Diesel in a 2.0 liter [B200K] petrol engine (Advice needed)

[arpi2390]

Hi everybody!

I'll shortly explain what happened. Yesterday just before new year I went to the petrol station to get some gasoline because I was low on fuel and I was heading out of town to a new years eve party. I stopped at the station and sometimes there are personnel from the station who fill up instead of you to make the process faster because than you can go in and pay while the guy fills up. So I told the guy at the station that I want gas for 40 RON (about 8.5 pounds). I went in payed for it and got in the car, it started smoothly and I drove out but I had to pick somebody up so I stopped on the side of the road just about 20-25 meters from the station, to call her...then the car just died, I started it again because I thought it was because of the cold weather (-15 degrease Celsius) then it died out at 2000 rpms... I took out the receipt from my pocket and I saw that I just bought 8,6 liters of EURODIESEL5 which was by now probably in the carb.

We couldn't drain the tank last night because I had to leave for the party... So we will be doing it today. My questions are, what to do after we drained the tank? Should I drain somehow the carb? Can I drain the carb? Are there any major issues that I should worry about or will the engine handle this...?
I know that I should drain the tank, than fill it up with a little petrol then drain it again to get the remaining diesel out than do that with all the fuel lines and change the fuel filter. Should I take the spark plugs out?

I couldn't have started the year in a better way... I've just replaced spark plugs, wires and fuel filter because of the cold, but the guy from the station is going to pay for his mistake and if I need anything to replace I'll make him pay for it.

Thanks for any advice.

[arpi2390]

I'm back with the problem solved (Well I hope it is.) That little 2.0 l Volvo engine is a fighter!

We emptied the tank, drained almost all of the fuel out trough the front from the line which goes in the engine bay. It was a slow process because we didn't have a pump so we had to let it flow out on it's own. After draining it out we pushed the car back to the pump, filled it up with about 20 liters of 95 unleaded petrol and turned the key... Well nothing happened because the battery was flat because I cranked the engine a bit without the spark plugs in it with the hope that it would drain the carb somehow and the excess fuel would somehow exit Well, I'm not a mechanic so I tried everything that I could think of that could help a bit. I cleaned off my spark plugs prior to putting them back.
But luckily there was a guy at the petrol station who gave me some juice. I cranked the engine a few times for about a minute and it started up but gradually died so I started it up again and the rpm's got steady I left it for about a half a minute at 3000 rpm's to burn the diesel out and I came home It isn't pulling that well yet, I'll clean the spark plugs again tomorrow and hopefully the engine didn't sustain any damage...

My advice is if you put fuel in, always check twice! If somebody from the station puts fuel in watch him until he grabs the right pump and puts it in your car and after that check the receipt when you get it. I was lucky that I stopped to make a phone call just as I exited the petrol station.

Have a happy new year everybody!!!

[sven360]

Result.

Fill her up yourself next time!!

Because you didn't get far on diesel I'm reckoning she'll be cured after next fill of petrol.

[Hell Driver]

I did the same thing last summer (my fault ) only with the 1.7. Simple to cure. In my case the tank draining was harder cos of no drain pipe but used hand pump then cars own fuel pump (take off return fuel line from pump) to empty the last bit. Top up with petrol and all ok. Even used the diesel petrol mix very gradually by mixing a bit in each time I fill up. In levels of less than 2 litres of 50/50 mix per 45 litres tankfull. In the old days before modern petrol, drivers used to add a bit of diesel each fill up to aid lubrication (or so a mechanic told me once!). Don't do this with modern, oversensitive cars however, they don't like it and can be damaged!

[whiskeyonesix]

Glad the car seems ok now. I hope you gave the petrol station guy a bollocking for putting the wrong fuel in!!

[volvosneverdie]

Well done dude.
Good save.

[arpi2390]

Well I won't let anyone near my fuel tank again... Standing for 3 hours in -15 degrease draining the tank wasn't fun.
I don't think I will reuse the fuel because it's to cold, I would and up with my spark plugs fouled maybe in warmer weather at summer or I'll just give it to one of my friend who owns a few semi trucks, maybe he can use it. Maybe I'm imagining things but the engine's not as loud even at 5000 - 5500 rpm's as it used to be.

Well the guy paid for the 20 l of petrol and my fuel filter. I didn't really want to ask for more, we all do mistakes and he isn't really paid too much, all he does is he fills up cars even by paying me for the gas he gave about 1/7-th of his monthly earnings... I got my fuel replaced so that's ok.

Thanks, I love that car as soon as I got up after the new years eve party I went and checked out if it's ok because I parked it close to the town center, you never know what can happen at new year and I started draining the tank right away I was so relieved when it started up...

Be careful what you put in your little engine, these 2.0 liter little monsters are fighters but I wouldn't like to try it again

[Ride_on]

A bit late to say this but the 2 sides of the tank are connected by a largish pipe behind one of the shield plates, this will drain the tank in minutes but you might need a spare bit of pipe and something to plug it while you swap out containers.

The carb could be mostly emptied by pumping the accelerator, and you could also pour some petrol down the throat to get it running and clear out the other pipes. It may still be difficult to clear/dilute the pressure regulator/new filter and pipes.

[mat_91]

what has the garage said about this on the other note i put about 8ltires of diesel in my 1.4 some time back i couldnt be bothered draining it so just brimmed it whit petrol and all thou all times did sound ruff and smoked a little but it ran fine you just had to keep an eye on the oil level as the diesel can soak throu the rings and hydro-lock the engine up jbut after the diesel has been mostly ran throu just drop the oil and put some fresh in

[pettaw]

If you just put a bit of diesel in, you can sometimes just get away with brimming the tank, but be careful, because the diesel is a heavier fuel than petrol, if can sink to the bottom of the tank if the car sits for a while, so you can get a very dieselly mix again. Mostly in our old cars a bit of diesel won't do any harm, however, its very bad for catalytic convertors and oxygen sensors and probably not altogether good for the injection systems, but that's OK because modern cars have a narrow fuel nozzle in the tank filler so only an unleaded nozzle will fit.

Very easy to put petrol into a diesel though......Hear of that one much more often.