[Jaggu]

Tank up full so that the effect is minimal, 100 ml should not be disastrous. Lucky you!

[Guna]

Originally Posted by clevermax

I searched for a similar thread, but could not find any. If there's a similar thread, mods please merge this post.

Yesterday I was refueling my Punto MJD and noticed the lady at the pump had put the extra premium petrol's nozzle into my car. I stopped her just when she started pushing the handle. So at least 100ml of Petrol got in.

I think if the fuel which is fed in to the engine has just 0.5% petrol, it should not affect anything. but if the weight/specific gravity of both fuels are different and if petrol either float or settle as a layer and if only petrol is being picked up by the pump, then there would be a problem.

[supertinu]

Originally Posted by clevermax

I searched for a similar thread, but could not find any. If there's a similar thread, mods please merge this post.

Yesterday I was refueling my Punto MJD and noticed the lady at the pump had put the extra premium petrol's nozzle into my car. I stopped her just when she started pushing the handle. So at least 100ml of Petrol got in.

Then the tank was filled with diesel for Rs. 800/-. So the tank had about 99.5% diesel and 0.5% petrol as per my calculation.

Could this minimal quantity of petrol damage the engine/fuel pump or even the fuel filter?

I have noticed no change in the car's behavior, engine is as smooth as before, no increase or decrease in power or engine sound.

From the ratio it probably may not be catastrophic impact for the engine, though I am not expert to back that up. But I think definitely doesnt hurt to check with dealership to avoid any issues.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Tank up full so that the effect is minimal, 100 ml should not be disastrous. Lucky you!

Yes, that's what I did, the tank was made almost full.

Originally Posted by Guna

I think if the fuel which is fed in to the engine has just 0.5% petrol, it should not affect anything. but if the weight/specific gravity of both fuels are different and if petrol either float or settle as a layer and if only petrol is being picked up by the pump, then there would be a problem.

Originally Posted by supertinu

From the ratio it probably may not be catastrophic impact for the engine, though I am not expert to back that up. But I think definitely doesnt hurt to check with dealership to avoid any issues.

Thanks guys, that's reassuring... I am also looking for an expert opinion. Just wanted to know whether there can be any problem which can slowly build up until I burn all that oil in my fuel tank which contains very little quantity of petrol. The car has only ran about 30Kms after this, the distance from the pump to my home.

I am assuming that petrol and diesel are miscible, is that correct? Google says they are

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Let me give you expert opinion
This thing happens almost every week at my bunk so let me assure you 100 ml will not make an iota of a difference in your car. I have seen cabbies deliberately putting upto a litre of petrol in their tanks while topping up diesel saying it will clean up the injectors much to my astonishment !! But heck why would i argue with a guy whose cab has done more than a 2 lakh kms in under 3 years..lol

[lancer_rit]

@clevermax, lucky you! If there was to be an effect, your car would have stalled within a short distrance of the diesel going in.

The correct process, is to drain out all the fuel ... Typically diesel fuel pump, injectors etc gets busted when petrol is used! High cost of replacement parts...

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

I have seen cabbies deliberately putting upto a litre of petrol in their tanks while topping up diesel saying it will clean up the injectors much to my astonishment !!

Well injectors are cleaned with petrol, but using it by mixing in diesel tank and running? Well very bold

[sgiitk]

A small amount of petrol is not fatal.

I think I read somewhere that in the US once when thy trucked diesel all over not withstanding the basics that in a cold region to prevent gumming the diesel is a bit different the advice was to dilute the diesel with petrol to prevent the gumming due to cold.

[babu.sundaram]

Diesel is heavier than petrol. This mean that petrol would keep floating on diesel. Fuel intake point should be near the bottom of the tank. So petrol wont be sucked into engine unless fuel reaches that level.

This apart, petrol evaporates far far faster than diesel.

Put together, if you keep tanking up before (say, half tank), petrol would never reach. (And by the time it does, most should have gone in air.
Wow! this means upto say couple of liters no damage!

With diesel in petrol car, this should work reverse and should affect very quickly (may be tolerable to a fraction of dead volume).

