Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car. The car appears
to run OK at present. Will the two fuels have mixed.

Please keep (deserved) abuse to a minimum and answers to a maximum!

TIA

I believe they are different densities and the unleaded will sit on top of
the diesel like salad dressing. I might be better to drain off the tank
before the diesel runs out and you start to get unleaded into your engine.
As the level of diesel gets lower the sloshing about will cause some of it
to be drawn into the engine and it will start chugging.



I might well be wrong but the unleaded doesn't burn until the compressed and
hot diesel ignites thus causing a kick when the unleaded ignites. Another
possibly wrong fact is that putting diesel in an unleaded car is worse as
the diesel sinks to the bottom guts sucked into the engine and fails to
ignite thus filling up the cylinders.



Cheers

Jonathan

"Jonathan@Home" wrote in message ...
I believe they are different densities and the unleaded will sit on top of
the diesel like salad dressing.
:

Do not be tempted to add mustard...

"MartinC" wrote in message
om...
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car. The car appears
to run OK at present. Will the two fuels have mixed.

Please keep (deserved) abuse to a minimum and answers to a maximum!

TIA

Taken from the AA Web Site:

7. Fuel problems
Empty fuel tanks cost AA patrols a lot of time and members unnecessary
inconvenience.
Fill up at the start of your journey.
Every year more than 100,000 motorists put the wrong fuel in their car -
petrol in diesel engines or vice versa. In these cases the car will have to
be recovered to a garage and draining the tank and disposing of contaminated
fuel is expensive.


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On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 08:57:59 GMT, BigWallop wrote:

Every year more than 100,000 motorists put the wrong fuel in their
car - petrol in diesel engines or vice versa. In these cases the car
will have to be recovered to a garage and draining the tank and
disposing of contaminated fuel is expensive.

I guess it depends on how much petrol you put into your diesel tank. A
few litres in an empty tank then filled with diesel isn't going to be
a problem but a tank diesel tank filled with petrol is another story.

Probably quite hard these days to fill a petrol tank with diesel as
the diesel nozzle is bigger than the unleaded petrol hole.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

MartinC wrote:
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car. The car appears
to run OK at present. Will the two fuels have mixed.

They will mix just fine, and it will have no adverse effects on
your car (it's a diesel, how much worse can it get anyway??).

--
Grunff

Grunff wrote:
MartinC wrote:
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car. The car appears
to run OK at present. Will the two fuels have mixed.

They will mix just fine, and it will have no adverse effects on
your car (it's a diesel, how much worse can it get anyway??).

Wasn't adding a small amount of petrol to diesel a trick used in very cold
weather anyway?

"BillR" wrote in message
...
Grunff wrote:
MartinC wrote:
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car. The car appears
to run OK at present. Will the two fuels have mixed.

They will mix just fine, and it will have no adverse effects on
your car (it's a diesel, how much worse can it get anyway??).

Wasn't adding a small amount of petrol to diesel a trick used in very cold
weather anyway?

Yes - this is a perennial problem which appears on NGs from time to time.
Petrol into diesel is not usually a problem.
I can't remember the percentage but I have at least one car manual which
recommends mixing petrol in with diesel in cold winters to prevent waxing.
And it doesn't clog the carburettor or foul the plugs :-)

As stated elsewhere diesel into petrol is a whole different ball game!

Cheers
Dave R

"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
news:bhd1k2$vj578$1@ID-
I can't remember the percentage but I have at least one car manual which
recommends mixing petrol in with diesel in cold winters to prevent waxing.
And it doesn't clog the carburettor or foul the plugs :-)


Doesn't diesel compress to ignite??? Petrol on the other hand needs to be
lit ... usually with a spark plug unless you live in Sauwf Landon mate ;o)



a

putting
the diesel and regular gas alongside each other on the forecourt

Made worse now that some cars have a black label / logo inside the filler cap
signifying unleaded. Well that was my excuse to our pool car lady when I
screwed up.....

"al" wrote in message ...
"David W.E. Roberts" wrote in message
news:bhd1k2$vj578$1@ID-
I can't remember the percentage but I have at least one car manual which
recommends mixing petrol in with diesel in cold winters to prevent waxing.
And it doesn't clog the carburettor or foul the plugs :-)


Doesn't diesel compress to ignite???

