Have just put 25 litres of petrol on top of about 5 litres of diesel remaining in the tank of my 2007 panda diesel. Got it towed back home without starting the motor, though the pump got primed a couple of times when the ignition was turned on in order to unlock the front wheels,
Will syphon off most of the fuel tomorrow and evacuate the bit remaining in the tank by disconnecting the fuel supply to the pump and turning on the ignition till I'm getting no more petrol. Then I'll refill (with diesel!) and take it easy for a tankful.

Any thoughts or suggestions?
Also: Is there a grille to prevent theft of fuel (and thus syphoning!) in tank filler?

regandavies

Woops!!

I'd bet there is an anti siphon on the Panda.

If it were me, and I found I couldn't siphon any out, I'd try fitting a hose pipe over the end of the pipe going to the filter and drain that way (as you said)

Did this on my Brava after the HG went with almost a full tank. I found the fuel pump relay and shorted it out so I didn't have to ware the key out. I don't think the Panda's ECU will tolerate this.

I'd replace the fuel filter before refilling and then prime the system a good few times before starting it, but don't know if it's essential nor any real life experience.

Let us know how you get on as I can see myself doing the same having juts got my first Diesel (a Panda sporting).

What you going to do with all the contaminated fuel?

Mrs b-u did this on her Panda MJ a few weeks after buying it - her first diesel - she realised and rang me up - fortunately she was at a local petrol station where we pushed the car off the forecourt. The AA - who wanted a colossal sum to sort it out - carted the car to our local garage who drained the tank, refilled with diesel and all was well for a very reasonable charge. I can't think that switching the "ignition" on (it isn't on a diesel but you know what I mean) a couple of times would have introduced any petrol to the pump and it should be OK - self primes with no problems.

I did the same in Switzerland with a Tipo Tds some years back - filled with petrol on the south side of the San Gottardo tunnel on our way north. Didn't realise and the car expired in a cloud of smoke several miles into the tunnel. We were shipped back to the Italian-speaking side of the tunnel, fortunately as my German is non-existent - by a towtruck driver who was highly amused as the petrol station is a BP and I was the umpteenth Brit to do the same thing in a few weeks - the petrol feed had black hoses and I'd just automatically filled up from it. We were taken to a Peugeot garage where the mechanic promptly unscrewed the top of the power-steering reservoir - when I pointed out what he'd done he got in a strop and asked, "Who's doing this job, you or me?" Anyway it cost an absolute fortune, being Switzerland, but I did another 100,000 miles or more in the car without any problems from the injection pump.

Ah I'd thought the buzzing noise was the pump priming, but I'd guess it's just an electric lift pump

I've a lot to learn here

Hi Folks!

Many thanks for your replies. I'll keep you informed as to what happens.

Regards

regandavies

I did it in the works van, but because it was the works van i didn't do anything but keep adding diesel as soon as the gauge moved, it started fantastic in the mornings but once hot it took some restarting, it did 30,000miles after that without any problems, not sure what it would do to a common rail though.

Did the same a few months ago to my Citroen, had it drained and flushed by the dealer, cost a fortune.

I was told the day after by someone who used to spend alot of time driving in countries where at times diesel wasn't available, I could have simply added a couple of litres of new engine oil to the petrol and that would have got me by until the tank had emptied and been refilled with diesel.

'IF' it ever happens again, I will try that first having been stiffed big time for a recovery and resulting work involved...

regandavies said:

Any thoughts or suggestions?

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It sounds as if you know what you are doing but on this subject, I see a van travelling around that advertises this service.

GrandeGuy said:

I did it in the works van, but because it was the works van i didn't do anything but keep adding diesel as soon as the gauge moved, it started fantastic in the mornings but once hot it took some restarting, it did 30,000miles after that without any problems, not sure what it would do to a common rail though.

Click to expand...

I had the same, partner diesel '02. £30 of petrol on about £5 of diesel. I was just driving it and it cut out. Smelt the fuel cap, and someone had put petrol in. To cover up for my fellow worker, we towed it to a fuel station and brimmed it with derv. Got it going, and ran ok ish for a while, but the same thing happened, hot starting became a problem, so we just kept getting as much derv in as poss... and it slowly got better and better...

Might have taken a few thousand miles life out of the pump beings as their diesel lubricated in modern cars, but other than that should be ok.

Instead of using the pump to remove it, I'd remove the filler pipe from the tank and siphon it from there as the anti siphon is usually in the filler neck.