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Original poster

Help! I put petrol in diesel car

138 replies

WhatdoIdoooooo · 15/08/2024 14:22

Nightmare.

Just been to the petrol station, car was on v low no petrol (I know I know)
Our car has been in the garage for a while, so we’ve had a hire car-a petrol one (ours is Diesel)
I only had enough in my purse to put €10 in and by accident I put petrol in, instead of Diesel. Thankfully I realised my mistake when I was putting the pump back and didn’t start the car.
I went in to ask for help, they recommended I go to the garage nearby, then saw it was shut for lunch, I had to move my car out of the way, so people would have to help push 😩
The woman there said I hadn’t put much petrol in so if I was to put a lot of Diesel in it might be ok. I managed to convince them to let me put €50 in so I could drive home and get the €50 and bring it back to them. The car started and I managed to do this, car was running ok, is the car ok now??? Or do I need to do more? Have messsged Dh but he’s at work and hasn’t seen the message yet

OP posts:
Legendairy · 15/08/2024 17:44

goingtotown · 15/08/2024 16:56

23 year experienced Petrol assistant here.
Fill car with Diesel, it may run with a slight judder. It'll be fine.

Putting Diesel in a Petrol tank, do not move vehicle it will have to be drained

just not true

rayofsunshine86 · 15/08/2024 17:35

Return the hire car and you'll be absolutely fine* 😉

*Other than your conscience

Paulrn · 15/08/2024 17:16

WhatdoIdoooooo · 15/08/2024 16:37

@Paulrn So what should I do? 😩

I can only say what I would do. I would use it topping up regularly

Bjorkdidit · 15/08/2024 17:13

Magnastorm · 15/08/2024 17:02

"Putting petrol in a diesel car is far more serious than putting diesel in a petrol car. "

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/know-how/wrong-fuel-recovery/#:~:text=Putting%20diesel%20in%20a%20petrol%20car%20is%20less%20serious%20than,system%20as%20soon%20as%20possible.

Seriously, if you don't actually know the answer don't post.

Petrol in a diesel car is a nightmare. The petrol acts as a solvent, stripping the natural lubricant of the diesel and can cause all sorts of damage.

It might be fine, but on the other hand spending a few hundred quid now (which, again, may very well be covered by OP's insurance) could save thousands down the road.

Or op can ignore actual good advice and just "hope for the best".

Show quote history

I thought this was the right way round but so many people have posted wrongly I was beginning to doubt myself.

But as well as it being worse to put petrol in a diesel car, it's also a lot easier to do as diesel nozzles don't really fit in petrol tanks, which isn't helpful.

GoldenPineapple15 · 15/08/2024 17:08

I did the same with a very similar amount , but did not realise until car juddered . I asked my garage and they said better accidentally to but petrol in a diesel car than the other way around.As they suggested I topped it fully up with diesel and then drove and drove until it cleared out . It was sluggish and smoky and then went back to normal .Husband has the same car over a year later and it is fine .

Ozanj · 15/08/2024 17:08

A diesel car will be fine with a bit of petrol. Don’t worry.

Sleep10 · 15/08/2024 17:04

I've done this!
I put nearly £10 of petrol in my diesel vehicle.
I rang my dad (mechanically family!) Said fill it to the max of diesel, may smoke and chudder but it will be ok.
Don't let it get low on diesel for a while, keep it half full.
Mine was fine.
Be kind to yourself, many of us do it.
Get that cuppa! X

Magnastorm · 15/08/2024 17:02

goingtotown · 15/08/2024 16:56

23 year experienced Petrol assistant here.
Fill car with Diesel, it may run with a slight judder. It'll be fine.

Putting Diesel in a Petrol tank, do not move vehicle it will have to be drained

"Putting petrol in a diesel car is far more serious than putting diesel in a petrol car. "

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/know-how/wrong-fuel-recovery/#:~:text=Putting%20diesel%20in%20a%20petrol%20car%20is%20less%20serious%20than,system%20as%20soon%20as%20possible.

Seriously, if you don't actually know the answer don't post.

Petrol in a diesel car is a nightmare. The petrol acts as a solvent, stripping the natural lubricant of the diesel and can cause all sorts of damage.

It might be fine, but on the other hand spending a few hundred quid now (which, again, may very well be covered by OP's insurance) could save thousands down the road.

Or op can ignore actual good advice and just "hope for the best".

Wrong fuel in your car - what to do now | RAC Drive

If you’ve put the wrong type of fuel in your car, don’t panic. Here’s what you should do for both petrol and diesel misfuel.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/know-how/wrong-fuel-recovery#:~:text=Putting%20diesel%20in%20a%20petrol%20car%20is%20less%20serious%20than,system%20as%20soon%20as%20possible.

goingtotown · 15/08/2024 16:56

23 year experienced Petrol assistant here.
Fill car with Diesel, it may run with a slight judder. It'll be fine.

