Petrol in a Diesel Car

[kags]

Today I bought a new car. Actually it has 5000 miles on the clock, but it was bought from a VW main dealer as their ex-demonstrator car. It's a Golf Tdi, and within an hour it became apparant there was a major problem, no acceleration, erratic performance, plumes of smoke from the exhaust. I took it back to the main dealer, who reckoned that when they filled it up with fuel yesterday they may have put petrol in by mistake. Unfortunately there were no mechanics in so they are going to check on Monday. He implied that if this were the case, then it would not be a problem to put right. However, the car was driven around 30 miles, and I don't feel so confident. Does anyone know how much damage this is likely to have caused, and whether this damage might not show up immediately.  We have a 30 day exchange guarantee on the car, and we could insist on a replacement, but we may struggle to find an equivalent car in the same price range.  

[bevans5803]

Petrol in a diesel engine is not good news. Petrol could weaken the seals in the fuel system from filters through to the fuel pump. It is possible that damage may not reveal it self straight away so as it is the dealers mistake they should at least offer you a free 1 year warranty.

[kempie]

Diesel lubricates the engine aswell as being the fuel which powers it, therefore the engine could well have suffered from excessive wear.

[KebabMeister]

Oweing to the higher compression of diesel engines, putting petrol into a diesel can cause pre-ignition/exploding/melting of your engine.

Check this previos AB thread: http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Motoring/Question87084.ht ml

[kempie]

That link again

[depressedmgl]

Given that you bought the car from a main vw dealer, you may find that there is a 14 or 30 exchange programme if you are not enrirely satisfied with you purchase.  In any case, they have given you goods which are not fit for purpose and I suspect your statutory rights are that you can return the car for a full refund, in the same way as if you bought a pair of faulty underpants from M&S

[fuzzy logic]

Shouldn't be a problem, the tank will be taken out and flushed likewise the engine. Damage to the engine will be negligible. Diesel just doesn't work in a petrol emgine, nothing fires hence you breaking down. However for peace of mind I am sure the dealership will oblige in writing of the fact that the wrong fuel was put into the vehicle

[Cockney_si]

This website may be of help in knowing where to stand legally speaking.

This is serious and VW UK must be informed

Sorry but personally I would reject the car as you may have trouble in future as they will say you accepted the car as being repaired.

I have had dealing with VW in the past and I have not been satisfied with their repair work.

Anyway, their address and phone number is

Yeomans Drive
Blakelands
Milton Keynes
MK14 5AN

0800 711 811

Good luck!

[KebabMeister]

fuzzy_logic, it's petrol in a diesel engine, not diesel in a petrol engine.

[kags]

thank you all for your help. After a weekend of stress we decided that if the car had been misfuelled we would ask for  a refund. In the end it turned out to be that the turbo pipe was lose and it has now been fixed. All confidence in the main dealer has now gone out the window though!