Draining tank and replacing fuel filter - misfuelled with 25% petrol !

Kennedy

A2OC Donor
Hi guys. I got mixed up with fuel tonight and put in a few litres of BP Ultimate petrol thinking it was Ultimate diesel... realising my mistake I stopped quickly and filled the rest with standard diesel (before starting it) and took the decision to start it and run home just a few miles. It's a TDI 90 on 117K. Before I go on, anyone that says I shouldn't have started it - well I already have so it's not useful! :rolleyes:

So assuming the 25% petrol, 75% diesel mix hasn't been catastrophic as it drove fine at low revs home, I've come to the realisation it needs draining before it does knacker anything. I already have a fuel filter as I was going to do that anyway so my question; when I do the filter (as per posts from the forum) is it easy to drain the fuel tank without syphoning?

Is there anything else I should do to ensure the contaminated fuel is removed or cleared through?

It's not been a good day... :eek:

Lee.
 
I use to put a 10% petrol mix in my Diesel every winter when the temps get to freezing all the time and thats fine and very commonly done as all it does is stops the diesel freezing im not quite sure the affects a 25% ratio may have thow, if it was neat petrol it would bend rods due to the compressing petrol and all sorts of other damage id imagine, but as you say you drove it home without any problems id say drain half the tank into jerry cans and fill up with diesel as that would be fine and a acceptable mix.
 
To drain the fuel your best removing the rear right hand seat, lifting the carpet where the seat base would have been and opening the round large plastic disc you'll see.
This will give access to the tank sender.
Remove the electrical connections and remove the ring holding the sender in place.
Pull out the sender and you'll now have access to the fuel in the tank.
Remove the fuel by whatever means you are comfortable with, and job done.

I'm sure there will be posts with photos that show the area, but I'm at work and do not have time right now to search.

Good luck
Cheers
Jeff
 
It would do no harm to add some engine oil (approx. 2%) to the fuel for added lubricity, especially if you don't drain the fuel tank completely.

That's also a good tip for anyone who is unfortunate to partially fill up with petrol but needs to get home. Just buy a litre of engine oil and add it to the fuel tank

Cheers Spike
 
Thanks for the comments and advice on this. I think I will go in from the top as you suggest Jeff, the tank is full so I want to get a decent diameter syphon tube into it else it'll take ages I'm guessing. I will have a look about for pics on here, I think I've stumbled across pics of the sender on the forum before. Any quick links are welcome of course....

I think I'll get what fuel I can out this weekend, run some fresh diesel through for a day or two and then do the fuel filter change so that only sees (the correct) fresh fuel. I've got a mate standing by to take the 40 or so litres of mixed fuel off my hands which hes going to gradually feed to his old passat with some extra diesel mixed in. Still a costly mistake for me though, never mind.

All being well I'll report back at the weekend to say its drained and running perfectly on fresh fuel. :cool:

Kennedy.
 
Drained and running perfectly on fresh fuel. :cool:...


All sorted, didn't have any major issues. Only thing I came up against was trying to unscrew the plastic ring that secures the sender as it was real tight. Used a 3 claw oil filter removal tool opened out to 300mm and grinded flats onto the arms so it was a snug fit. Tried it with a ratchet but the tool has a crushing action so knew that wasn't a good idea, but was enough when in place to just get hands on and use some force to turn it... after that it was plain sailing.

On the upside I cleaned the inside of the tank till it was spotless, and my mate took the 45litres of fuel off me for £20 so it's not cost me as much as it could have. I'll do the fuel filter next week as I was going to do that anyway...
not something I want to repeat though!



Kennedy.
 
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