[saket77]

^ You may have noticed acceleration lag and higher than normal smoke from the exhaust pipe. Good that it was in a small %age else the engine wouldn't start.

[lurker]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

Happened to me about a year back. My Baleno (1.6) was at about 10% when I drove into a HP pump near Palarivattom, Kochi. I always get out and stand by the attendant as he fills and I personally close the filler cap. This time I was searching for my wallet while my friend told the guy to fill for 500. By the time I got out, the idiot had already filled about 2-3 litres of diesel! Took a lot of self restraint not to punch him in the face. His explanation? "Saar valiya vandi ayonda njan diesel itte"


Translation: "Saar its a big car thats why I filled diesel"


I topped up with petrol (around 45 lites) and drove off. Didn't face any issue. By the way, I got a 500rs discount after a nice yelling match!

If you fill diesel in petrol, at max the fuel filter will clog up with the greasy heavy diesel fuel and refuse to send fuel to the injector. The vehicle will stall, stutter because of lack of fuel. But nothing more serious will happen. That is not the case with filling petrol in diesel engine esp common rail diesel and then happen to drive with it.


What will hapen is petrol being lighter will float on top of diesel and initially the car will drive well on the residual diesel in the system and by the time the petrol reaches the engine one may be in middle of a journey, travelling in midst of nowhere, crossing the boondocks etc. It will only make itself apparent at most innoportune moment.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Is it possible to use a tube / siphon fuel from BS IV vehicles? I remember there is some floating cover above the fuel in the tank to prevent evaporation which also makes siphoning impossible.

[lurker]

I believe diesel can easily be siphoned using a 12v oil transfer pump, but for petrol you would need a manual pump. Something like this here https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07GZSQRH9/..._h2oaCbP10Q3DE
because petrol has lower combustion point and anything electric can set it on fire.

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by lurker

Is there any device in India that can prevent misfuelling ?

More specifically is there any fool proof method to prevent petrol being pumped into a diesel fuel tank ??

Actually there can be a very good foolproof design solution to this:

They should make the pump nozzle and car receptor pair totally different for diesel and petrol vehicles (different diameter, clamping style, etc). I'm sure it's solveable with a little thought. Car MFRS and fuel dispenser MFRS need to work together and solve this.

[lurker]

If I am not mistaken diesel fuel pump nozzle is slightly larger than petrol nozzle so misfuelling diesel into petrol tank isn't easy.

But petrol nozzle can easily fit into the diesel fuel lid.

These nozzles were designed during era of IDI diesels, and those diesel engines were very robust and could manage to burn even biodiesel mixed with engine oil and ethanol etc. The problem arose during the generational change of CRDI engine which made petrol a purely destructive energy in a diesel.

[Kumaran93R]

Sorry for reviving an old thread.


Last night I had the unfortunate incident of filling up Rs.2000 (20.88 litres) of petrol in by 1.6 diesel vento. The car had a little under quarter of a tank of diesel left. As always, I got down from the car to fill up. I saw the sign of hi-speed diesel and wanted to fill that up, as I've been using normal diesel for a long time. The price indicator wasn't working, hence I asked the attendant how much the difference is. He said, re.2 per litre and I asked him to go ahead with the same. (God knows why neither I nor he mentioned diesel / petrol specifically). Although the word diesel has been stamped three times (on the inside of the fuel flap and twice on the fuel cap too). We have been filling up from this fuel pump regularly for the last 50 years, and they are probably the most reputed in my town.

Anyway, I paid the bill, saw that only 20.88 litres of fuel was put in and silently cursed the absurd fuel prices and left.

I drove around a km when I felt mild chocking / missing (like a poorly fuelled carb engine) and stopped the car immediately after that. I have called up my VW service engineer who was upset that I started and drove the car and has told me that he'll arrange for a road side assistance vehicle in the morning.

I have also spoken with my FNG guy, who said that I'm looking at a minimum of cleaning all the fuel lines and pump and changing the fuel filter. (All of this I'm okay with) He also said we might need to do a full service of all the fuel injectors (the injectors of the 1.6 diesel are quite poorly made to begin with) or worse change all the injectors and both the fuel pumps. Worst case scenario, he said that I was looking at a engine head work (bent valves & rocker arms) and possibly scoring of the cylinder walls and crankshaft damage. (Praying that this is not the case)

Can our experts throw some light on this? I didn't hear any knocking sounds from the engine though.

