What happens if you put diesel in a petrol engine and vice versa?

Answer 1

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Oh my god! I have just got my car back after doing this myself! I put £20 worth of unleaded petrol in a Deisel car. 200 yards down the road the car stopped and the engine stopped. The car was taken back to a main car dealership where they looked at the car and the damage. New deisel cars use the deisel and the lubricants in the fuel to lubricate fuel injectors and the fuel pump, by putting the wrong fuel in it I cracked 2 injectors, damaged the fuel pump completely and wrecked a piston! It would have cost me around £4000 to get fixed however fortunately my insurance company does cover this as accidental damage (some insurance companies don't now as its one of the most common problems they have to deal with). It only cost me my excess and so I was very very lucky. Everyone I met in the process said that this was the most common thing they have to deal with, the breakdown truck driver, garage technician and the insurance assesor. What I don't understand is that figures I researched says over 120,000 people do this in a year(!!) in the UK alone. Why then doesn't the government and car manufacturers get together and sort out some kind of fuel pump change so you can't do this and none of the pumps fit the wrong car (I know this has been done for deisel into petrol cars, the petrol pump nozzsle doesn't fit however it still doesn't help people who do it the other way around!) Anyway hope that helps, the main thing I learn't is don;t do it! And if you do and realise don't drive off as if the fuel hasn't got around the engine system it will only cost around £100 to have the fual drained from the tank.

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Asker's Comment:

thanks for all the input. I havn't done it I just wondred what would happen. But I think fuel companies should figure some thing out to stop people doing it like different nozzles or something.

Answer 2

The car won't start!!!

Answer 3

Your car wont go and you'll need a new engine. Don't do it.

Answer 4

car BROKEN cost a lot to fix

Answer 5

whoops do not even think about starting the engine you will ruin your car

Answer 6

you will seriously mess with your engine, theres an AA advert on tv(or RAC) and they say it costs a bomb to repair

Answer 7

diesel in petrol, forget about it.
petrol in diesel- a godd draining shud have it right

Answer 8

Its not good whatever it is! My ex use to pump gas as a saturday job and he did that once. Instant dismissal!!!

Answer 9

If you put petol in a diesel the car will stop after a short distance. This can wreck the engine and cost a fortune to fix. Surprisingly some insurance companies will pay out if your husband is stupid enough to do it!!!! Thankfully.

Answer 10

diesel in gas engine= blown cylinder rings
i had a vw diesel once which said in case of cold weather emergency #2 furnace oil [like diesel] could be mixed with 10% gas to prevent gelling in cold.

Answer 11

It WON'T wreck the engine. It will simply not run once the "odd" fuel gets to the engine. It will require you to flush the entire fuel system and replace the fuel filters. Normal labor is around $200 US to fix this kind of oops. The Germans did make some tri-fuel engines in WWII that could run on Diesel, Gas, Naptha (I think) but they never ran 100% efficiently on any fuel as the engine was built to compromise the right combustion conditions.

Answer 12

The enginee won't work,or will work just a few min in both times. If u put diesel in petrol not enaught pontetial energy in diesel , if u put petrol in diesel second the energy is too big and can harm some of the enginee components(valves,etc). :)

Answer 13

U BLOW UPP!!

Answer 14

The pistons freeze, smoke comes out of the engine, and all the other farmers make fun of you for putting diesel in your gas tractor.

Answer 15

erm it wont go

Answer 16

The engine won't run...

Answer 17

The engine will not start and you could cause serious damage to it.get it drained out at a garage or a repairshop now or lose a lot of money for a new engine.

Answer 18

Engine siezes!!

Answer 19

It will knacker your car up.

Answer 20

Call yourself an idiot? If it were me, I wouldn't be putting on the world wide web! ;-)

Answer 21

You are boloxed - especially of you filled it full. It will cost you a pretty penny to get it fixed.

Answer 22

depends how much you put in.

A little diesel in petrol would result in a very smokey exhaust, too much diesel and the engine would not run. You would need a complete drain of the system, and then refill.

A little petrol in diesel again would do no real harm, too much and the engine again would not go and need a complete drain and refill.

If you realise you have done this in a filling station and have put any more than about 5% mix in then do not start the engine

Answer 23

Bad bad things will happen !!!!!

Hold on.....
Aren't you the Jim C who put 8 litres of diesel in your petrol engine this morning.....HA HA

STILL A MUPPET!

Answer 24

both are fudged very very quickly

Answer 25

You be out of pocket with money costs alot for a new engine well a whole new car prob and paying for the fuel you dont need , by putting a clearly sign label stating what it is on the pump. if shouldnt happen if you can read and not coloured blind, when you find out if this happens whatever you do do not turn the key as this will cause more damage to the car. The costs of fuel these days it will be very expensive and a tow to the garage

Answer 26

the car wont run diesel and "petrol" engine use two different methods of ignition

Diesel uses the high heat and compression
Gasoline uses lower compression with the assistance of a spark plug

Answer 27

My friend done this once only it wasn't his car, he'd borrowed it from his mates girlfriend to get to work. He thought he'd say thank you by returning it with a full tank of petrol but it was a deisel car! Turned out to be very expensive!

Answer 28

Most gasoline engines wont run once diesel get in them. Because diesel in ignited with high compression and a simple spark plug wont ignite it. And it depends on the diesel engine. There are old army trucks that will run on diesel, gasoline, karosine, etc.... they can use multiple fuels. But most diesel trucks can't run on gasoline. If you filled up on a full tank, your not going anywhere. Well good luck.

Answer 29

I once put petrol in a diesel van that was owned by the company I worked for.

Its acceleration was appalling. I let it run for a while like that before I got to another petrol station and filled up with diesel. It ran ok for me after that, but a few days later the van wouldn't work at all, and it cost a lot of my company's money to fix it.

I don't work for that company any more.

Answer 30

i have been on the receiving end, diesel ,depending what quantity wont allow the engine to run properly, on petrol engine. the prob on petrol with a diesel is usually a big bang , dont do it , big bills.

Source(s):

again i am a 57 year old who has seen a lot

Answer 31

If you put diesel in a petrol car drain off all the fuel if you are lucky and catch it before it gets to the fuel pump you could be in luck put a couple of gallons of petrol in and run on tickover till it runs reasonably smoothly the only adverse effect is that the car will run on after it is switched off until all trace of the diesel as gone you need to stall the car to stop it but it only lasts a few days