Unleaded Fuel In Diesel

STEVO

New Member
2018 T6 Caravelle.
Put unleaded in diesel T6 and drove for 2km, now awaiting tow home.
Can empty tank, filter, lines , what else should I do?
How could I have been so dumb?
Stevo
 
Feel for you there... Cross your fingers the hpfp is not ruined..

You would need to run the lift pump a number if times to prime the system.
 
2018 T6 Caravelle.
Put unleaded in diesel T6 and drove for 2km, now awaiting tow home.
Can empty tank, filter, lines , what else should I do?
How could I have been so dumb?
Stevo
I've done it mate.. think it was 30£ I put in.. didnt want VWassist to get involved so filled the remainder with D and cracked on..
my fault.. my cost!.
 
I know another T6 this has happened to :whistle: ran until it conked and it was a simple fuel drain full tank of derv and on the way, no problems since and it was circa 2 years ago at least
 
Perhaps most importantly, how much diesel was in there, and how much petrol did you put in ?

Pete
 
-how much Derv was in the tank before you filled up?
-how much petrol did you add ontop?
-what happened 2k down the road?
 
It’s a total guess but I’m assuming runs very lumpy smokes like a trooper then cutouts unless you stand on the throttle
 
different engine . . . . . . but same principle. ( VW Tdi + VCDS + Drain + fix )



.
 
Thanks for your advice everybody.
Unfortunately was nearly empty tank prior to the fill up with wrong fuel.
Thought I heard a cough from engine, immediately turned engine off and glided off the road as it hit my brain about the fuel at the same time.
Balmy 22 degrees centigrade here tonight, so doing a nightshift to fix.
Will let you know how it goes!
Just did a 10,500 km trip across Australia and back with the family and a camper trailer behind and never missed a beat (with the correct fuel!)
 
I am not used to working on fancy new cars and don’t have all the test equipment, but emptied the tank through the return and supply lines at the filter as much as I could, emptied and re-filled the filter.
Did not manage to flush the rest of the lines as good as I had hoped.
I filled the tank to full with diesel and will refill to full as soon as a quarter of the tank is used to minimise the dilution ratio of the diesel.
Have done this three other times to older diesel vehicles in the past, two of which had been driven until they stopped, and all were fine.
However this newer technology of higher pressures and finer tolerances in pumps and injectors is a bit unknown to me so I will be on the edge for the next few months.
 
Good luck @STEVO , hope it works out ok for you and there’s no lasting damage.

@Fish how did you get on with the £30 of unleaded in? Did it result in any lasting damage or did the dilution trick work ok?
 
Good luck @STEVO , hope it works out ok for you and there’s no lasting damage.

@Fish how did you get on with the £30 of unleaded in? Did it result in any lasting damage or did the dilution trick work ok?
Latter,been ok since. Learnt lesson tho..lol. nothing reported on services or health checks and Dale(Listers) was aware of it.
 
Latter,been ok since. Learnt lesson tho..lol. nothing reported on services or health checks and Dale(Listers) was aware of it.

That’s good news. Not that I’d add unleaded on purpose, but it’s good to know it can cope with some misfuelling! Long may it continue.
 
I think if this happens its best NOT to involve VW as they will immediately invalidate the warranty.
As mentioned above, I have done this in the past (Not in my T6), topped it up with Diesel and after a bit of lumpy running it was fine.
I remember running and old Mk 2 Escort van and the garage advised to put a small amount of petrol in with the diesel to stop the diesel from freezing in cold weather. Again in years gone by, the same trick would work to clean the injectors if you had a smokey diesel.
A diesel engine will run with a very diluted petrol content, its just the modern technology and sensors that cause all the problems.
 
My business partner's wife has twice filled up a petrol car with diesel and it seems this is much much worse than the other way round
 
Back
Top