Pls Help! - I Pumped Diesel In To Ma Petrol Car!

[Junkfriend]

Last night I was dead tired and stopped at the fuel stop and da guy pumped diesel in to ma Petrol Car, when I realized it was Diesel I immediately (After like 30Sec to1 minute) stopped the engine but he have already pumped 5 L Diesel in to the tank, and I think the tank had around 5-7L of Petrol at the moment.

With da help of ma friends we pushed da car to a side and drained the tank (even wiped it out with cloth) and filed it with 75 L Petrol. (we only drained the tank but didn't do much for the fuel lines/petrol filter etc).

Then da car started perfectly fine and we all went home (2-3Km ride) and there was no lag/miss or anything like and it drew perfectly smooth. But unfortunately after going home when I stopped the car, it never started there after. I tried it several times but no luck

My workshop doesn't sent techs out and the only option they give me is to tow da car to their workshop (which cost around Rs.3000-5000) so they could have a look at it.... mmm ... any ideas? my car is a 2002 Daewoo Leganza with 2.2L EFI D-TECH Engine and most of the tech's around ma aria is not every good with that kind except da workshop...

Any idea's what went wrong or what should I be doing?

Edited March 12, 2007 by Junkfriend

[miniace]

"diesel in your petrol tank is a major worry. Petrol is designed to be hard to ignite, the higher the octane rating the harder it is to make it explode just by heating it. Diesel on the other hand is made to burn or explode easily when subject to heat. So a little bit of diesel mixed with the petrol in your tank lowers the octane rating by a huge margin and your petrol engine will detonate, knock, and destroy itself in relatively quick time"

Daewoo sensors are highly vulnerable and it could be the damaged sensors caused the stall.

[Junkfriend]

Thanks machan for da quick reply and explanation, so do you think that I should strait away tow the car to the to the Daewoo workshop or have a tech look at it first? or having a average mechanic messing with it could make things worse?

"diesel in your petrol tank is a major worry. Petrol is designed to be hard to ignite, the higher the octane rating the harder it is to make it explode just by heating it. Diesel on the other hand is made to burn or explode easily when subject to heat. So a little bit of diesel mixed with the petrol in your tank lowers the octane rating by a huge margin and your petrol engine will detonate, knock, and destroy itself in relatively quick time"

Daewoo sensors are highly vulnerable and it could be the damaged sensors caused the stall.

[miniace]

Thanks machan for da quick reply and explanation, so do you think that I should strait away tow the car to the to the Daewoo workshop or have a tech look at it first? or having a average mechanic messing with it could make things worse?

An average mechanic is not recomended.Go to Daewoo workshop or a qualified engineer with all equipments. Donot try to start again

[Junkfriend]

An average mechanic is not recomended.Go to Daewoo workshop or a qualified engineer with all equipments. Donot try to start again

Thanks dude, we tow the car to the workshop and the problem was due to a faulty censer in the petrol tank, now the car starts fine but it wont rev over 4000/rpm. They say that the cars CPU? has set the engine on safe mode until the situation regulate to prevent engine damage and its perfectly normal and would be back to normal within few days. But I'm really not sure, heck I thought only PC's run on safe mode....

Edited March 13, 2007 by Junkfriend

[Supra_Natural]

Thanks dude, we tow the car to the workshop and the problem was due to a faulty censer in the petrol tank, now the car starts fine but it wont rev over 4000/rpm. They say that the cars CPU? has set the engine on safe mode until the situation regulate to prevent engine damage and its perfectly normal and would be back to normal within few days. But I'm really not sure, heck I thought only PC's run on safe mode....

the ECU (engine control unit)... and yes machan it is normal on most newer cars to have a safe mode (also called a "get home mode"), that prevents overt stress on the engine in the event of a problem.

but im not sure whether it will sort itself out though.... you might have to get it reset or something.... better check.

