so i was up at the workshop yesterday fitting a front indicator as the earth wire had rusted off and the nut sheared as usual :/ and after finishing that i saw a fuel can and thought ahh that will top me up till next week....

Dad never has cans of diesel up there... so i didn't think to ask and didn't even notice a different smell so in went the can of fuel... i already had around 1/3 of unleaded so this took me up to about half a tank on the gauge.. all running as usual until i left to go home and she started to splutter and cough out a lot of blue smoke...

so i found dad, who wasn't happy about me taking the diesel and sent me to the nearest station to brim her with unleaded!

she still runs all right, a little hesitation, a little pinking under load and a little/sometimes a lot of smoke on acceleration but i haven't noticed any major running issues, there's a lot of what looks like diesel around the carb.

i've been told to keep topping it up with petrol but would it not be better to run this down to empty and then fill her right up with petrol so there's more fresh petrol in the tank than a mix of both?

any long term damage or issues that i should be aware of?

A petrol engine will burn diesel fine. It will just soot up the plugs
You can either fill the tank with normal petrol, shake the car to mix, and run it like that
If its pure diesel in the carb you will probably not get it to run as it will soot up te plugs. But I've had experience running engines on diesel that are petrol engines,

If your paranoid drain the tank, but as for damage, diesel is often use as a lubricant etc so shouldn't do any harm

Saying all that, I'll give it 10 mins before I'm told I'm wrong

Ps have you run the car since filling it with diesel? If not, ideal. Top it up with fresh petrol !

http://www.drfuel.co.uk/

haha cheers neil

James - after filling the already 1/3 tank of petrol with a gallon of diesel... i then drove her down to the garage where my dad was, and then filled her right up with another 2 gallons of petrol and have been driving her on that whole tank since then i'd say its definitely mixed in with the petrol by now!

It'll be fine

Not a problem, GJ.

The other way around can be a very costly mistake in modern diesel engines, but you should be absolutely fine. I'd be inclined to keep topping it up with petrol rather than try and use it all up as it is; this way the diesel component is diluted further and further with hopefully less smoke and carbon being produced. But, really, a single mis-fuel - just not a problem.

Think of it as homoeopathic medicine for your engine; even when the diesel is diluted to infinity and beyond, it'll still be provided long-term lubrication and protection...

I seem to recall that every misfueled 2cv we've had mentioned on here has been fine to start with then started playing up a few days later. Jono and somebody else I think?

...as well as reduced octane, with a higher risk of detonation, unless the driver eases off on the loud pedal.

Also, diesel has a much slower rate of combustion than petrol, so may still be burning when the exhaust valve opens, with an increased risk of overheating the exhaust valve.

My advice would be to run the tank as close to empty as you can, driving gently for the time it takes to do that, then brim the tank with petrol.

ken

I "dieseled" my 2CV at Registers Day two years ago .....after draining most of it out and then filling up with "Super" [high octane] petrol I swear the car ran faster than it usually does on my return home .....to put it bluntly ....there were no other "A series" cars keeping up with me on the 125mile trip back up the A1 [except for an Ami Super which passed me].

T.