[Tippo]

...did I just do that?

Put 3/4's of a tank of unleaded in my 320d today. FFS.

Actually said to myself before I left the house that I need to go and buy some petrol and thought NO I own a diesel. Got to the pump, opened the latch, twisted off the fuel cap and noted the GREEN plastic stem on the fuel cap. This probably made me pick up the damn green pump didn't it.

So about 1 mile later I realised what I did, pulled over and called BMW assist under my ext. warranty. Car taken away on a flatbed and will be at the dealers tomorrow. The recovery is covered under the ext. warranty but I ain't covered for any more work that needs doing. Hoping that BMW will not say I need a complete fuel system @ £5k. Surely just a drain and fuel filter replacement would be needed.

Anyone else done this, driven the car for about a mile and got away with it or should I be fearing the worst now? There was a 1/4 tank of diesel already in there.

What a complete mare.

[E92westy]

I did this on a previous Audi.
Local garage just drained out the petrol, flushed thru with diesel and errr that was it.
£50 sorted.
I then brimmed it with diesel and it was fine.
Don't fall for this £4k for a new fuel system bullshit.

[TMP]

omg! is the good news you stopped the car rather than the car stopping you?

[E92westy]

Originally Posted by TMP

omg! is the good news you stopped the car rather than the car stopping you?

Nope.
I brimmed it with v power petrol instead of v power diesel.
Half a mile out of the garage and it just stopped.
Strangely, I knew what I'd done straight away - idiot!

Anyhow car ran fine after being sorted for about another 10k before I changed it.
As I said, don't believe the hype...

[m1bjr]

RAC or AA run dedicated fuel recovery vans.

That would have been WAY cheaper than the dealer.

Bend over ...

[rich1068]

Isn't one way worse than the other? Petrol in a diesel or diesel in a petrol? Or is that the £4k bullshit thing?

[Tippo]

Cheers for the response feel a bit better now.

See what the dealer says tomorrow, used BMW Assist out of panic really.

Just read the below and it does not really make sense as they say don't start the ignition but also say if you have driven a bit then stop and still give them a call: http://www.theaa.com/fuel-assist/index.html

[Dr Dave]

Drain it and you'll be fine.

If car is under warranty still they will get twitchy. Agree, AA or RAC would have been a good bet.

[JonnySi]

Now its at a dealer, your warranty will be gone if you don't have the ful system replaced.

The "4k Bullshit" refers to the fact that a diesel tank is made from a different material to a petrol one, and petrol causes the tank to swell. Pump, senders and pre-supply pump are all didfferent and are damges immediately if petrol runs through them. Then the expensive bits, the high pressure pump WILL be damaged after only 1 mile, the injector seals will be swolen and need new injectors and the common rail seals will have done the same.

This view of dealers ripping people off for this are wrong. It was your mistake, and to cover the car under warranty, the job needs doing right!

[ghosty]

i thought the bmw deisels had a safety device fitted? cos i nearly did this a few months back due to lack of attention, first time i have done this since 7 years of deisel ownership!!!). the main thing that stopped me was not being able to get the nozzle into the car. i tried it a couple of times and it wouldnt go in before i realised what i was doing. then thought good shout bmw with fitting the safety thing, then i thought all manufacturers should do that!

so was that just a figment of my imagination, or was i paying even less attention that i thought i wasnt? (of course ive not tried it again since, lol)

[Tippo]

Only on post 07 cars apparently mine is an 06 reg.

Appreciate the dealers standpoint that this was my mistake but the fact that 1 person does this every 3 minutes makes it a problem also.

The UK motorist is once again been shafted and laughed at.

[xenon]

Originally Posted by Tippo

The UK motorist is once again been shafted and laughed at.

Eh?

[Tippo]

Originally Posted by JonnySi

Now its at a dealer, your warranty will be gone if you don't have the ful system replaced.

The "4k Bullshit" refers to the fact that a diesel tank is made from a different material to a petrol one, and petrol causes the tank to swell. Pump, senders and pre-supply pump are all didfferent and are damges immediately if petrol runs through them. Then the expensive bits, the high pressure pump WILL be damaged after only 1 mile, the injector seals will be swolen and need new injectors and the common rail seals will have done the same.