Cheers

[Junkfriend]

the ECU (engine control unit)... and yes machan it is normal on most newer cars to have a safe mode (also called a "get home mode"), that prevents overt stress on the engine in the event of a problem.

but im not sure whether it will sort itself out though.... you might have to get it reset or something.... better check.

Cheers

aha now I get it... da ECU not CPU (I guess I'll have to stop spending too much time with servers... what ever similar goes to ma ears as CPU...hehe), the workshop confirmed that it would be back to normal within few days ... guess I have to wait then ... wish me luck

[miniace]

machan note that car could be having multiple sensor failures.Hope workshop guys checked all.The initial signs of sensor faults are starting problems and RPM limiting.

[vshiznet]

If ur ECU has gone to safe mode just reset it and everything will be fine.

[The Don]

This reminds me of something, recently there was a big issue of petrol Contamination in the UK due to silicone being mistakenly added to petrol (its usually an additive found in diesel) and as a result a lot of cars suffered oxygen sensor failures (this was on the news)

mixing diesel with petrol might cause the same sort of contamination so it makes sense like everybody here has suggested to get those sensors checked as well, or u might have intermittent problems and also faulty oxygen sensors might affect the fuel efficiency of your car,

The Don

[Duncan]

I wouldn't worry too much. Re-set the sensors, fill the tank up and run. it should work it self out after about 2 hours of engine running time. A little bit of diesel in the engine will actually lubricate the mechanical moving parts in the engine

Its the darn sensors that over react.

To reset, you could try disconnecting the battery for about 12hours and then reconnecting. Usually does the trick with most cars.

[Junkfriend]

machan note that car could be having multiple sensor failures.Hope workshop guys checked all.The initial signs of sensor faults are starting problems and RPM limiting.

Machan they didn't do much than plugging a laptop in to the ECU and it only indicated only one failed censer. They didn't want to re-set ECU etc and I was told the ECU will switch back to normal mode soon.

Edited March 13, 2007 by Junkfriend

[The Don]

I think there is a reason behind not resetting the sensors immediately, over time the ECU would have "learned" or self adjusted itself to provide maximum efficiency and also as a reaction to the change of readings from sensors as they themselves get older etc.

When you reset an ECU all that information is lost and the ECU then would need some time before it completely re aligns itself with the engine etc, and during this time you might notice certain funny things going on,

I guess the rationale behind the guys at the workshop was to avoid all of that since the ECU will come out of safe mode in a bit anyway,

The Don

[miniace]

Machan now relax a bit and as Duncan said reset the ECU by disconnecting the power and see.no need to wait days.Good luck!

[Devinda_Z]

no major loss in resetting é ECU - it doesnt take too long to recaliberate to é optimum set up

but i gotta ask - isnt é Diesel Pump/Filler Nozzle bigger than é Petrol one?? - or rather é Petrol Filler neck on é car smaller that 'Diesel pump filler nozzle - this was a safety feature built into cars inorder to prevent this very same thing from happening...

so how on earth did é guy at é shed shove é pipe in?

[Junkfriend]

I had to drop ma mom to da airport and on da way home around 4AM da car switched backed to normal (boy it ws such a relief) and everything sounds just fine, guess I'm done with the issue guess hehe.... and thanks every one who responded ... cheers!

but i gotta ask - isnt é Diesel Pump/Filler Nozzle bigger than é Petrol one?? - or rather é Petrol Filler neck on é car smaller that 'Diesel pump filler nozzle - this was a safety feature built into cars inorder to prevent this very same thing from happening...

Well I don't think so, at least on ma car cuz da neck is defiantly 1" + (probably around 2") besides while we they where cleaning out da tank they where talking about so many stories on how they ended up filling wrong fuel en how the engines got busted etc.

so how on earth did é guy at é shed shove é pipe in?

