Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[old iron]

Back on the road with the Austin today, running lovely. Decided to put some fuel in and added about four gallons to my existing three gallons in the tank.
Half mile down the road and the car splutters to a halt. Lucky managed to coast to a safe area off the road.
Carry out some rudimentary checks trying to fix problem to no avail, although engine did run for 10/15 seconds but smoked like a chimney and cut out again.
Midway in my call to breakdown recovery it dawned on me, have I put the wrong fuel in? Quick look at receipt from petrol station confirmed my silly error.
Car is in my garage now waiting for me to drain off fuel and refresh with petrol. Must be an age thing

[Penman]

I've put petrol in a diesel, but of course it is not so easy to do it the other way round these days with the restrictors in the fuel filler.
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[alastairq]

It will have done no harm. [except to your wallet]
Might even have cleaned out the combustion chambers for you?
Trouble is, what to do with the mixture after draining it out?

Might be useful as parts cleaner?
Or if you know someone who drives a Daihatsu 4Trak, and donate it to him/her?

A 4Trak will run nicely on a petrol diesel mix, something which a modern t
electronic diesel wont do very happily.
_________________
Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Rick]

When I had my P5B I inadvertently put around 3 gallons of diesel in it before realising what I'd done. Why I did it I've no idea as we don't own any diesel cars. I switched to the petrol pump instead and brimmed the tank, and used the car on a daily basis to burn it away and then topped it up with unleaded again. It took a little while for the smoke to fully disappear but nothing was harmed.

RJ
_________________
Rick - Admin
Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
OCC & classic car merchandise (Austin, Ford ++):
https://www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop

[old iron]

That was my next question, will I have damaged any components, you have put my mind at ease. I do have a drain plug in the base of the petrol tank and
a large plastic bucket fits underneath to drain into Drop out float bowl and pump out fuel line, refill with petrol.
As mentioned what to do with the drained fuel, I have about 7 or 8 gallons?

I could have opted for the recovery service to send out specialist to drain tank at the roadside. They would pay £70 and I the balance of around £120. Would have got rid of the waste fuel for me but £££££s

[ukdave2002]

Yep, filled our diesel Pug that was running on fumes with petrol realised as I put the nozzle back on the pump. So I drove 30 yards to clear the pumps, called the AA who took me to our local garage who pumped the rouge fuel out.

Expensive business; £75 for the petrol, £40 to have it removed , £80 to fill up with correct fuel

Dave

[peter scott]

[alastairq]

Rather than pay and pay and pay, as modern drivers feel compelled to do, if they 'wrong-fuel'....
I'd get meself an electric fuel pump...and old working pump would do, but there are really cheap liquid pumps available, with hoses too.

A big plastic container of around 25 litres can often be had for nowt, especially from businesses doing things like pressure washing, car washes, etc. They hold stuff like detergents, etc. often these businesses are only to glad to let someone have a few empty containers, I have found.
Then I would simply pump out the fuel tank using the filler orifice. [hole]

The pipery system will clear itself quickly enough, and what is left of diesel will mix with the petrol easily enough. then go for a decent drive, maybe a blast or three to clear any smoke. {There won't be a huge amount of fuel actually in the system itself]

Store the diesel/petrol mix for cleaning purposes...or, as I said, find a Daihatsu 4Trak driver as these will easily cope with a mixed fuel...unlike more modern diesel engine designs. [I put 25 litres of petrol in mine by mistake, it ran perfectly, just added a 500 ml bottle of Halfords Lawn mower oil for added lubrication of pump.]

I certainly wouldn't pay the £200 my recovery service wanted to drain & purge my tank when I enquired.

My last Ex filled our old Cavalier up with diesel once...[odd how she insisted she hadn't, yet the receipt showed otherwise? Still, I didn't argue....one doesn't, I've found, if it's with a wife...]
So I simply pumped out the tank, filled with petrol [well, a gallon to start with, until the engine fired and cleared the residue...] then took it to a fuel spot & filled up.
The thing ran slightly better than before, as well....
_________________
Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[old iron]

Pleased to say that I have just completed exchanging the diesel for petrol in the Austin. Drain plug in base of tank, pumped the fuel line clear on the starter motor of the car. Removed carb’ bowl and cleaned out. I used a bit of easy start to help things along, after a bit of starter churning the old girl spluttered into life .
The exhaust smoke, as was mentioned earlier, was epic!! I need to pop around to neighbour and apologise
I will be doubly careful next time at the pumps.

[V8 Nutter]

I had two experiences of wrong fuel when I work at the engine reconditioner's. One was a Maestro diesel van, the driver filled it with petrol and drove it till it stopped, about 40 miles. The cylinder head was cracked from end to end, plus lots of other A trade customer sent an Escort engine in for a complete rebuild, "It's knocking and smoking". Stripped it down and there was nothing much wrong, they said re-build it anyway. After they had re-fitted it, it was still knocking and smoking. I went to have a look and I could smell the diesel fumes as soon as it started. The owner was a foreigner on holiday, he didn't know black fuel pumps were diesel, and he had filled it up.

[ukdave2002]

[Miken]

When I stupidly put diesel in my Cowley I turned up a disc with a suitably sized aperture in it on my lathe that pressed into the filler neck. This prevented me from doing it again.
My excuse is that me and my wife's modern cars at that time were both diesel.
I just about got home. About a mile, but it was laying smoke spectacularly.

[alastairq]

[old iron]

Now I have two and a bit black buckets of waste fuel to get rid of. Looked at my local recycle centres and they do not accept waste fuels. Looked at the Government website for locations advise, all that did was to advise me to contact my local recycle centres

Care for our environment we are urged and yet the officials are no help whatsoever.

[alastairq]

If you can get some containers, save it and mix it up to make parts cleaning fluid.
Also useful as penetrating oil, etc.
_________________
Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.