This view of dealers ripping people off for this are wrong. It was your mistake, and to cover the car under warranty, the job needs doing right!

Is this for warranties sake though or would the car run ok with limited damage? Someone is lying here either the people who had cars that were just drained or the dealers with their 4k worth of work that needs doing.

[Tippo]

Originally Posted by xenon

Eh?

Just the fact that it has taken till now for a car manufacturer to put a safety adaptor on the car. The fact that pumps in France for example wait for you to confirm again what fuel you have picked and then pump it into your car but not here. Sorry just a bit peeved at the mo.

[xenon]

I see. With hindsight the AA or RAC would have pumped it out of the tank, re-filled with diesel and that would be that. As you had a quarter of diesel in there anyway the tiny distance you drove would have done no harm. Now BMW are involved they'll probably require component replacement or cancel the warranty.

As for the tank swelling by putting petrol in instead of diesel I cannot see how that would be possible, given the similar chemical properties of diesel and petrol (almost identical from a solvent point of view) and the fact that the tanks, both diesel and petrol, are made from PU. That sounds like bollocks but I stand to be corrected with evidence.

[e92liv]

Before my 320d I had a 1.7 Diesel corsa, the mother put £20 of petrol in it once, and drove it not realising till it starting running odd (10mile or so) she managed to get it home

Me and a mate found the fuel lines under the car, drained the petrol, put a jerry cans worth of diesel in the tank, was a bit reluctant to strt at first, but it did and was very rough and smokey, I revved the balls off the thing till the smoke cleared then took it for a spin. It was fine, told a few mechanics and they said don't worry the petrol would just of cleaned the engine? Never had any problems! I wouldn't worry..

If I were you I would ask for the car back, and take it to a local garage or try RAC/AA

[E902717]

Our production manager did it on Saturday night put £20 worth of petrol in his diesel Mitsubishi Warrior, he called the AA out on Sunday and they come and sorted it, drained the tank re-filled with Diesel and put an additive in took 40 mins and cost him £213.00.

The guy from the AA said he does 4-5 a day

The dealer is going to bend you over and shaft you without even taking your pants off, seriously straight through the material.

[Tippo]

Originally Posted by xenon

I see. With hindsight the AA or RAC would have pumped it out of the tank, re-filled with diesel and that would be that. As you had a quarter of diesel in there anyway the tiny distance you drove would have done no harm. Now BMW are involved they'll probably require component replacement or cancel the warranty.

Yep found all this out myself AFTER the event at the time I was just in a panic mate. As you can tell I have not done this before and hope to God I don't do it again!

Update on the car. It is now sitting at Sytner Oldbury (thought it would go to Wolves but THANK GOD it didn't) and they called me to say it will cost about £700 to drain it, replace fuel filter, fill with diesel and give it a go and see what happens. No mention of the warranty being invalid so we'll see on that front. Just glad that they did not me give the 4k job straight off at least.

Now got to work out how to get from work to Oldbury later, assuming it is done today.

[xenon]

I understand - good luck, hopefully BMW won't insist on replacement. It used to be the case that you would add some petrol to diesel in the winter months to try and stop the diesel waxing. I can't see the amount you did causing damage but ultimately if BMW say the warranty is cancelled if you don't replace components there may not be much you can do

[Tippo]

Warranty is pay as you go anyhow so if it gets cancelled then thats that tbh.

That's how I feel at the mo.

[rs939]

A friend had a 330d at 90k miles he put petrol in it after 1/2 mile pulled over after think the car didn't feel right, Long story short BMW wanted to replace the engine 10k bill, he told them to stuff it and took it to a diesel specialist in Kent they drained the tank and it ran fine until 170k miles and 2 injectors gave up. The car now has 225k miles and still going strong.

[HighlandPete]

There is the other side of the story, where swarf is present in the system and issues follow, in either short to mid term. But who wants to attribute injector or pump failure, further down the line to mis-fuelling?

But it happens.

HighlandPete