Matt Evans

A guy who works with me put £30 of unleaded in his missus's Jaguar X type Se (same 2.2 tdci engine as the Mondeo ST Tdci) and drove it 10 miles before it made a horrible racket and conked out!

I reckon its probably knackered the pump, but his son whos a mechanic said it'll be fine once the tank/fuel lines are drained??

Anyone on here had similar experiences and what was the outcome?

It's Czech Mate

I'd say it will be a lot more fucked than just a new pump if they drove it till it 'conked'

Milkybar Kid

i would say the engine is fubar mate

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Very likely to be totally fucked.

Happened to a chap on a forum I used to go on, the petrol destroyed the pump within 3 miles, sending shards of metal down the fuel lines, through the injectors and into the engine.

Luckily for him it was a brand new car, and it was the dealership that filled it with unleaded, apparantely the bill to put it right was into the thousands of pounds....

Matt Evans

I think its a lot more serious than he does at the moment - apparently the tank was almost empty of diesel when he put the unleaded in (he always runs them almost dry before filling up LOL), so it would have been running on pretty much neat unleaded.

Im amazed it got 10 miles TBH.

rs-tuner

iTrader: (1)

thats unlikely the metal would struggle to get passed the fuel filter thats if it had damage the pump it might have conked out because of the fuel

tabetha

The problem with the more modern stuff is it tends to swell seals and jam things in the pump, no metal would have got down to the injectors, I would drain all then try a start on diesel all you can do, but if it's someone else's fault leave it to them.
Older diesels would be no problem, just refill with diesel and off you go again.
It is possible to completely wreck engines though, luck of the draw a lot of time.
tabetha

Matt Evans

That was my advice tbh, drain as much of the petrol out and try it on diesel. If its fucked then start looking further into it!

He's got an local garage out to recover the car today and have a look at it. I'll let you know how bad it gets!

dreamer

It would have used whatever diesel was left in it then gone to run on unleaded and bang.........white smoke....stop-so i was told years ago anyway

AlexF

pump, injectors, fuel tank, lines...

not cheap!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

as alex has said, it's going to be costly as you need to replace everything in the fuel system because it's been contaminated

so you start with the fuel tank, work your way along the fuel lines, filters, pimp, injectors, etc

our drivers have done it a few times, when we've had the bill back from ford/mercedes, it is always in the region of £3-4k

swap the filters, oil, blow through the lines with air to clean them up, flush everything through with clean diesel, then part chop it in for another jag

Matt Evans

Sounds like a good night out to me TBH Dojj!

The Jag's in the garage now, they have drained the tank / flushed and refilled, and surprise surprise it wont start on diesel!

He is still adamant its a "minor issue" PMSL!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

it's probably fucked the pump then

ask if he's realised that the diesel lubricates the pump as well and the petrol doesn't and see if he's going to open his wallet up

dojj

iTrader: (3)

also, if it's anything like the mondeo, the injectors need coding when they go back in, so this is a trip to the ford/jag dealership to possible solve, so it might need a flatbed

Matt Evans

I think when the full dawning of the financial fisting he's about to receive hits home, his bum holes gonna open up the most!!!

AlexF

It'll only need re coding if they change the injectors for new ones.

Benni

My Dad did this. Even when fixed it was never the same. Couldn't keep up with my Cousins fiesta and was awful on fuel.

Benni.

DaveZS

Chap at work did this just before handing back the car, was a 2.0 td x type. The final bill was well over 3k!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

that's the throey mate, but loads of peeps on the mondeo site unplug them to clean them, then find they won't work until they are coded

AlexF

Don't un-plug with the ignition switched on then LOL

ghigo

and make sure there plugged in in the same order,

James

Cleaning injectors at home?

We might be doing things wrong at our ford dealership i work at but all we do is drain the tank, blow out the lines new fuel filter, £15 worth of diesel and they start and run fine. Even a smax that was driven until it stopped re-started and was ok afterwards.

.Ross.

iTrader: (2)

Ah ... I've put Petrol in diesel tanks before to stop fuel gelling if the heater was on the fritz ..

