Petrol in diesel engine :(

[Jody Gibbons]

Hi,

So this evening I accidentally put petrol in my diesel engined VW polo

It was nearly empty, so started to fill up, wasn't much before I realised (under 5L) I was putting in petrol. Then I topped up the rest with diesel thinking I could 'get away' with it as it would be heavily diluted (added 50L diesel). Worked out approximately 8% petrol went in - I drove home the 20 miles without issue. But I'm thinking I really should take it to the garage to get drained and the contaminated diesel removed.

I understand a little bit of diesel in a petrol car is not as big of a deal. But diesel in petrol is worse even if its not that much

Many Thanks
Jody

[iichel]

I wouldn't worry too much about 8%

[Jody Gibbons]

Thanks iichel, I have since read online if you keep topping it up with diesel regularly (every 50-75 miles or so) it will keep further diluting the little bit of petrol that is in there which will limit its damage.

[iichel]

Yeah diluting is never a bad idea.
With your 9N3 engine not being a common rail engine, that should be ok-ish. It's not ideal but for a common rail engine, I'd be a bit more precautious.

Back in the days, diesel was regularly mixed in the winter times to prevent it from flaking with petrol or petroleum.

[Jody Gibbons]

Interesting, I didn't realise they used to mix the two back in the day in the winter.

Good to hear its not a common rail engine, hopefully that'll work out abit better.

Anyway recalculating the petrol percentage - I had it wrong, it was slightly higher than I first thought (15%) nearly double