some advice please

leon · #1 23-10-2007, 09:37 PM

Hi Guys, this has nothing to do with astronomy, but i thought i might ask for some advice from someone who may be able to help.

Although i am pretty handy with mechanics, i have not had to deal with this dilemma that my son has brought upon me tonight.

He decided with out thinking, obviously, to fill his car with diesel fuel instead of petrol, he noticed he had done it after the deed, then promptly rang me for advice.

Anyway we towed it home, and it has not been started since he did it, so the fuel is just in the tank, and not pumped through the engine as yet.

Would just a removal of the tank and a flush out be enough, or is there any other suggestions out there which may help me in fixing this.

Your help would be appreciated.

leon

taminga16 (Greg) · #2 23-10-2007, 09:51 PM

Leon, it is only an oil of sorts, I would think that draining the tank and a full tank of petrol might do the trick, some smoke may result until any residue diesel burns off.

Regards,

Greg.

leon · #3 23-10-2007, 10:01 PM

Good point Greg, what you say is true, if it were water it wouldn't mix at all but a little diesel residue with a full tank should mix ok i suppose, thank you.

leon

erick (Eric) · #4 23-10-2007, 10:12 PM

I agree, Leon. I think even if you just syphon out as much as you can - get the fuel gauge down to empty, the add a full tank of petrol, the residual diesel won't cause a problem.

BTW, how much petrol was in the tank when he added diesel? Did he fill the tank with diesel? Just trying to work out the relative proportions in the tank right now.

Remember the old method for getting rid of that water that accumulated at the bottom of the tank in the good old days - add a litre of metho. I've done that with a 97 Falcon, without a problem. So a bit of fuel impurity in the petrol should soon burn off.

erick (Eric) · #5 23-10-2007, 10:14 PM

Should have also asked - what's the car? Carbie or fuel injected? Could be important?

Dennis · #6 23-10-2007, 10:19 PM

Hi Leon

This happened to us in Spain once. We flew to Portugal, picked up a (petrol) hire car and drove down Portugal and ended up in Spain, where a pump attendant put diesel in the car!!!!

None the wiser, we drove off and in about 100 metres came to a spluttering halt! I walked back to the garage and using sign language got the mechanics to come and have a look. They twigged their mistake, cut the fuel pipe between the filler cap and the tank, drained the diesel on the embankment, (we kept a very safe distance!), pushed the car back to the garage, put some sort of bandage on the cut pipe, filled us up with petrol, impounded our vehicle and called the Police to make us pay for the petrol.

Anyhow, the car worked fine after that and when we returned it to the hire car company we explained that someone had damaged the pipe trying to steal fuel.

Cheers

Dennis

leon · #7 24-10-2007, 08:10 AM

Thanks Guys, I have just drained the tank and flushed it with some clean fuel and let it drip dry so to speak, I was lucky, it had a drain plug underneath so all of it was drained.

He only put 20 bucks in on top of what he had in it, and being a teenager that wouldn't have been much.

So i will fill it again and fire it up, thanks for your help, will let you know if it is ready for the scrap metal place or it is OK.

And by the way it is an older model Nissian and is fuel injected, and is a bit of a heap, cant do much more damage to it.

leon

leon · #8 24-10-2007, 09:41 AM

Thank You to all with there suggestions, all is well and good and she is running good as gold.

leon

GTB_an_Owl (Geoff) · #9 24-10-2007, 12:57 PM

the cheap way to give the head and valves a decoke in the "OLD" days was to put a cup of deisel in with the petrol

geoff

taminga16 (Greg) · #10 24-10-2007, 08:15 PM

Eric, I still use metho in my motorcycles to keep rust at bay, the heat from the engine can cause condensation in partially full fuel tanks, meths being hydroscopic absorbs any water that forms which is then burned away, so they get a half cup treatment every month.

Greg.

Quote:

Originally Posted by erick

I agree, Leon. I think even if you just syphon out as much as you can - get the fuel gauge down to empty, the add a full tank of petrol, the residual diesel won't cause a problem.

BTW, how much petrol was in the tank when he added diesel? Did he fill the tank with diesel? Just trying to work out the relative proportions in the tank right now.

Remember the old method for getting rid of that water that accumulated at the bottom of the tank in the good old days - add a litre of metho. I've done that with a 97 Falcon, without a problem. So a bit of fuel impurity in the petrol should soon burn off.