Now what am I really looking at? Should I go with getting it done at VW itself? (Higher chances of ports replacement - fuel pump and injectors) Also got two of the injectors recently replaced (around 10k kms). Would they honor the injector warranty?

Or should I go with my FNG? (Lesser chances of replacement if no permanant damage has happened, but I'm scaled of their ability to handle the complex task)

Also, the fuel pump company owner is a close relative of ours. What can I expect from them in this regard? Is it right on my part to expect them to foot the bill for the possible damage?

[Gansan]

^^ I am sorry to learn that. Can you please name the Pump, so that others can watch out while visiting? For this very reason I always get down from the car, name the fuel I want and make the pump attendant repeat it after me. I also point to the specific nozzle I want and ensure he picks it up. Then only I will open the tank flap release from under the seat.

In your place, I will go with the VW authorized workshop. The worst case scenario told by your FNG guy, is going to be the same in the company workshop also. But the expertise and parts originality will be way better. Though I don't think too much damage could have resulted from just 1 km of driving. I think you should be good to go with cleaning of tank and fuel lines/filters. Probably replacement of injectors as well.

[Kumaran93R]

The bunk is KPK Fuels, Erode. They are very reputable petrol bunk and this mishap hasn't happened once in the last 50 years of filling up there. I always ensure that I get down for filling up and did the same this time too. The pump was wrongly marked as high speed diesel. The guy who filled it up was a newbie though. And he filled up speed petrol instead. The bunk has some insurance for these mishaps and have asked me to talk with Volkswagen and share the details with them.

I am currently sitting in VW ASS and talking with the service manager. He has said that they will check the injectors and the pump and let us know. If they are fine, just a service of them should do. Else, they'll need to replace them. He has quoted roughly around 2 lacks for the same. Hopefully, it doesn't go there. But let's see. Keeping my fingers crossed. :(

[ArTigor]

Very sad to hear the ordeal, I have been through this pain and hence can provide a few inputs, this happened when I was not yet a member of Team BHP, yet this thread itself helped me a lot. I own a Diesel Tata Tigor, my father who uses the Alto K10 occasionally takes the Tigor. In the last week of February 2020, Dad got Petrol accidentally filled in the diesel Tigor without notocing it, although he had instructed the fuel attendant for diesel. The fuel attendant even missed out the Diesel sticker on fuel cap. The car travels 10km without an issue and then starts Jerking followed by clanking noise and then engine stall, father tried restarting the engine, the engine would start with a lot of vibrations but wouldn't accelerate. Till then dad had no clue what happened. Dad calls me back and narrates the jerking issue, Immediately a shocked me asked my dad which side of the fuel station did he fill fuel, to which he said the extreme left. I knew the fuel bunk very well as had been using it since 2 years, and I knew extreme left is petrol and extreme right is diesel bunk, I told dad he has filled Diesel. Dad and I were equally shocked. asked dad to just not start the engine, got the vehicle towed to ASS. Now I had good terms with my ASS guys, told them the issue, they checked the tank and confirmed it is petrol in tank as well fuel line and has entered engine too. ASS guys told me there can be 2 things that can happen.
1- The Injectors and Common Rail system is damaged, worst valves and pistons blown off too
2 - Fuel filter, pre filter and pump is damaged

If it is scenario 1, then I am staring at an expense of anywhere between 50k to 1lakh rupees.
If it is the fuel filter system and fuel line system then the expense would be 10-12k only.

They went ahead and changed the fuel filter, prefilter system, they drained all the petrol from the fuel line and engine(I don't Know how), they said the Common rail system looked good. Ran a few tests and by next day I receive a call that my car is good to go and the hole in my pocket is just 10k rupees. I got that reimbursed from the Fuel Bunk, they have an insurance for such mishaps. I have used my car almost 12000km after that and no issues faced at all, only a few hiccups were felt in Dec 2020, and I guess it was a one off incident. Last week did a Mumbai Solapur Mumbai run with some heavy footed spirited driving and my car was flying!. The common rail and fuel injectors survived, I think it is because it was a frugal Tata diesel engine, If it would have been a Hyundai or German diesel engine, I would have been staring at a huge bill.

