Ran out of diesel in my Expert 1.9D van.

[HandyExpert]

Hi all.

New member here who bought a 1.9D Peugeot Expert van around 3 months ago. This is my first diesel vehicle so I am not too familiar with the procedure to take when you have ran out of diesel and ran your vehicle on an empty tank.

I ran out of diesel even though the needle indicator was slightly above empty (maybe relating to age of vehicle as its a near 20 year old van). I managed to call someone to drop a full cannister of diesel (around £5 worth) as I was about a mile or two away from reaching home. I put the diesel in and waiting a few minutes for the fuel to get into the system. Tried starting the car but it came close to turning over and starting, so waited another minute or so and tried again. Tried this a few times but each time the battery was wearing down and I could tell it had caused an issue with the battery as each time I tried starting it, it got worse. So then I jump started the van off the persons car who dropped off the diesel, and van started up no problem.

As I got home, I realised I should have primed the diesel off a small black pump until it gone firm (after a bit of research on the internet) and that is what had caused the issue with the battery. On the way home, the van drove normally with no lack of power, smoking, warning lights etc. I then tried starting the van the following morning after about 12 hours, and it started fine.

I would like to ask have I likely caused much damage to injectors, engine etc by failing to follow the correct procedure of priming the diesel into the fuel lines to get rid of possible air in the fuel lines. Should I take the vehicle to a garage to get it checked even though it starts/drives normally with a bit of white smoke on start up which is normal.

Thanks.

[Oldpug]

As it starts and runs you have now got rid of the air in the fuel system. Don't worry everything will be fine, those old XUD engines are bullet proof but like all diesels they will not start or run properly if there is any air in the system.