Wife Put Petrol In The Diesel Rav

[oriana]

Hi all my wife put approx 28 litres if unleaded into our d4d rav yesterday.she didn't realise so drove off after about 1 mile it missed a couple of beats and got steadly worse, she carried on to her destination about 3 miles in total with it being quite lumpy.

later it would not start but turned over well.

we got the AA out and they recoverd the car to our mechanic who drained the fuel tank blew out the fuel pipes and changed the fuel filter.he said on first start up it will be smokey and will knock a bit which it did for about 30 seconds after which all retured to normal idle.

The rav seems to be fine ticks over just as before and pulls well on acceleration infact has no signs of any damage.

my machanic says it will be fine but i am worried that there may be a problem later can any one please advise,

many thanks

[Red Yaris 54]

Hi all my wife put approx 28 litres if unleaded into our d4d rav yesterday.she didn't realise so drove off after about 1 mile it missed a couple of beats and got steadly worse, she carried on to her destination about 3 miles in total with it being quite lumpy.

later it would not start but turned over well.

we got the AA out and they recoverd the car to our mechanic who drained the fuel tank blew out the fuel pipes and changed the fuel filter.he said on first start up it will be smokey and will knock a bit which it did for about 30 seconds after which all retured to normal idle.

The rav seems to be fine ticks over just as before and pulls well on acceleration infact has no signs of any damage.

my machanic says it will be fine but i am worried that there may be a problem later can any one please advise,

many thanks

When putting petrol in a diesel vehicle the part that is most likely to fail is the fuel pump.

It looks like you may have got away with it

[bothwell_buyer]

Hi all my wife put approx 28 litres if unleaded into our d4d rav yesterday.she didn't realise so drove off after about 1 mile it missed a couple of beats and got steadly worse, she carried on to her destination about 3 miles in total with it being quite lumpy.

........................e but i am worried that there may be a problem later can any one please advise,

many thanks

You haven't tackled the source of the problem!!

A training course would be good, and add in a section on cookery - a mistake like putting petrol in could easily be made whilst cooking - eg adding rat poison to the porridge; white spirit to the Christmas Turkey sauce; frying eggs in Castrol GTX..... I mean, how serious is this?

Have you suffered any serious stomach problems recently?

Or headaches and nausea?

Or you could more easily solve it - take the credit card off her and use it to buy diesel, and frocks etc for yourself.

[Remoh1]

i am worried that there may be a problem later can any one please advise,

many thanks

tell her you have posted this on here and if she does it again you will add a picture of her face so we all know what she looks like she will probably never even go near a garage in your car again :-)

every story I have heard of this happening its always been the same, if you have no problems when you first use it after the drain clean and refill you will have no further problems from the incident

[Bodgit-fixit-run]

Gotta own up I did the same thing not concentrating. Car was 6 months old. Cost me £200.00 for Mr T to have it drained and cleaned etc. Never had any problems since. Just very embarrassed for a while. RAC man just laughed. The dealer reckons it happens on a regular basis. They a re raking in a fortune most expensive £20.00 worth of fuel I've ever bought.

If it's ok now you're not likely to have any problems from it in the future.

[anchorman]

Over several years of mechanicing I have come across many instances of this happening. If you purge out the petrol like your mechanic has done it will be fine. We used to add petrol in small proportions to stop fuel waxing in winter.

You are not the first and you won't be the last. I don't know how these T180 Piezo injectors go on but the electronic ones seem to fare OK.

I think that what would cause long term problems is say adding a large proportion and leaving it in.

Cheers

[oriana]

Over several years of mechanicing I have come across many instances of this happening. If you purge out the petrol like your mechanic has done it will be fine. We used to add petrol in small proportions to stop fuel waxing in winter.

You are not the first and you won't be the last. I don't know how these T180 Piezo injectors go on but the electronic ones seem to fare OK.

I think that what would cause long term problems is say adding a large proportion and leaving it in.

Cheers

Thanks for yor replies i feel much better now,if i search arroun the net you read alot about fuel pump promlems resulting from this,

Ps great forum

[anchorman]

Over several years of mechanicing I have come across many instances of this happening. If you purge out the petrol like your mechanic has done it will be fine. We used to add petrol in small proportions to stop fuel waxing in winter.

You are not the first and you won't be the last. I don't know how these T180 Piezo injectors go on but the electronic ones seem to fare OK.

