It has for a long time been the myth that Petrol in your Diesel tank will “kill the engine”, “destroy the fuel system” and “cost a fortune”
Yes
of course prolonged running of a modern diesel engine with petrol contamination will and does cause extensive damage to the engine and fuel system, but note the word prolonged.
There are plenty of good honest skilled technicians out there who will go
the extra bit try to keep your costs down, but there are others who will see this as an opportunity to make a packet at your expense.
Let me give you the facts:
Diesel systems B.C. (Before Common rail), It was normal
practice and even recommended by the F.I.E. (Fuel Injection Equipment) manufactures to add Petrol to you Diesel tank in the winter to avoid the fuel freezing (Waxing). This practice became frowned upon by the motoring organisations for the safety aspect.
To fully understand the implications of miss-fuelling you first of all need to understand the fundamentals of how the diesel system and more importantly how the Diesel engine works, let’s keep this simple.
When the piston rises in its cylinder
an increase in temperature occurs, this temperature is somewhere between 550c- 800c. Diesel fuel is injected into this hot chamber at precisely the right time. An explosion occurs which in essence forces the piston back down the cylinder, that is as simple
as I can put it. Diesel fuel flash point is between 52c & 96c so at 800c at these internal temperatures there is no problem combusting this fuel.
Now let’s inject petrol into the cylinder, we now have vapourised petrol entering the hot chamber,
as soon as the fuel leaves the Injector nozzle tip pre-ignition occurs and the temperature within the cylinder quickly begins to rise, prolonged running will see the piston crowns and the nozzle tips begin to melt. This pre-ignition usually results in a loss
of power, white smoke emitting from the exhaust and eventually coming to a stop as the nozzle needle seizes in the Injector causing a full system shutdown.
So you have put Petrol in your pride and Joy what can you do. I will split this into options A
& B