Misfueling damage

[soony]

I am considering buying a 3 year old Renault Laguna diesel. While I am really attracted by the better kpl and more accessible torque, I am concerned about various comments my friends made regarding long term reliability and in particular, the danger of putting petrol into a diesel car, mistake my friends sometimes made.

If the car I buy has been previously misfuelled, is it likely that any damage will become evident later? Potentially meaning I will have a large bill later in the car's life?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[MagicRat]

First of all, refueling any vehicle can be hazardous if one is not paying attention. Everyone needs to pay attention to what they are doing, including being sure to get the right fuel nozzle.

You could easily make a little label and stick it to the filler cap, saying something like DIESEL FUEL ONLY.

Finally, in my experience, putting large amounts of gasoline in a diesel tank, then driving will quickly destroy the seals in the injector pump and possibly the injectors themselves. The vehicle will function very poorly and need repair. Such damage is immediate and obvious, and generally not something to pop up far in the future.

[soony]

Thanks for the help! You are right! Misfueling mistake, can happen to me too. I guess I also must pay attention when refueling, specially if I will buy a diesel car. You said large amounts, what about if you put in a small amount? Like liter or two by mistake?

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by soony

what about if you put in a small amount? Like liter or two by mistake?

I think it depends on how much diesel fuel is in the tank at the time. If the ratio of gasoline to diesel is sufficiently small, there would be no damage. But I am not sure what that ratio would be, it may vary from one vehicle to another.

You could always contact a Renault dealer, service garage or mechanic and ask their opinion.

[sigmas]

Hello
Yes, that can be a problem. It happened to me once, but fortunately, the friend that was with me on the Petrol station noticed the mistake before I started the car, because the bill was larger than usual for a full tank of diesel I thanked him for that. Than we just pumped the petrol out and everything was fine.

As for the label..I had a label that loud and clear said Diesel fuel only on the cap, but I guess you just don't pay so much attention to danger signs. Your subconsciousness just takes over after so many fill ups

The safest thing in my opinion is to buy a mechanical device that stops you from putting in the wrong fuel, something like that - www.solodiesel.eu.

I agree with MagicRat, that kind of damage is immediate and can not bee hidden for a long period of time.

[spojler]

Hi.

I am reading these posts and I almost made a mistake. Used to drive my mums Honda Civic which ran on petrol, but I have my own car now. It is a Clio 1,5 dCi. The other day I went to refuel it and was talking on my phone. I automatically grabbed petrol nozzle and at the last moment I saw grey "DIESEL" sign. That would really be like.... Later at home I googled what it could happen to my car and one of more dramatic things would be fuel pump grinding itself to pieces! I just hope that this never happens again.