pump would pump the fuel from the near side to equal the level on both sides of the propshaft (which I believe it does normally). It took another 1.5hrs to 2 hrs to get the remaining 25L of fluid out of the car.
.

...could I ask what you did with nearly 70 litres of petrol diesel mix once you drained it out ?? - just curious...

Cheers
Ian.

[the alarming man]

Originally Posted by NCS XC90

Just thought I would post this in case anyone else is stupid enough to make the same mistake as me and put petrol into a diesel D5 tank on an XC90.
Last night I decided to top up the tank as I was going on a long journey today. I have no defence or reason but picked up the petrol nozzle and put 26L of petrol into my car. This raised the fuel level in the tank to the brim.
Not realising I drove the car home (about 1 to 2 miles). No problems or unusual engine issues on the way. Got inside and put the receipt away when I noticed the “unleaded” on the receipt. I went out to look at the car about an hour after I came home and tried to crank for a normal period of time and the car did not start (I was going to put it in the garage so I could look to drain the tank).
With guidance from Mike (big thanks) and others on here I drained the tank by taking of the small finger tight nut at the bottom of the fuel filter situated in front of the back wheel on the off side. I managed to drain approximately 45L through this hole (it took about 3 hrs to do this) by just putting containers underneath it and letting the fuel flow out. After the 45L the flow stopped. This left 25L still in the tank. When looking under the car there is only one tank but its split into two as it goes over the propshaft onto each side. I decided that the remaining 25L was still in the tank on the far side but could not see a way of getting it out.
Others may not agree with this but I am simply relaying my experiences. The get the remaining 25L out I had to turn the ignition on so the fuel pump would pump the fuel from the near side to equal the level on both sides of the propshaft (which I believe it does normally). It took another 1.5hrs to 2 hrs to get the remaining 25L of fluid out of the car.
From here I have simply filled it back up with diesel (won’t make the same mistake again) and started the car. To be fair the car did need a bit of cracking which I did in short bursts. It made one attempt to start and then died again. After this a few more cranks and the car started and settled down quickly. I left it ticking over for 15mins and then went out in it. All seems normal to me but wife says it sound quieter (it isn’t but it did make me laugh).
I realise there will be people who feel I have not done this correctly but I just thought I would write down my experience for future reference. At present the car seems just fine. If this changes in the coming months I will attach an update to this to warn others. If no update please assume I got away with it and all is well.
Hope it helps someone – but the best advice I can give is spend that extra second to check you are holding the right nozzle when it comes to filling up. That way you don’t spend a day sh!tting yourself that the engine is knackered.

what you did i.e drainig the etc is exactaly how fuel assist would do nowadays(think fuel assist are the A.A)

[GSMGuy]

Originally Posted by the alarming man

what you did i.e drainig the etc is exactaly how fuel assist would do nowadays(think fuel assist are the A.A)

They are, but they have specially equipped vehicles, with a 300ltr tanks and vacuum extraction equipment, as below:



Expensive kit - Mind you @ an average of 5 calls per van, per day, £230 per time...


Mike

[GSMGuy]

Neil,

bet you were nowhere nearly as embarrased as this guy....

When an RAC van driver filled up with the wrong kind of fuel, he thought his embarrassment was complete.

Until, that is, an AA patrol turned up and offered to get him back on the road.




Fancy meeting you here. . . a Daily Mail reader took this picture as the specialist AA Fuel Assist service drained the petrol from the diesel-powered RAC van

Initially the RAC man declined the chance to have his diesel tank drained of the petrol which he had absent-mindedly poured in.

But when no help was forthcoming from his own organisation, he was forced to accept his rival's charity.

A specialist AA Fuel Assist van pumped out the contaminated mixture of diesel and petrol, which is recycled through a waste management company with the end product used to power cement kilns and furnaces.

The incident, photographed by a Daily Mail reader, happened at a BP filling station in Alvaston, Derby.

The AA, while admitting to a smirk, insisted it wasn't gloating. A spokesman said: "It's a case of "There but for the grace of God go I". It's just one of those things.

"It happens to the best of us.

"Mis-fuellings are becoming increasingly common and there have been pictures of AA vans on the back of RAC trucks."

Almost all incidents of mis-fuelling involve petrol being put into diesel vehicles, because diesel pump nozzles are designed to be too big to fit into a petrol tank.

If the engine is switched on, it can cost up to £12,000 to sort out the resulting damage and all costs must be met by the driver as manufacturer breakdown cover does not include mis-fuels.

The AA says it hopes that within the next decade design changes to the fuel tank entry will help consign such errors to history.


Bit of an exaggeration on the £12k possible damage though!