I think that what would cause long term problems is say adding a large proportion and leaving it in.

Cheers

Thanks for yor replies i feel much better now,if i search arroun the net you read alot about fuel pump promlems resulting from this,

Ps great forum

You will only get problems if you run the fuel pump with a high percentage of petrol for a long period of time. The lubricating properites of diesel are not red hot in any case. When servicing the pump it would be quite acceptable to clean the pump with petrol with no ill affect so it will be fine. I would be more concerned about the injectors but any damage would have resulted while the petrol was in them.

[local hero]

Over several years of mechanicing I have come across many instances of this happening. If you purge out the petrol like your mechanic has done it will be fine. We used to add petrol in small proportions to stop fuel waxing in winter.

You are not the first and you won't be the last. I don't know how these T180 Piezo injectors go on but the electronic ones seem to fare OK.

I think that what would cause long term problems is say adding a large proportion and leaving it in.

Cheers

Thanks for yor replies i feel much better now,if i search arroun the net you read alot about fuel pump promlems resulting from this,

Ps great forum

You will only get problems if you run the fuel pump with a high percentage of petrol for a long period of time. The lubricating properites of diesel are not red hot in any case. When servicing the pump it would be quite acceptable to clean the pump with petrol with no ill affect so it will be fine. I would be more concerned about the injectors but any damage would have resulted while the petrol was in them.

Just to reassure you I work with 1000 black cab drivers so this is almost a daily occurence, as Anchs says older engines seemed to tolerate it better + indeed we used to put a gal of petrol to stop diesel from waxing in winter.. however it is not something you would do with modern engines, that said, you can be confident it will have done no harm..

[oriana]

Thanks for all your comments ,

i can sleep again. :)

[Robert6920]

Long ago, when I earnt my living telling pilots where to go, an Army Air Corps helicopter dropped in for refuelling. It ran on Avgas (basically 100 octane low lead petrol) but they put Avtur (as it was called in my day; now it's Jet A1 which is kerosene) in it by mistake. Oh dear. They got airborne, went about 400 yards and fluttered to the ground saying "Pan, pan, pan". They had to change the fuel and their undies.

Now a jet engine will run on pretty well anything that burns, avgas, kerosene etc. at least for a while. I think kerosene is chemically close to diesel?

[anchorman]

I'm thinking of running mine 50/50 petrol/diesel - its cheaper!!!

[Steve@Aberdeen]

I recall reading in the handbook of my first diesel car, a Ford Fiesta - a brilliant car I bought new in 1987 and kept for five years, doing over 80,000 trouble-free miles. In the section on fuel and waxing in winter (winter grade diesel was around then but, with fewer diesel cars around, you couldn't be sure when the forecourt tank was last filled) it suggested mixing a small quantity of kerosene. I don't remember the exact ratio recommended (possibly 1:4) but warned that you needed to pay tax to Customs and Excise if you used rebated kerosene (i.e. no road fuel tax had been added - generally dyed red or blue to indicate); it had a strict warning never to use petrol, something along the lines of:

Petrol is highly flammable and dangerous - you should never put petrol in the fuel tank

[Bodgit-fixit-run]

In the days of my youth I had a very small drain pit full of gravel at the low point of a patio in order to help with draining surface water. One Autumn the cover was particularly clogged with leaves which I couldn't be :censor: to pick up. I splashed a bit of petrol over the leaves thinking I'd just burn them off.

I then duly dropped the lighted match and ......................... Nothing.

So a splash more petrol was added. and another match.

Petrol is a heavy vapor which had sunk to the bottom of the pit. The initial match at the top failed to ignite it but the second splash and and match did ignite

Then suddenly there was a rather loud but dull boom and the pit emptied itself of all the leaves and the stones which proceeded to rain down on me. :censor: :censor: :censor: :wacko:

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME. :toast:

[anchorman]

I recall reading in the handbook of my first diesel car, a Ford Fiesta - a brilliant car I bought new in 1987 and kept for five years, doing over 80,000 trouble-free miles. In the section on fuel and waxing in winter (winter grade diesel was around then but, with fewer diesel cars around, you couldn't be sure when the forecourt tank was last filled) it suggested mixing a small quantity of kerosene. I don't remember the exact ratio recommended (possibly 1:4) but warned that you needed to pay tax to Customs and Excise if you used rebated kerosene (i.e. no road fuel tax had been added - generally dyed red or blue to indicate); it had a strict warning never to use petrol, something along the lines of:

Petrol is highly flammable and dangerous - you should never put petrol in the fuel tank

'trouble is, it smells if you pour it in the boot

[cabcurtains]

Having just read this i need to ask, is the affected RAV4 a common rail diesel or a fuel pump diesel as i was always told that the common rails cars would burn the injector rail out if petrol was run through them. So i am guessing this is a pre common rail car?