Yes, and as long as it still continues to do this the resultant explosion
will burn off the petrol in the mix. The compression ratio used must be
'over' by some tolerance as otherwise you never get it to start (even with
the pre-heaters). I am however suprised that a 10% petrol mix will
still work but if others think it will then OK.

Petrol on the other hand needs to be lit

Which it will be by the exploding diesel.

... usually with a spark plug unless you live in Sauwf Landon mate ;o)

Tim




a

"BillR" wrote in message
...
Wasn't adding a small amount of petrol to diesel a trick used in very cold
weather anyway?

Yes, as it lowers he temperature at which diesel stops being liquid like.

"Jonathan@Home" wrote:
I believe they are different densities

Yes, they are...

and the unleaded will sit on top of the diesel like salad
dressing.

But they are miscible, unlike, say, oil and water.

Another possibly wrong fact is that putting diesel in an
unleaded car is worse

It's unlikely to fire properly!
--



__________________________________________________ ______________
Sent via the PAXemail system at paxemail.com

They will mix just fine, and it will have no adverse effects on
your car (it's a diesel, how much worse can it get anyway??).

I thought this too until I actually tried one. Take a Golf 130 TDi, Megane
120 DCi or Focus 115 TDCi for a spin and eat your words!

Grunff wrote in message ...

STOPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PETROL IN A DIESEL WILL WARP THE HEAD IF NOT BLOW THE THING AWAY
ESPECIALLY SUCH A STRONG MIX.

TAKE THE FUEL LINE OFF AND PUMP IT OUT WITH THE ELECTRIC PUMP OR BUY
ANOTHER ELECTRIC FUEL PUMP FOR SUCH EMERGENCIES FROM A SCRAP YARD.
DRAIN INTO A DRUM AND GIVE IT TO A TREE SURGEON OR SOMEONE WITH A TWO
STROKE MOTOR.

The AA will charge an arm and a leg for doing the above even for it's
most respected members. Disposing of the fuel is the problem. You can
use the fuel in a petrol engine but slip it in one gallon at a time
when you fill it up.

Michael McNeil wrote:
Grunff wrote in message ...

STOPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....typing in uppercase, noone will read it.


PETROL IN A DIESEL WILL WARP THE HEAD IF NOT BLOW THE THING AWAY
ESPECIALLY SUCH A STRONG MIX.

Not at 10% it won't.


TAKE THE FUEL LINE OFF AND PUMP IT OUT WITH THE ELECTRIC PUMP OR BUY
ANOTHER ELECTRIC FUEL PUMP FOR SUCH EMERGENCIES FROM A SCRAP YARD.
DRAIN INTO A DRUM AND GIVE IT TO A TREE SURGEON OR SOMEONE WITH A TWO
STROKE MOTOR.

Only if you're of a very nervous disposition, and have little
understanding of chemistry and IC engines.

--
Grunff

"MartinC" wrote in message
om...
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car. The car appears
to run OK at present. Will the two fuels have mixed.

Please keep (deserved) abuse to a minimum and answers to a maximum!

You should be fine. One of our diesel lease Focus's at work keeps getting
petrol in it. According to Ford it can run at about 30% petrol. However
keep topping up with diesel (ie. it dilute the mixture) and you should be
fine.

"Matthew Ames (news)" wrote in
message news:3f3a227b$0$915$9b0f33e3@clyde...
"MartinC" wrote in message
om...
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car. The car appears
to run OK at present. Will the two fuels have mixed.

Please keep (deserved) abuse to a minimum and answers to a maximum!

You should be fine. One of our diesel lease Focus's at work keeps getting
petrol in it. According to Ford it can run at about 30% petrol. However
keep topping up with diesel (ie. it dilute the mixture) and you should be
fine.



I used to have a Montego Countryman estate with that noisy but incredibly
frugal Perkins 2L engine. The handbook advised up to 25% petrol in cold
weather - and using leaded fuel sure quietened it down as well. Must mean
something.............


--
Woody

Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car.