Incidentally, they must have some sort of database telling them the best way to get the fuel out of each vehicle - I know when I recently put 70L of my own Bio into my car, and then went back to the test sample, seeing it had soaps in it - Was a PIG to get it out of the XC90 - I ended up using my Pela oil extractor attached to the feul filter inlet pipe - Still took ages, mmind you I presume with purpose built kit, it'll be easy...

They reckon each van does 5 calls a day, so can't take them more than an hour max at easch job - Would be interested to see one in action though!

Mike

Mike

[NCS XC90]

Originally Posted by ianu

...could I ask what you did with nearly 70 litres of petrol diesel mix once you drained it out ?? - just curious...

Cheers
Ian.

Hi Ian,
I’m presently using it to power the wife’s two stroke broom stick . Good job she doesn’t read this forum.
My father has 3 gallon of it which he plans to dilute and use in lawn mowers and two stoke hedge cutters and other machinery. The rest is in containers in my garage. I own a Triumph TR3A (1963) which I think will take it as long as I dilute it enough. I don’t do many miles in it though so may take me some time.
Neil

[NCS XC90]

Originally Posted by GSMGuy

Neil,

bet you were nowhere nearly as embarrased as this guy....

Mike

Mike,
No not as embarrassed as that. I did have to stop people taking photos though.

Neil

[GSMGuy]

Originally Posted by NCS XC90

Mike,
No not as embarrassed as that. I did have to stop people taking photos though.

Neil

Lol - Have our items been collected yet btw?

Mike

[NCS XC90]

Mike,
Items have been dispatched and shoudl be with me tomorrow. I'l give you a call when they have arrived and see when your in for me to deliver.
Thanks,
Neil

[Chris Parish]

Topical article from the Mirror a month ago:-


Bungling cops cost taxpayers £1million a year filling cars with wrong fuel

By Andrew Gregory 8/06/2009

Bungling cops have cost taxpayers more than £1million by filling up their vehicles with the wrong fuel.
Four cars are damaged daily by officers who can’t tell the difference between petrol and diesel at the pumps, a Mirror probe has found.
The repair bill averages £6,500 a week for the past three years.
Forces have to pay for flushing out the wrong fuel, repairing damaged engines, labour costs and for refilling the tank with the right mix.
The worst offender is the Met. Britain’s biggest force wasted £194,212 on misfuelling repair work in only three years. Its officers confused petrol and diesel 671 times.
TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott said: “It is shocking that so many police cars are being wrecked by stupid errors.
“Every car damaged is thousands of pounds diverted away from the fight against crime. One would hope our police were more on the ball.”
The Mirror’s four-month investigation, using the Freedom of Information Act, exposes the extent of the police misfuelling scandal for the first time. We demanded pump bungle figures from all 52 police forces.
Only eight refused, some saying it would take too long. Four did not respond.
In those cases, we used average numbers of incidents and costs.
In three years, police misfuelled 4,907 vehicles, costing £270,641 in 2006, £386,061 in 2007 and £344,236 last year. Lib Dem MP Chris Huhne said last night: “Surely the solution is big, colour-coded stickers on tank caps so officers don’t mess up.”
But North Wales police brought in bright yellow cap covers marked “Diesel” in 2006 – and it did not stop officers misfuelling 39 times.
We discovered taxpayers were paying once for the cap covers and again when officers ignored them.
The Met, who wasted four times the total spent by second worst offender Surrey, said: “The number of fills for 6,500 vehicles in 2008 was 314,423.
“There were 287 misfuellings that year, costing £84,992. This is a misfuelling rate of 0.09 per cent.”
Gwent police, who wasted £16,137 in this way over three years, blamed “officers in high-pressure roles”.
Strathclyde police – £21,896 wasted – said they were “continually testing new devices” to combat the problem.
Humberside, who came out best with only one misfuel, costing £51, said: “We use liquid petroleum gas and save £250,000 a year.”
Even blindfold you've got a 50-50 chance
By Richard Hammond
Choosing the right fuel is something most of us do without incident or ruining our cars - which, of course, we would have to fix with our own money anyway.
If there were a larger range of fuels, it might be an easier mistake to make.
I'm all for supporting the police. They do a tough job very well and I'm keen that none of us has a go at the dwindling number on the roads keeping things safe rather than a camera hiding behind a traffic sign.
But all the same, it's not hard. Petrol or diesel: There's a 50-50 chance of getting it right blindfolded.
More, in fact - you can tell from the smell and oily pump which one is diesel.

[GSMGuy]

Originally Posted by Chris Parish

it's not hard. Petrol or diesel: There's a 50-50 chance of getting it right blindfolded.
More, in fact - you can tell from the smell and oily pump which one is diesel.

Obv not - and they want us to trust them with a national DNA database???

FFS!


Mike