Unleaded in my diesel X5....oops

[Stevejspm]

:-[....quite embarrassing but I've just put 1 litre of unleaded in then realised what I was doing, I've completely filled the tank right up with diesel. The car seems to drive fine but my question is....am I likely to have done any damage, potentially?

[Benstan]

A proper answer will be along shortly.  If it's running ok, I'd keep it topped up as much as you can over the next few days (to increase the dilution)

Good luck (and there but for the grace of God go the rest of us)

[4687ah]

As has already been said i cant give you a technical answer, but i would imagine you will be fine as its only a small amount.
I think that it used to be the done thing in the past to put a small amount of petrol into a diesel tank to make it run slightly hotter in very cold weather and i would be interested to know if thats true or just an old wives tale. i also realise that engine technology has moved on a lot, so it may only be true in the golden, olden days.

[POC]

[quote="Benstan"]
A proper answer will be along shortly.  If it's running ok, I'd keep it topped up as much as you can over the next few days (to increase the dilution)

Good luck (and there but for the grace of God go the rest of us)
[/quote]

Solid advice, 1 litre in the tank will do no harm, keep filling her up. At least you didn't brim it and have to chuck £120+ of fuel away!

[Stevejspm]

Thanks for all your advice, I was quite sure it would be ok but was looking for some reassurance. My wife weren't too happy though & accused me of suffering from dementia! I'm only 41!
It's going on a motorway run tomorrow so I'm hoping a good blast will help. I'll certainly keep it topped up though. Having said that...will topping it up help, I read the unleaded will float to the top (therefore will always sit there unless I run te tank low). Do diesel & petrol mix?

[Horizon]

Years ago, we used to mix 10% petrol to 90% diesel in our trucks in winter to stop the diesel waxing in the cold. That was before they started putting an anti waxing additive in the diesel.
One or my work mates put 20 lts of petrol in his van last week before he realised his error. He brimmed it with diesel with 80 lts. It's been fine since, I would keep topping up with diesel if your concerned to lessen the concentration. One litre won't do any harm

[Reusch]

A friend of mine who drives diesel vans put £40 of diesel in his Subaru started it and drove across the forecourt then realised his mistake, had it towed to his local garage they drained the tank  then brimmed it with petrol and gave it a mighty blast on the motorway there was louds of white smoke that was 2 years ago and it's still going great lucky sod  ).Yours will be fine mate.

[gobiman]

If it cheers you up, I filled my old bone empty 3.0d with over £100 of unleaded - late night at a motorway services. Drove off and then came to grief as lots of smoke spilled out the back about 10 miles down the road.
Recovered to local BMW dealer, cleaned and new injectors  (£300) and was fine thereafter.
Small amounts are no issue and even larger amounts are recoverable.
I'm told the other way round (diesel into petrol) is generally disastrous.

[Benstan]

[quote="Stevejspm"]
I read the unleaded will float to the top (therefore will always sit there unless I run te tank low). Do diesel & petrol mix?
[/quote]

Dunno, but it's a good excuse to drive through the bends like a hoon - in the interests of keeping the fuel nicely mixed of course.

[huck]

Dodged a bullet there! My brother borrowed my X3 a few years ago and filled it up with unleaded. And drove it. Till it died.

Not good.


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Huck (iPhone mode!)

[Raj]

Putting petrol in a diesel isn't as much of an issue compared to the other way round of putting diesel in a petrol.

Lucky though it was only 1 litre and so will have no adverse effect.

[X5Sport]

Should be fine.  Petrol is a problem in diesels as the fuel is used to lubricate key parts of the fuel pump and injector systems.  More than a few BMW Owners (and other mis fuelled types) who have have driven diesel cars with high percentages of petrol in them have had to replace their engines and fuel systems due to destroyed seals and parts getting into the engine.  It doesn't happen to everyone, but I know of at least one 530d owner who had to pay out thousands for a new engine as it wasn't covered by a warranty.

1-litre in 93 is just over 1% so you should be absolutely fine though.

And yes petrol and diesel do mix.  They're both 'fractions' from the same crude oil after all.

Richard

[Rusty]

I agree with the wise poster's above, 1 ltr will do no harm, and keeping brimmed for a while will help the dilution so all will be ok.

Bet you won't make the same mistake again, even when BMW put a green sticker thing by the filler cap to confuse you and make you think 'unleaded'


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Stevejspm]

Bet you won't make the same mistake again, even when BMW put a green sticker thing by the filler cap to confuse you and make you think 'unleaded'

Funny you say that, it jogged my memory that at the time of filling up I nearly dropped the filler cap & juggled it a few times to prevent dropping it, then it took me a couple of attempts to put the cap in the GREEN holder....I was so focused on the GREEN cap holder I must of sub consciously been thinking of that when I picked up the GREEN unleaded nozzle.
Bad design BMW, bad design!!

[Stevejspm]

......in fact I remember exactly what I was doing now...

after nearly dropping the cap due to the plastic string not being secured in the green cap holder, I spent a little while attempting to clip the string back into the cap holder, I was well focused on the colour green!!!