Cuz one crazy bastard stopped his car in da wrong slot

Edited March 14, 2007 by Junkfriend

[mazdaspeed]

Thanks dude, we tow the car to the workshop and the problem was due to a faulty censer in the petrol tank, now the car starts fine but it wont rev over 4000/rpm. They say that the cars CPU? has set the engine on safe mode until the situation regulate to prevent engine damage and its perfectly normal and would be back to normal within few days. But I'm really not sure, heck I thought only PC's run on safe mode....

good show.... wow.... on safe mode like windows..... coooolllll as long as it does not crash or start hanging up like windows ....

[neXGen]

good show.... wow.... on safe mode like windows..... coooolllll as long as it does not crash or start hanging up like windows ....

luckily it aint microsoft

Devz - ya sure bout the pipe size differences ? cuz lol.. i had the pleasure of being in the same situation since my dad insisted that what he was about to pump was petrol (despite all my pleas) and voila.. diesel in a petrol tank.. after the diesel being pumped though.. ma dad questions me and asks whether it was petrol.. lol.. n i was blamed! nywayz... didnt start the car and got a mech dude come n clean out the tank.. from what i hear a lil bit of diesel wouldn hurt..

@ miniace - these bus buggers (mainly uphill routes) pump a liter of petrol to every full tank of diesel.. wouldn that have any effect on the engine?

Zz

[Junkfriend]

...

@ miniace - these bus buggers (mainly uphill routes) pump a liter of petrol to every full tank of diesel.. wouldn that have any effect on the engine?

Leyland TATA etc doesn't have any an ECU or any high end electronic parts so I guess its not much of a problem...

[neXGen]

...

Leyland TATA etc doesn't have any an ECU or any high end electronic parts so I guess its not much of a problem...

its not the ECU that bothers me but mechanical malfunctions.. i mean.. petrol n diesel are two varying fuels and have different detonation styles.. which makes me wonder..

n also.. diesel burns faster than petrol?!

Zz

[Junkfriend]

From what I heard most of da Leyland guys use lil bit of petrol for better performance, then again they know it would reduce the lifespan of their engines, but they still do it ...

[randiljosh]

luckily it aint microsoft

Devz - ya sure bout the pipe size differences ? cuz lol.. i had the pleasure of being in the same situation since my dad insisted that what he was about to pump was petrol (despite all my pleas) and voila.. diesel in a petrol tank.. after the diesel being pumped though.. ma dad questions me and asks whether it was petrol.. lol.. n i was blamed! nywayz... didnt start the car and got a mech dude come n clean out the tank.. from what i hear a lil bit of diesel wouldn hurt..

@ miniace - these bus buggers (mainly uphill routes) pump a liter of petrol to every full tank of diesel.. wouldn that have any effect on the engine?

Zz

i always laugh my a** out when i hear/see this story of urs dude anyway me too heard about the leylands running petrol... they certainly are damn good fast considering the load and size of those metal chunks...

[Asanka76]

Machan now relax a bit and as Duncan said reset the ECU by disconnecting the power and see.no need to wait days.Good luck!

Disconnecting power and trying to reset things could have a effect on your immobiliser, if your car comes with one. I think its not a bad idea to check that out first.

BTW how does it like running in safe mode. What are the controls you heve lost .. JK

[neXGen]

i always laugh my a** out when i hear/see this story of urs dude anyway me too heard about the leylands running petrol... they certainly are damn good fast considering the load and size of those metal chunks...

wel .. am always prone to the inevitable..

just read up a bit on topic.. and seems like older vehicles have a higher resistance to petrol being mixed in diesel.. they say that the injectors and sensors on the newer vehicles are way more sensitive and thus prone to malfunction if there are variations in the fuel being pumped...

so i gues tata buses are using stone age engine tech ;-)

Zz

[miniace]

@ miniace - these bus buggers (mainly uphill routes) pump a liter of petrol to every full tank of diesel.. wouldn that have any effect on the engine?

Petrol in a load of diesel boost up the octaine platform hence effective combustion performance can expect. A low capacity of diesel mixed with petrol could kill injectors.But in general its like a fuel addetive and giving enhanced efficiency.similarly a small amount of diesel in petrol system lubricate the whole system too.

MINIACE