Putting Diesel in a Petrol tank, do not move vehicle it will have to be drained

sueelleker · 15/08/2024 16:53

We did the opposite, when we got our first diesel car. Had to call GreenFlag, who flushed the tank.

Original poster
WhatdoIdoooooo · 15/08/2024 16:53

Ok so Dh telling me the car is 65 litres, I put in 5 of petrol and now tank is full with the extra 60 litres of diesel. He said spoke to a mechanic and he said is ok if we keep filling up with diesel 🙏🤷🏻‍♀️

OP posts:
Tagyoureit · 15/08/2024 16:52

@WhatdoIdoooooo OK you need to calm down for your own sake!

£10 worth in a full tank will be ok. When you get down to 3/4, fill it up again and just do this a couple more times after to keep diluting the

My friend did the same and her car was fine.

Tessasanderson · 15/08/2024 16:51

If you have taken it 'just down the road' i would think you havent even had any 'wrong' fuel through your fuel system yet then.

Option 2 would give guarantee of no future issues. Option 1 is 'probably' going to be ok. Take your pick.

Tracker1234 · 15/08/2024 16:51

Just keep filling and filling. It worked for me.

That and pray.....

nocoolnamesleft · 15/08/2024 16:50

10.6%. Have you spoken to a car mechanic at all?

Original poster
WhatdoIdoooooo · 15/08/2024 16:49

@Tessasanderson Its just down the road.
Am I ok to drive it now? It’s completely full
and dh says we’ll have to keep refilling it wheh it goes down a little

OP posts:
Tessasanderson · 15/08/2024 16:47

You would be surprised how much fuel is still in it even when empty on the guage. How far did you drive it home?

Original poster
WhatdoIdoooooo · 15/08/2024 16:45

@Tessasanderson Car was definitely fully empty, on v low, zero left really

OP posts:
Viewfrommyhouse · 15/08/2024 16:45

Boopbeepbeepboop · 15/08/2024 14:28

I think putting a little petrol into a diesel by accident and then filling with diesel, can be ok. But diesel into a petrol is a no no. But I might have just read that somewhere 🤣

Wrong way round. Petrol in a diesel car is a frigging nightmare.

Shade17 · 15/08/2024 16:45

Notamum12345577 · 15/08/2024 16:36

That can’t be right, as €10 to a €100 would be 10%, so 10 to 84 would be a higher precentage

Show quote history

Yeah, more like 10.6% but not very helpful without knowing the actual quantities that were put in.

Jarstastic · 15/08/2024 16:43

If you have AA membership, I'd call them to drain the tank.

Now that you have filled up with diesel, the person who comes out may say not worth it, but I'd call them anyway.

Tessasanderson · 15/08/2024 16:43

You put £10 of petrol in a diesel car. Petrol is about £1.40 per litre so about 7 litres. Most cars have 50 litre tanks and i guess the car wasnt fully empty. Now its probably full with about 10% mix of petrol. Not brilliant but ive seen cars cope with worse but i wouldnt want it to be any higher. IMO you have 2 options to mitigate your situation.

  1. Keep topping up your fuel every day and basically keep diluting the petrol content each time you add more diesel

  2. Dont drive the car another inch and call a fuel doctor type mobile fitter. They charge about £150 to suck all the fuel out of the car, do a flush and put £20 worth of fuel back in. No guarentees but a hell of a lot cheaper than taking it to a garage when it may not need it. If you put the £50 straight in and it already had diesel in the fuel lines, filter & pump it may not have used much of the petrol if you only did a short journey home.

We had a brand new A class at work which got diesel put in a petrol engine. We recovered it from the forecourt ourselves and local Merc garage wanted £1700 to sort. Called fuel doctor people and he sorted it in 30mins and £150. Never missed a beat after.

Tracker1234 · 15/08/2024 16:38

I did this but only with a few pounds worth before I realised! Garage told me everytime it got to 3/4 to keep filling up. I did this and it worked. Its a horrible feeling and could happen to all of us!

Gogogo12345 · 15/08/2024 16:37

WhatdoIdoooooo · 15/08/2024 16:18

@DogInATent ??? My tank originally was on very empty, nothing there. I went and put in €10 of petrol by mistake. I then put in €50 worth, it didn’t fill the whole tank. I drive two minutes home and messaged Dh, he told me to put more in and fill the whole tank. I’ve just driven the two minutes down the road and completely filled the tank with diesel, this was €34 euros worth extra. It has €84 worth of diesel in and €10 of petrol in, will it be ok??

I did that with an old car. Was absolutely fine

Original poster
WhatdoIdoooooo · 15/08/2024 16:37

@Paulrn So what should I do? 😩

OP posts:
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