Originally Posted by clevermax

Yes, that's what I did, the tank was made almost full.

In summary, no impact can happen if petrol were to damage the engine!

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

Let me give you expert opinion
This thing happens almost every week at my bunk so let me assure you 100 ml will not make an iota of a difference in your car. I have seen cabbies deliberately putting upto a litre of petrol in their tanks while topping up diesel saying it will clean up the injectors much to my astonishment !! But heck why would i argue with a guy whose cab has done more than a 2 lakh kms in under 3 years..lol

Thanks! This is the exact expert reply I was looking for! Compared to those cabbies, very very less quantity got into my car.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

A small amount of petrol is not fatal.
I think I read somewhere that in the US once when thy trucked diesel all over not withstanding the basics that in a cold region to prevent gumming the diesel is a bit different the advice was to dilute the diesel with petrol to prevent the gumming due to cold.

Thanks sir, good to know that..

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by babu.sundaram

Diesel is heavier than petrol. This mean that petrol would keep floating on diesel. Fuel intake point should be near the bottom of the tank. So petrol wont be sucked into engine unless fuel reaches that level.

This apart, petrol evaporates far far faster than diesel.

Put together, if you keep tanking up before (say, half tank), petrol would never reach. (And by the time it does, most should have gone in air.
Wow! this means upto say couple of liters no damage!

With diesel in petrol car, this should work reverse and should affect very quickly (may be tolerable to a fraction of dead volume).


In summary, no impact can happen if petrol were to damage the engine!

Actually, both mix with each other perfectly homogeneously - there is no floating.
Very "crudely" put Crude oil = solution of different hydrocarbons.

[babu.sundaram]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Actually, both mix with each other perfectly homogeneously - there is no floating.
Very "crudely" put Crude oil = solution of different hydrocarbons.

Sorry, I stand corrected. (Got mislead by the different densities / specific gravities! ).

[sirius1845]

a mix of diesel and 5% petrol is not disaster. infact i have seen bus drivers do the same . they say it cleans the injectors and also gives better pickup.

[woof]

Never thought that this will happen to my vehicle.

Yesterday, my driver by mistake filled about 1000 bucks of petrol in my Swift Vdi, and drove around 40 kms with it. Unfortunately, the tank didn’t had much diesel before.

In the late evening, when my dad tried to crank the car, it didn’t started. It was then we realized that the driver must have filled petrol instead of diesel.

I know the extent of damage could be huge, and will have deep impact on my pocket. But, can somebody please tell, what should I do in this situation? I have already asked Maruti helpline to come to my place and checkout my vehicle at home itself. What should I ask mechanic to specifically check, after draining out all the petrol?

Really worried… right now! Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Mister_M]

Team, slightly "" but still must be an interesting point here.

I am just wondering how things worked with Auto-Rickshaws in many small towns in India. (Recall our Late 1980s or early 1990s)

When I was a little boy, I used to go to school by Auto. Our Drunkard-Auto-man used to pick around 10 to 12 kids to school and this is a similar case with ample other school-Autos. (Thank god this scene has already changed extensively in the past years, school commuting is comparatively much safer today!!!).

As far as we have seen, he used KEROSENE to run the vehicle. The smoke emission used to be Terrible from behind the Auto-Rickshaw, even causing irritation to eyes when exposed directly to. He would even say to us - at times he would mix >>kerosene+petrol+arrack (the banned liquor form)<< as it worked much cheaper for him. (Not really sure how true it was)

Now irrespective of what trial & error he had made, 100% he didnot use pure-petrol for running this machine (proven by the smoke, efficiency, engine noise, etc..). Considering the fact that old era Auto-Rickshaw is also an automobile (probably 2-stroke), it should have had some basic definition on fuel. But how did such Auto-walas manage to run with heavily adultrated or sometimes even a totally different fuel?

I am sure many fellow BHPians should have seen similar examples in the past. How do you guys relate our modern-day problem of filling wrong fuel to our modern machines with such olden-age case studies we have come across??