Help! I put petrol in diesel car

Yes, older diesel engines were tougher

Depends how old it is.
My 22nd yr old diesel doesn’t mind a bit of petrol (or even cooking oil tbh) but the newer ones are more sensitive. If it’s driven home at this point I’d just keep the tank very full for a bit and hope

I did this with a works car and drove 50miles before I realised.
Petrol in a diesel usually ok as petrol floats on diesel. In ski resorts they put some petrol in Diesels to stop fuel freezing.
Diesel in petrol is a complete no no as fuel sinks and diesel not good for a petrol engine

I think you mean the opposite ? Either way you should drain tank.

WTF are you banging on about?!

I put the wrong fuel in my car. So as I said, I DID do the same thing as the OP. Why are you drivelling on about the difference between petrol and diesel?! What I put in my car and what the OP put in hers is irrelevant. I did the same thing as her!

YOU are the one who is 'looking a bit daft' as well as obnoxious and rude with your sneering, and how you are talking down to people. Not just me but other posters too, with your superiority complex! Who do you think you are? 🙄

Will you just go away and stop hounding me! What is your problem?! I wasn't even talking to you, I was talking to the OP!

I'm ignoring you from now on. Just leave me alone! 🙄
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Someone else who has no idea.

Oh please stop! RTFT before you give out incorrect advice. Just use Google -

Putting diesel in a petrol car is less serious than putting petrol in a diesel car. After starting your engine, the diesel will coat spark plugs and the fuel system, which often leads to misfiring. Your engine may give off smoke, cut out, or fail to start at all. You should drain the fuel system as soon as possible.5 Apr 2024

I'm out, if Op can't work out what they need to do by now there's no hope. 😂

Petrol into diesel is OK. Its diesel into petrol than causes problems. Just dilute the petrol with diesel and it will be fine.

It's only a little bit, at that ratio, I don't think it'll cause an issue. Diesel in a petrol car would fuck you over but a small amount of petrol in a diesel car you'll get away with. Just keep topping it off with diesel regularly, don't let it run down, dilute it as much as possible.

You put diesel in a petrol car. It has a very different effect to petrol in a diesel car and you've made yourself look a bit daft. 😅

Fill it up with diesel and you'll be ok. When we lived in labrador and new foundland (years ago) most people put a few litres of petrol in their diesel cars to stop the diesel freezing into a slight slush.

So long as it's not diesel in a petrol car

afraid i did this... full take of petrol in a diesal... cost me about sixty quid, only realised when my car shuddered and stopped! a lovely 5 hour wait for recovery in the pooring rain. tank drained and they refilled.... an expensive mistake i hope to not make again

Better than a few grand for a new fuel pump, common rail fuel system and new injectors

It's massively different. A bit of diesel in a petrol will cause rough running and probably lots of smoke.

Modern diesel engines use the diesel fuel as lubricant for the high pressure fuel pump. Putting petrol in there means no lubrication and given that the fuel pump pressurises to over 2000psi it ruins the thing very quickly. A new fuel pump and common rail fuel injection system costs a tremendously large amount of money.
Diesel and petrol mix together just fine, so unless there's only a minuscule amount of petrol in the tank you run the risk of ruining it.

We did this it will be fine we just filled it up with diesel and it was fine no need for your husband to go nuts 🙄

@Astonmaid

Of course it's not 'a very different situation.' WTF are you going on about?!

OP put petrol in a diesel car, I put diesel in a petrol car!

The situation is virtually the same! I put the wrong fuel in my car too.

Yeah, the damage done to a diesel car by putting petrol in it, will be worse than the damage done to a petrol car if you put diesel into it, but they will both suffer damage if you drive off with the wrong fuel in.

Were you half asleep when you typed this? Or did you mean to respond to someone else?! Because you comment to me makes no sense.

I was thinking that too. It suits them to have people come out.

Obviously both the AA and the RAC have a vested interest in people paying several hundred quid to get their cars drained.

p.s. Older diesel cars were more tolerant of a little bit of petrol mixed with diesel in their tank.

We had a 90s Vauxhall Cavalier with an ancient, very slow diesel Izuzu engine in it. Dad filled it with a full tank of petrol before I borrowed it - I got at least 50 miles out of it before it failed. Local garage drained the petrol, changed the filter and put diesel in, it was fine. The mechanic at the time said we were very lucky the engine was so agricultural. It did another 80k before getting traded into the scrappage scheme.

Modern diesels (last couple of decades) are so much more complex and I would take no risks with one. OP needs to listen to people posting with actual evidence instead of anecdotes but seems determined only to hear what they want to.

Advice is to get it all drained out. Trying to decide based on age of car isn't a good idea, but I doubt yours is old enough to count.

Huh? So every motoring organisation is wrong when the say that putting petrol in a diesel is worse than the other way around? Their advice not to start the engine with more than 5% petrol in the diesel is unsound?

Which idiot am I defending?

www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/95327/wrong-fuel-a-guide-on-what-to-do-if-you-put-petrol-in-a-diesel-car

as petrol is cheaper than diesel there will be a higher volume of it per pound!

Not where the OP is in Ireland.

Absolutely wrong. And you are defending an idiot who's also got it wrong.