Probably not. Diesel's will usually burn any old filth. They're second only
to gas turbines (jet engines) in their tolerance. Your typical jet will burn
anything from propane, through petrol to the remains of your chip pan
without skipping a beat, or even noticing the difference. Diesels aren't far
behind.

The reason diesels are so tolerant is because the fuel is directly injected
into the compressed air and spontaneously combusts with precise timing. In a
petrol engine, the fuel is premixed and must be kept from burning until the
spark comes along. It needs high octane fuel for the fuel air mixture to not
be too impatient and blow before the spark.

Christian.

In normal use they definitely do mix. An old truck drivers' trick to prevent
diesel freezing (from the days before 'anti-freeze' in diesel was standard)
was to put a few gallons of petrol in the diesel during cold snaps. This
does work, and - I think - proves they mix.

That's not to say that if you mixed the two and left them untouched for a
few days they wouldn't start to separate out.

I read on some 'reputable' site (AA or RAC I think) that up to 20% of petrol
in diesel was quite safe. Or vice-versa, if your petrol engine would run
with however much diesel you'd put in it, that was safe also. I shudder to
think of the smoke it would knock out though!

Davey

--

"MartinC" wrote in message
om...
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car. The car appears
to run OK at present. Will the two fuels have mixed.

Please keep (deserved) abuse to a minimum and answers to a maximum!

TIA

Davey wrote:

That's not to say that if you mixed the two and left them untouched for a
few days they wouldn't start to separate out.

They wouldn't, any more than the individual fractions in diesel
or petrol self separate while it sits in you tank.

--
Grunff

On considerable, I think you're right.

--

"Grunff" wrote in message
...
Davey wrote:

That's not to say that if you mixed the two and left them untouched for
a
few days they wouldn't start to separate out.

They wouldn't, any more than the individual fractions in diesel
or petrol self separate while it sits in you tank.

--
Grunff

I did it yesterday - put about 4 gallons of unleaded into my LDV200 (sherpa) and topped up with about 3 gallons of diesel. There was probably 2-3 gallons already in. OK for a few miles then very slow and smoky in 1st and 2nd, better in 3rd and 4th - not chanced 5th!
Been trying to find out if adding engine oil, or some form of pure mineral oil (or olive oil a la biodiesel) would help lube the pumps and make the mix more diesel-like, and if so in what ratio to the petrol?
Worried.

On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 16:38:23 +0100, elgorrion
wrote:

I did it yesterday - put about 4 gallons of unleaded into my LDV200
(sherpa) and topped up with about 3 gallons of diesel. There was
probably 2-3 gallons already in. OK for a few miles then very slow and
smoky in 1st and 2nd, better in 3rd and 4th - not chanced 5th!

2 Possibilities.

1) The performance deteriorated as the diesel fuel in the lines and
filters got replaced by petrol/diesel mixture which did not burn as
predicted in the design of the engine causing pre-ignition,
detonation, or whatever.

2) The performance deteriorated because the petrol in the mix had
damaged the pump/injectors.



Been trying to find out if adding engine oil, or some form of pure
mineral oil (or olive oil a la biodiesel) would help lube the pumps and
make the mix more diesel-like, and if so in what ratio to the petrol?

FWIU in summer, the cheapest veg oil is more or less equivalent to
diesel, at least as far as half a tank goes. Proprietory motor oil
includes additives that might not agree with seals in the fuel system.

If there's room in the tank why not add more diesel, (Why start
experimenting with veg oil at a time like this?).

Better still, try and make room in the tank by removing all but half a
gallon or so of contaminated fuel, (To avoid getting air in the fuel
system) then filling right up with diesel. If you are parsimonious
the fuel so removed could be used over time at a rate of say a
gallon/tankful.

Intuitively I'd expect it to cause less damage if it was left ticking
over whilst it purged the contaminated fuel from the lines/filters
etc. rather than thrashed down the Motorway. ;-)

Worried.

Let us know how you get on.

DG

"Derek ^" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 4 Sep 2005 16:38:23 +0100, elgorrion
wrote:

I did it yesterday - put about 4 gallons of unleaded into my LDV200
(sherpa) and topped up with about 3 gallons of diesel. There was
probably 2-3 gallons already in. OK for a few miles then very slow and
smoky in 1st and 2nd, better in 3rd and 4th - not chanced 5th!