£30 as a % of capasity is a little extreme .. You might be ok .. Might be ££££ worth of head ache ..

little bram

fuckin hel lads, i work at ford and like jame said we just drop the tank clean the lines and put a new filter on and put some fuel in, iv never when as far as putin pumps and injectors in

rs-tuner

iTrader: (1)

i worked at skoda and they were the same drain the tank new filter new diesel and they started and run ace

Barry_GTi

I have done a few Audi/VW's that have had petrol and they generally are fine if you get it flushed well.

However, we had a guy with a Touareg R50 with only 6000km's on it, he completely fucked his. Was filling up from a tank of diesel he had on his farm, done 10 tanks and on the 11th he got the dregs at the bottom, had diesel bug in it and water. Car was running rough and cutting out, we told him not to drive it and get it recovered and he took it on a 300km road trip.... 10 new injectors, 2 new fuel pumps etc etc, ended up costing the guy around $25k NZD.

Car is now for sale through us at $150,000NZD he paid $195,000 just 8 months ago, so he lost $70k in 8 months.....

dojj

iTrader: (3)

it all depends on how far it's been driven though doesn't it, when it's popping and banging it's normally fucked

little bram

no mate, when it starts to run on the petrol it will run realy bad so you will no theres somthink rong and if its just petrol it will not run so it shoudnt fuk

dojj

iTrader: (3)

from my experience, and i've had at least 6 i can count, it's never been like that

one of our vans filled up from empty at heathrow, went all the way to margate, then concked out on the M25 at junction 10, so well over 200 miles on purely petrol

another one had about a tenner of petrol on it, diluted with the rest of the tank worth of diesel that we drained and went into ford about 3 months later with the pump fucked

we've paid for 3 fixes so far though and they've always been north of £3k so perhaps your examples are just filled up and not run?

AlexF

Dojj - in general its not mate - your experience is spot on.

Its the clearance in the pump that are the issue - the diesel acts as the lubricant, petrol however does not!

dan-dan

iTrader: (1)

I agree with this lad put new diesel in plus a filter and run the car you will find it will probably be ok.

I work for a mercedes dealer and we have vans and trucks come in which have ran on diesel till it stopped we just drain the tank fill with diesel plus a new filter then run it up every vehicle has always ran fine after, and i have seen probably 15+ in 3 years.

Besides its his cheapest option at the minute so worth a shot regardless

st3v3

the pump clearances are set so fine now a days that they will fook up with the petrol going through, thats not to say they will straight away but they will sooner or later and its more likely to be sooner.

dojj

iTrader: (3)

see my question below mate

how long after you've changed the filters etc have those same vehicles come back in for remedial work to the fuel system? or do they get done under warranty or some places else that is cheaper than merc or ford main stealers?

cos231180

Worked for arnold clark ford and had one. Mondeo 2.0 tdci which had petrol put in, no one owned up so the car was started and used until it stopped working. Tried draining, cleaning, refilling. No use.

In the end needed new injectors at a dealer cost of £2500!!!

I hope for his sake a drain and refill works, if not get it traded in!

Just don't come to me or any traders on here or he'll get a kick in the sacks!!

Good luck, let us know the outcome

tony

dan-dan

iTrader: (1)

None never get any problems at our dealer and if it went else where we would here about it because we was last to work on it. never change anything more than the filter and put fresh diesel back in, infact i know of a vehicle that has ran on petrol and is still going now with no problems i personally dont think you will get many problems from a common rail pump

AlexF

dan-dan,

as an ex ford diesel R&D I can assure you that it is more often than not a major problem!

dan-dan

iTrader: (1)

ford diesels are obviously shite then....buy a merc diesel no problem

Matt Evans

Update time

The car is now running, they eventually got it started by some means (probably easy start ) but its running none the less.

All they did was drain / flush the tank and lines and put £20 of derv in it.

Took them nearly a day of faffing about to get it going mind you.

Time will tell to see if it lasts or not?

Cheers for the tips/advice etc guys!

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Glad to hear its going again - but as with above posts, the damage has already likely to have been done.

Tell him to get it traded in before the pump gives up

Matt Evans

I have done Rich, lets hope he listens to my advice LOL