Don’t laugh! A diesel filled with petrol is more common than you think… Especially if you’re refueling at an unfamiliar outlet, and are in a hurry. (Admittedly, I’ve done it myself!) It’s true that common rail diesel engines (CRD’s) have incredibly fine tolerances, operate at extremely high pressure, and are intolerant of contamination. Run petrol in a CRD and expect damage of around $10,000!! Now, two weeks ago a Toyota dealership, who use our Cost Effective Maintenance products extensively, rang to tell me about a very new Prado diesel that was tilt trayed into their workshop.

The owners were on holiday and had just driven 240km after unwittingly filling up with 130L of petrol. The vehicle stopped and couldn’t be restarted. The service manager, advised them that driving with that much petrol for such a distance would almost certainly mean a destroyed fuel pump and injectors, with possible further internal damage.

Saving a common rail diesel filled with petrol

The tank needed to be drained and fresh diesel used to purge out all traces of the contaminated fuel.
At this stage, out of curiosity, Tristan decided to use 20L of diesel strongly dosed with CRD Fuel Enhancer to clean and lubricate the system. On cranking the engine, he was amazed that it actually started. It ran very rough of course, but after about 10 seconds, totally unexpectedly, it then idled normally. It road-tested fine, and follow up contact with the owner has since confirmed no detectable damage.

Three conclusions can be made:

1. Many (or most) of the pumps and injectors replaced after petrol fueling incidents are NOT actually damaged at all.
2. Many (or most) customers are paying out $10,000 repair bills unnecessarily for petrol contamination.
3. CRD Fuel Enhancer restores proper working operation to affected fuel pumps and injectors. 

For more information on how to save a diesel engine filled with petrol give the team a call on +61 7 3376 6188

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