Help! I put petrol in diesel car

Op has put petrol in a diesel car, which is a very different situation.

I'm surprised that so many people will happily give Op risky advice, speculating on petrol percentages etc, but I guess at the end of the day it's not their car and it's easy to gamble with other people's money.
From the car mechanic next to me - never risk even starting a diesel car if you've put petrol in it. Just push it out of the way and call your recovery service. Don't mentally gamble with percentages of petrol to diesel, don't start it, just get it drained. Petrol dilutes the lubricity of the diesel fuel, which causes metal to metal contact, which wears the high pressure pump out. The damage caused can take a while to become apparent if you've put a relatively small amount of petrol in the tank. The damage will be catastrophic and pretty much immediate with a lot of petrol in the tank. With less in there - further down the line when you start to get problems with the pump, injectors, fuel lines etc... think back on the day you decided not to get your tank drained.
p.s. Older diesel cars were more tolerant of a little bit of petrol mixed with diesel in their tank.

I drove my car after putting diesel in a petrol car it got a couple of 100mtrs and broke down. I then had it flushed completely. It didn't run well after that as I said but I forgot to say the engine actually started smoking heavily on the motorway several months later. I was terrified and had a toddler with me at the time.

Oh gosh OP!! This went SO badly for me a few years ago. As PPs have said, you will ONLY do it once...

I unwittingly put petrol in our diesel car before a long drive home with DD3, and it kept stalling at roundabouts. I just thought at the time that the engine was tired etc. It was the rush hour though and as we drove nearer our home city our car suddenly stopped dead in the middle of three lanes of cars going at about 70mph.

I panicked and I'll never forget my DD3 saying calmly "Mummy I think we need to get out of the car". We exited and made it to the hard shoulder and watched in horror as car after car swerved screeching around our stationary car at high speed until the inevitable happened and it was hit at high speed.

Our car hurtled past us and shot up the bank, narrowly missing us, but the poor driver had to be hospitalised. To make matters worse, he was apparently convinced for an hour that he'd killed the occupants until the paramedics told him otherwise.

NEVER...AGAIN...

Dh did this a few weeks ago. A full tank. We siphoned most out that we could. Then filled with diesel. Then as it went down kept filling it up. It's been fine
Typically he'd done it in my car not his too !

Oh yeah @WhatdoIdoooooo get the incorrect fuel drained out, or you will kill your car!

I've done this before. As a pp said, it's something you will only ever do once! I always check the fuel nozzle 3 or 4 times now, before I put the fuel into the car..... every time!. 😆 And it was around 20 years ago!

I filled the car - FILLED IT. Cost me £40 at the time, and as I put the nozzle back, I saw I had put diesel in our petrol car. I think it was because it was 'green diesel' (with a green strip on the nozzle,) and I mistook it for the unleaded petrol pump.

I went cold - and actually started to cry. I thought 'OMG what the fuck have I done?!' 😢 My kids were in the car (we were on the way to the zoo,) and they were upset as I was crying (they were only 5-7 y.o.)

I had to pay for the diesel of course - like £65 in today's money! The woman in the petrol station told me a mechanic lives next door to the forecourt, and he fixes cars, and he may be able to help. I popped next door, and he came round and siphoned all the diesel out for me. Cost me £50 - probably £75 in today's money. Then I had to go pay again for the petrol - Another £40. THAT was an expensive day out at the zoo!

Luckily I saw it in time, and hadn't started the car!

When I told DH later he laughed and called me a daft tit! Bit annoyed about the money spent/wasted, but said 'shit happens, and at least you and the kids are OK. And you did spot it before driving off. The car would have been wrecked else.'

From what others have said, it sounds as though you put a small amount in and might solve the problem but diluting it.

Speaking from experience (twice in a year!!), my insurance policy at the time had misfuelling cover so they came out both times. I'd filled mine up twice which was a bit galling but no lasting damage to the car which I drove for at least another 8 years. Embarrassing to see the same engineer the second time though!

Get it drained. It’s not worth the risk

I'd get it drained too - I'd rather pay some money now, than face a huge bill / loss that I knew was probably my fault later.

OP, no one can tell you what to do, and not everyone will agree with the best course of action.

It’s a higher percentage than that, technically as well, as the OP has only told us the costs of the fuel not the amounts - as petrol is cheaper than diesel there will be a higher volume of it per pound!

DH did this to my car. £10 of unleaded in my diesel car. He walked next door to the garage we used (thank god we were close) and asked for advice. They said to fill it to the brim with diesel and keep topping up. We too put in around £85 of diesel and had no problems whatsoever and have had no problems since. Our reliable and respected mechanic said that at those ratios, he wouldn't worry at all.

Have done this.
What an expense!! Such a waste of money.
The draining company, the lost petrol, the lost diesel and you still have nothing in the tank!!
Sorry.

Ring the AA or whoever you are with.

I would still get it drained at this late stage before driving it any more.

Is that the magic combo?? Seriously though, get your tank drained ASAP. I'm not sure why you are driving round with your George's marvellous medicine tank sloshing about!

Bear! Bare is naked. But yes, I heard this too.

Tbh I completely understand DH being angry. Not with the wrong fuel to start with, that's a mistake anyone could make when switching cars, it's the driving again knowing that you had the wrong fuel in.
What you should have done is get the car pushed to a parking space and then called garage to get fuel drained. You haven't diluted it enough by not filling to fill the tank (just extra €50). This (excuse my french) will knacker the engine. Also can invalidate insurance. Best thing to do would be get car to garage (or could they come to you?) to drain tank and then fill whole tank with diesel. And pray.

Just read this to my DH, mechanical engineer. He says with those quantities your car will be absolutely fine.

My DH did it last year. He had a coutersey car that was petrol and he usually drives an electric. Mine is a diesel and he started to put in petrol. He put in about £10 then realised. He topped it up with diesel and it was fine no problems at all.

My dh was motor trade and I did this, but I didn’t realise and drove off. Filling it to the brim will work.

3 weeks later his dad did the same to his staff car and he didn’t get told off like I did.

Tbf I never did it again.

I own a garage. My DH said you do know it says petrol or diesel on the cap. Not helpful!

He’s twittering about lubricant and oil pumps but basically you should just about get away with it.

To be on the safe side get it drained so there is no petrol left, why risk thousands of pounds of damage, as you have driven it there is no guarantees but better to be safe than sorry. It absolutely is not true that its fine to put a bit pf petrol in a diesel car. You may be ok but is it worth risking it?