[the mad hat man]

Having recently filled my 1.6i Diesel i30 with petrol (from empty to full) and had to drive it 3 miles home :o.... I have now emptied the tank of all the offending fuel, but believe I need to purge the system of any remaining petrol - Filter and fuel pumps.

Is there a proper procedure to follow, or is it start the engine and hope it pumps it thru?

I realise that if I fill the tank, there will only be residual petrol forward of the tank, but would like to remove as much as possible prior to restarting. Can anyone help with a purge procedure or any other helpful words of wisdom? Luckily my daughter has a petrol car, so has been appreciative of 10 gallons of petrol foc!!

[The Gonz]

Read this:
What to do if you put petrol into a diesel vehicle | AutoGuru

Changing the fuel filter on the CRDi requires priming it to restore pressure when the new one goes in, so there are a couple of clues:
1. removing the fuel filter gives you some access to fuel lines for clearing them
2. the fuel system may need repressurising to restore injector pressure

[druggist]

Not answering your question but our local AA sold something like this CPC SOLO DIESEL CAP STOPS MISFUELLING IN DIESEL VEHICLES - FIAT FREEMONT SD11 for sale online | eBay which prevents you putting a petrol nozzle in a diesel.

[eye30]

Have you checked your car insurance or breakdown cover as some include misfuel removal and cleaning as part of the policy.

[the mad hat man]

Thanks for replies folks. Under guidance, I filled half a tank of diesel and started engine. It ran rough for a minute or so, then seemed to smooth out. A trip around the block and seemed to be fine, so am crossing fingers :o. Time will tell!
All I need now is a new fuel level sender as I seemed to have damaged that when removing it.  I am not sure whether I can just get the electric part or have to get the complete unit.

That fuel cap seems good (but expensive) - cant see one for a Hyundai tho.... UPDATE>> - its an SD2 (not SD11). Update2... Just ordered a "fuelangel" from here.

Didn't go through insurance as it would still cost loads. Breakdown cover costs as well - AA charge £200 for members. So far its cost me £75 in petrol and however much the fuel sender is.

[Bob.W]

FWIW you seem to have gotten lucky there - our current car is the first diesel we've had and after reading up it's very easy to severaly damage the engine fueled with petrol in only a short period. Not so much the other way though i.e petrol car with diesel put into it will run rough but no big damage.

I bought one of those fuel tank thingo's and used for several months but removed as felt ok without it.

If it's any consolation it's incredibly common to do this mistake - tens of thousands of folks do every year in each country - but you have done well to reolve so well with minimal waste or damage.

[the mad hat man]

Its the other way round.... Petrol in Diesel is ok, at least in low concentrations (<10%).  It used to be a common trick in severe winters, as it stops the diesel  waxing up. Having restarted the engine, it now seems to run fine, or at least it is atm.

[Bob.W]

Its the other way round.... Petrol in Diesel is ok, at least in low concentrations (<10%).  It used to be a common trick in severe winters, as it stops the diesel  waxing up. Having restarted the engine, it now seems to run fine, or at least it is atm.

Perhaps in as you say under 10% - but the demo I've seen on it was based on complete misfueling i.e pulling into servo with 10-20% full tank and refueling with the wrong fuel.

The petrol car they refueled with diesel ran fine but was rough and clearly not happy - after removing the bad fuel mix it ran fine. In contrast the diesel car they filled with petrol, started to run badly pretty early on and then stopped completely. After removing the bad fuel, it still would not run. They stated that this was likely as the fuel pump had shat itself from the petrol not having the same lubricity.

Regardless - my remark remains, you got out of it well - can be a very expensive mistake thats made every day by thousands of drivers.

PS. Not that it matters now but the easiest way to prime a the fuel system on a diesel i30 thats had the filter changed - is to turn the vehicle on and off about 10 times.

When I recently had the fuel filter changed on our PD the mechanic had us do this - worked a treat.