Or i have been fed with incorrect information

[anchorman]

Having just read this i need to ask, is the affected RAV4 a common rail diesel or a fuel pump diesel as i was always told that the common rails cars would burn the injector rail out if petrol was run through them. So i am guessing this is a pre common rail car?

Or i have been fed with incorrect information

Err - duff info I guess!

Both 4.2 and 4.3 have common rail arrangements.

I think you are referring to the older injector pumps and mechanical injectors? Both of the RAVdiesels have a high pressure pump that feed a set of electronic injectors via a single common rail. The rail is just a cast aluminium tube which holds a pressure of around 1'500bar (22,000psi - ish) and the injectors just draw on this surplus of fuel as and when instructed by the ECU. The high pressure pump can vary the pressure to some extent by using the suction control valve/s to restrict the flow but generally speaking far more is pumped to the rail than needed and the excess returns to the tank. The return is so high on a 4.3 that it runs through a cooling radiator under the floor on the way back to the tank.

I can't really see how you could burn a rail out but some of the newer injectors are piezo operated and certainly Vauxhalls (probably a Bosch system) tend to throw their hand in if petrol is added to the fuel.

If it works OK after purging the petrol out then you usually know that you are in the clear.

[bothwell_buyer]

duno what all the fuss is - I fed 20 litres of best petrol to 10 litres of red diesel in the landrover tank and it made absolutely no difference whatsoever - it started; it ran; it got to 25mph; it smoked; it overheated; so whats new???

[cabcurtains]

Fair do's anchorman, thats an informed answer

Bothy your a legend, i mean whats the difference between a 63' LR and a common rail RAV ;)

[bothwell_buyer]

Fair do's anchorman, thats an informed answer

Bothy your a legend, i mean whats the difference between a 63' LR and a common rail RAV ;)

the difference ? None - they both run in straight lines !

And yes, I do know what a common rail fuel system is - Jaguar had them and they didn't work there either!!

[Ravintow]

Fair do's anchorman, thats an informed answer

Bothy your a legend, i mean whats the difference between a 63' LR and a common rail RAV ;)

the difference ? None - they both run in straight lines !

And yes, I do know what a common rail fuel system is - Jaguar had them and they didn't work there either!!

I can confirm Bothy's comments 'cos I did a similar thing with my LR Defender (but it was legit diesel in the tank before I added the petrol) In panic I phoned my tame mechanic, who after asking how much petrol I'd put in said "don't worry mate, just put as much diesel in now as you can, and keep topping it up and it will simply 'dilute out'" -it did, absolutely no problems at all (but then it was a Landy, who are VERY 'forgiving' of such 'senior moments') - can the same be said for RAVS I ask as a complete novice to the marque and it's mind? I've also been told that a greater sin is to put diesel in a petrol engined vehicle - any comments on that?

[john1944]

Hi all my wife put approx 28 litres if unleaded into our d4d rav yesterday.she didn't realise so drove off after about 1 mile it missed a couple of beats and got steadly worse, she carried on to her destination about 3 miles in total with it being quite lumpy.

........................e but i am worried that there may be a problem later can any one please advise,

many thanks

You haven't tackled the source of the problem!!

A training course would be good, and add in a section on cookery - a mistake like putting petrol in could easily be made whilst cooking - eg adding rat poison to the porridge; white spirit to the Christmas Turkey sauce; frying eggs in Castrol GTX..... I mean, how serious is this?

Have you suffered any serious stomach problems recently?

Or headaches and nausea?

Or you could more easily solve it - take the credit card off her and use it to buy diesel, and frocks etc for yourself.

Tend to agree with you Bothwell. Is this young lady the same one who always seems to meet me coming from the oposite direction and overtaking a long line of stationery cars whilst it is my right of way, forcing me off the road and up the bank at an angle only a 4 wd could cope with; and then, whilst staring dead ahead, hardly notices my presence !!!!