Tuesday, Apr 08, 2008 at 21:43
Iwouldn't stick my hand up & give a opinion on this one but this is copied from the RACQ website Petrol in diesel vehicles
As already mentioned this is the probably the most common situation and depending on the vehicle, potentially the most costly to rectify.
It’s worth looking at the differences between petrol and diesel to understand the effect the wrong fuel will have on an engine. Firstly, diesels are correctly known as Compression Ignition Engines. That means they use the heat generated by compressing the air in the cylinders to ignite the fuel when it is injected. Diesels compress only air in their cylinders as opposed to petrol engines that compress a mixture of both air and fuel and use a sparkplug to ignite the mixture.
The fuels themselves are also quite different. The most common measure of fuel quality for petrol is its octane number, a measure of its ability to resist “knocking” or self-combustion. On the other hand, diesel’s quality is specified by its cetane number, which is a measure of its ignition properties. Simply, one is a measure of how resistant the fuel is to self-ignition and the other is a measure of how
well it ignites.
In addition the timing of injection in a diesel engine takes into account the combustion characteristics of the fuel. For instance the time it takes from the point of injection to when the fuel actually begins to burn is important in selecting optimum injection timing. Too early and the piston will still be on its way up and too late will mean that some combustion energy will be wasted. As you can imagine introducing a fuel with the wrong combustion characteristics will have a major impact on performance, and could potentially damage the engine.
Diesel fuel injection equipment relies on the fuel for lubrication. Diesel fuel has lubricating properties but petrol is a solvent that can strip lubricant from moving parts allowing metal-to-metal contact and damage to the very precisely machined (and very expensive) components.
But while an older style diesel engine may tolerate a small amount of petrol (although it definitely isn’t recommended) without too much damage, the newer Common Rail Diesels are unlikely to tolerate any level of petrol without damage. Australia has only recently begun to receive these new engines, but in Europe, where diesel engines are common in passenger cars and where Common Rail diesel engines have been in use for some time, the problems associated with mis-fuelling are
well known. In fact it has been reported that vehicle manufacturers are providing their European dealers with detailed instructions about the corrective actions needed in the event of a mis-fuel.
Obviously the extent of the work required to rectify a mis-fuel will depend on the type of vehicle and how long it has operated on the wrong fuel. But in the worst case expect a bill for several thousand dollars as rectification could require repair or replacement of much of the fuel system as
well as repairs to the engine itself if it has suffered damage. The best case, where the fuel has been put in the tank but the engine wasn’t started, will involve draining the tank, adding the correct fuel and bleeding the system of air.
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Follow Up By: Member - Roscoe ET (QLD) - Wednesday, Apr 09, 2008 at 08:14
Wednesday, Apr 09, 2008 at 08:14
From discussion I had some time ago with the service manager where I have my vehicle serviced there's a big issue with the effect petrol has on "O" rings and seals within the diesel fuel line and the common rail area.
He advised me that because petrol is a solvent it will SWELL these components which will effect the whole CRD system. From what he said the "O" rings and seals in these systems have been made for diesel and will not tolerate even a small amount of petrol.
He also advised me that contrary to some
views he had heard if you mistakenly put petrol in the fuel tank it should be drained no matter how much you put in.
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