Guess Who Stuck Unleaded In???!!!

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Chris55000
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Guess Who Stuck Unleaded In???!!!

Post by Chris55000 »

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Hi Everyone!!!
Sorry for this silly one, but when I filled up at Asda yesterday morning I went and stuck £20-worth of unleaded in my Xantia 1.9 TD before I'd noticed I'd picked up a green hose instead of a yellow one!!!! (there was a long impatient queue behind me!!!) [:(!]
As soon as I realised my mistake I topped up the tank with 40L of diesel to the top to dilute the petrol as much as I could - I couldn't afford to drain the tank!!!
It runs but is very inclined to stall on overrun (e.g., changing down for bends or leaving motorways) and naturally enough, idles very badly!!!! [:(]
Please, could someone advise me:-
1) Will I have caused serious harm to the injector-pump or engine itself that would be too costly to fix - I'm not too bothered about the injectors themselves - I could always get a secondhand set from a scrappie!!!)] [?]
2) Should I leave using it till I get paid then drain the tank rather than try keep topping it up more??? [?]
3) Does anyone know of a good safe and inexpensive powered gadget that'll pump the tank out for me ??? - I can drain the contaminated fuel into my old Xantia which'll not be running again!!!!
Advice will be greatly appreciated - I'm sure I'm not the only one who's accidently done it!!!! [:)]
Chris Williams
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Richard Gallagher
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Post by Richard Gallagher »

I wouldn't think any damage has been caused, after all it was common practice to mix some petrol with diesel at this time of year in order to overcome the problem of diesel fuel 'waxing' before these newer fuels became available. Not only that but you will have about 2/3rds diesel to petrol mix.
I'd personally just put up with the uneven running and then refill.
As far as pumping out the tank, you can syphon out the fuel from Xantias. To make it easier jack up the car on the N/S, or park on the kerb then suck away!!!
mpr1956
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Post by mpr1956 »

Hi, you have joined a surprisingly large but undistinguished club! I had a 1.9d BX and did the same... I called the RAC, and their advice was to do what you did and not worry too much. And as far as I could tell the car was no worse for the experience. However I should mention that I had no signs of poor running or idling after topping up with diesel. The injection pump is lubricated by the diesel fuel, which is one reason for it's long life -so if you can take the short term hit in the pocket and drain the tank, then any doubt about engine damage is removed. (p.s. my engine was still running ok at 250k when I scrapped the car, having half filled with petrol at about 75k) hope this helps!
arry_b
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Post by arry_b »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by mpr1956</i>

The injection pump is lubricated by the diesel fuel, which is one reason for it's long life <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Try half a pint of 2 stroke oil in the tank.
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

Ever tried diesel in a petrol ?
Guess who [:D]
Richard Gallagher
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Post by Richard Gallagher »

Did it smoke?
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

It started smoking after a short while - and then slowly died.
It was a company van - all company vans runs on diesel - dont they [:I]
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