We have a 2005 KW Verada. We accidently put Deisel in our petrol tank, light was on so had about 10 litres of petrol, and put 20 bucks (around 10 litres ) of deisel in the tank, (I thought the pump had to be a different size in South Australia!) Haven't driven anywhere, tried to pump it out but that would have flattened the battery. Guy at the servo said we will have to take the tank out and drain it.

First, I would like some help if anyone knows a different way of fixing this, if we top up with petrol so the mix was 10 litres of petrol and 60 litres of unleaded, would that cause any harm? Or is there a plug to drain the tank that we don't know about?

Secondly, is the servo liable to pay for this to be fixed, because of the pump not being a different size?

Any discussion will be very very welcome.

 

Remove a fuel line, place it in a bucket, and crank over the engine. No fuel will be going to the engine because you have the pipe off... and the cars fuel pump will simply pump everything out. Then fill it up with a few liters of petrol and pump it through to get any excess diesel out. Then reconnect it and your good to go.

 

Tried that, but too little was coming out, and to keep cranking the engine would have flattened the battery. When we stopped turning over the engine the fuel stopped pumping out.

 

You must not be using the right fuel line.

Pull the one off the fuel rail

 

You could try hard wireing the fuel pump to a power source, that could work.

 

If you still have a room in your tank for about 50 litres of fuel and your car is designed to run on 87 octane as lowest recommended, then it may be worth pumping in high grade fuel 98 or higher and possibly a few litres of Ethanol or, better yet, some octane booster additive. Then drive your car softly till you use the tank up. If weather is warm in your area it shouldn't be a problem. I've seen cars run on diesel/gas mixture by accident like yours. You may get some smoke out of exhaust pipe, don't be surprised.
Alternatively,find fuel pump relay in the fuse box, pull it out, make a jumper to the correct terminals, or remove the plastic cover from relay (if possible) and manually push in to get the pump energized. You will need to put ignition key at"RUN" or else, experiment. Be careful for not producing any sparks near the fuel. Repeating Sebba's comment here: Identify the proper fuel line (be sure it's not a return line).
It's all up to you how you want it done.

 

I wouldn't run it that way. Diesel destroys injectors.

 

They have unhooked the fuel line, have another car hooked up to the battery, and are pumping some fuel out right now. Still need to pump more out, but it just might work. Who knows how much a mechanic would charge. Will let you know how it goes. Thank for the suggestions.

 

All fixed, took 72 litres when filled, and it only holds 71,

 

Glad to hear it.