I would suggest you to stick to VW authorized service center, anyways your expenses are getting covered by the Fuel station right? I had formally lodged a complaint with IOC they assured me I will receive the funds while settling the bill with Tata, on the other side the Fuel Bunk manager was professional enough to make the payment without any fuss hence I took back the complaint.
So whatever may be the expense stick to the authorized service center and rope in the Bunk management to make the payment at the time of settling bill directly with VW.

Hope your car doesn't suffer heavy damage internally, do keep posted for the outcomes(hopefully positive).

On a side note, as the pump was marked as high speed diesel is there a chance that its not only you who has suffered this ordeal on that day, I mean are there more car owners who met the same fate on that day? it would be terrible though.

[suranjan1983]

An absent minded petrol pump attendant hosed in 3.04 litre of petrol in my 2020 Brezza. Panic kicked in when I noticed but it's already too late. On the advice of onlookers and other drivers filled the rest of the tank to the brim with diesel, gave it a shake and drove back home. What kind of trouble am I in?

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by suranjan1983

An absent minded petrol pump attendant hosed in 3.04 litre of petrol in my 2020 Brezza. Panic kicked in when I noticed but it's already too late. On the advice of onlookers and other drivers filled the rest of the tank to the brim with diesel, gave it a shake and drove back home. What kind of trouble am I in?

It once happened to me, filled Diesel instead of Petrol. Only difference, I noticed it before starting the car and blew my fuse. The bunk attendant immediately called the ASC and they flushed out the whole tank, fuel injection pump etc and filled up the tank with petrol all for free.

Better get the car checked with ASC. Did you notice any shudder or loss of power?.

[suranjan1983]

Originally Posted by srini1785

It once happened to me, filled Diesel instead of Petrol. Only difference, I noticed it before starting the car and blew my fuse. The bunk attendant immediately called the ASC and they flushed out the whole tank, fuel injection pump etc and filled up the tank with petrol all for free.

Better get the car checked with ASC. Did you notice any shudder or loss of power?.

I drove home from the petrol pump straight after,it's Approx. 15 km. Didn't notice anything so far. The closest ASC is approx 200 km. I am not willing to take the risk of going there with this. It's a 48 litre tank with 45 diesel to 3 petrol , how much of a risk will it be if I am willing to make the trip?

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by suranjan1983

I drove home from the petrol pump straight after,it's Approx. 15 km. Didn't notice anything so far... It's a 48 litre tank with 45 diesel to 3 petrol , how much of a risk will it be if I am willing to make the trip?

The ratio seems low to cause an issue. In colder regions, i believe they do this to diesel vehicles for easier combustion.

Adultered fuel will have even worse ratio than this and that mix wouldn't be with a "cleaner" fuel as petrol.

[airguitar]

Was filling at the Shell pump today and we were casually discussing the higher fuel price at shell v/s others and I was heavily distracted. Filled diesel just for Rs.1000 into my diesel car to avoid a bigger expense and it started raining, I just paid and bolted without taking even the bill as it started raining(again!). A little later, I felt bad that I hadn't focused on the most important thing when the fuel was being filled ( I could very well have filled petrol instead of diesel while I was distracted). Came home and filled the tank to brim with Diesel at the petrol pump near by and decided to look up what would happen if I had made that mistake of filling incorrect fuel and found this thread

1. Petrol having lighter density would float over diesel and for most of us that never let our tank go to it's bottom 10%, only the diesel at the bottom would be used up all the time ( assuming the petrol was about 10 liters in a tank of 60 l ). So there is still a good chance that someone would end up saving their back even if they have started and driven quite a bit?

2. What are the early signs that that petrol was filled into Diesel CRDi and how soon does one get the symptoms?

3. What is the nature of the repair if the vehicle has stalled? What is it typically expected to cost?

Just point me to a post here or elsewhere if it is a repeat question.