2 Possibilities.

1) The performance deteriorated as the diesel fuel in the lines and
filters got replaced by petrol/diesel mixture which did not burn as
predicted in the design of the engine causing pre-ignition,
detonation, or whatever.

2) The performance deteriorated because the petrol in the mix had
damaged the pump/injectors.


It was (still is?) common practice to put upto 30% petrol in diesel cars to
stop waxing in very cold weather.
Isn't this what winter diesel is anyway?

On Sun, 04 Sep 2005 22:12:40 +0100, dennis@home
wrote:


It was (still is?) common practice to put upto 30% petrol in diesel cars
to
stop waxing in very cold weather.
Isn't this what winter diesel is anyway?

It was normally paraffin used for wax-proofing diesel and the Excisemen
could be very cross with you for this. Another genius method was to light
a fire under the fuel tank of a truck. Winter diesel is normally a
lower-boiling cut of the distillate which does not particularly carry the
alkanes present in petrol, more paraffin sized ones. In fact chromatograms
of distillate fuels show a characteristic bell-curve shape across the
peaks as in

http://www.sge.com/pdfs_local/applic...m/PET%2006.pdf

the Winter diesel I worked with carried a double peak, suggesting strongly
that it was a blend of two distillates, one being in the standard diesel
range of carbon numbers, and the other being slightly on the heavy side of
paraffin.

John Schmitt

--
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MartinC Wrote:
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx 10% (6
litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car.
TIA


Did you know that contaminated fuel like this is Free
All you need do is replace your engine with a
Rolls-Royce K60 :-)

-

elgorrion wrote:
MartinC Wrote:
Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx
10% (6 litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car.
TIA
I did it yesterday - put about 4 gallons of unleaded into my
LDV200 (sherpa) and topped up with about 3 gallons of diesel.
There was probably 2-3 gallons already in. OK for a few miles
then very slow and smoky in 1st and 2nd, better in 3rd and 4th -
not chanced 5th!
Been trying to find out if adding engine oil, or some form of pure
mineral oil (or olive oil a la biodiesel) would help lube the
pumps and make the mix more diesel-like, and if so in what ratio
to the petrol? Worried.

10% in a rugged old Sherpa? It'll be fine.

Steve Walker wrote:

I did it yesterday - put about 4 gallons of unleaded into my
LDV200 (sherpa) and topped up with about 3 gallons of diesel.
There was probably 2-3 gallons already in. OK for a few miles


10% in a rugged old Sherpa? It'll be fine.

4 gallons out of 10 in total sounds more like 40% to me ;-)

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:

Steve Walker wrote:

I did it yesterday - put about 4 gallons of unleaded into my
LDV200 (sherpa) and topped up with about 3 gallons of diesel.
There was probably 2-3 gallons already in. OK for a few miles



10% in a rugged old Sherpa? It'll be fine.


4 gallons out of 10 in total sounds more like 40% to me ;-)

I'd add a gallon of cheap 20-50 to rebalance the mix meself...

Steve Walker wrote:

elgorrion wrote:

MartinC Wrote:

Can I expect any bad effects from adding (accidentally) approx
10% (6 litres in 60) unleaded petrol to a diesel engine car.
TIA

I did it yesterday - put about 4 gallons of unleaded into my
LDV200 (sherpa) and topped up with about 3 gallons of diesel.
There was probably 2-3 gallons already in. OK for a few miles
then very slow and smoky in 1st and 2nd, better in 3rd and 4th -
not chanced 5th!
Been trying to find out if adding engine oil, or some form of pure
mineral oil (or olive oil a la biodiesel) would help lube the
pumps and make the mix more diesel-like, and if so in what ratio
to the petrol? Worried.


10% in a rugged old Sherpa? It'll be fine.


I'd say so as well
Just keep topping up with diesel till she runs adequately, then run her
to nearly empty.

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Just keep topping up with diesel till she runs adequately, then run her
to nearly empty.

And sell to the highest bidder.


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