Sweetmeat
New member
Hello, all. I am new to this forum and this is my first post.
Something happened to me a couple of days ago, and I thought I would share my story so others may be able to benefit from it in case they have the same problem.
I have owned my 2012 Jetta TDI since ~September 2011. Although I will admit that I don't go many places, I have never been to a gas station where the diesel handle wasn't green. A couple of days ago, that all changed.
I pulled into an unfamiliar gas station and immediately saw 3 black handles and 1 green handle. So I took the green one and started filling up my tank. I then realized my mistake and turned off the pump, with only pumping .42 gallons of unleaded into my tank. I had about 30 miles of diesel in my tank (according to the display in my car) prior to filling it with the .42 gallons of unleaded.
After turning off the unleaded fuel pump, I went into panic mode, and finished filling my tank with with diesel. My phone battery was nearly dead, and I had just moved the charger from my VW to my other vehicle, so I didn't have a way to charge the phone. My quickest bet to find out if I'm screwed was to call my dad and ask him his opinion. He knows the old engines and diesels well, so he told me .42 gallons shouldn't be enough to cause any damage.
I ended up driving my car home and upon arrival immediately started charging my phone so I could do a bunch of internet searches. What I found was that even a TRACE of unleaded in the >2009 TDI engines could be catastrophic, and the repair bill could be ~$11,000.00. Needless to say, I was freaking out!
Some people had said that their insurance company paid for their vehicle to be repaired, so I thought I would call mine in the morning and see if they would. Well, I have American Family, and they told me that the only way they would tell me if they would cover it is if I submitted a claim, and then they'd research it and determine if they would pay it. The people who claimed that their insurance paid for it said that they had Farmers Insurance and another guy had State Farm.
I decided to call State Farm and ask them if they really do cover the repair, and they called their claims department and told me that they would cover the cost of the parts, but not the labor. I think I will be switching to State Farm VERY soon in case I made a huge mistake like this again.
Anyway, I also called the dealership in the morning and asked them if I should be concerned, and they told me that their official response is that I should immediately have my vehicle towed to their dealership and have them empty the tank, flush the lines, and replace the fuel filter. He also said that because I had put in such a small amount that the mechanic said that I could probably just continue to drive the car. I was reluctant to just continue to drive the car due to the fact that I might end up getting an $11,000 bill and my insurance company had already said that they probably won't cover it.
I decided to just have my vehicle towed in by VW Roadside assitance. I didn't tell them why it's being towed - I just told them that I spoke with the VW service department and they recommended that I get it towed. No more questions were asked.
So, the car was towed and then I just had to wait to find out if I was soon going to be $11,000 poorer, or if I was ok. Finally I called the service tech who told me that everything was fine and I just owed ~$540.00.
I picked my car up that night and have been driving it for about a week now with no problems.
Before I had the work done, I also asked the service tech if my warranty would be impacted by this. Some people have claimed that VW wouldn't honor the warranty after someone puts regular gas in their diesel engine. The answer I got from the service tech was that there would not be any effect on the warranty because the work that was being done (flush, etc) was not being covered under warranty so they do not need to disclose that to VW.
To conclude, I was extremely lucky in that I didn't cause any damage. If you have put regular gas into your diesel and you realize it before you start your car, DO NOT START your car. Call roadside assistance and just tell them that your car died. No more information is needed. They'll tow you for free (if under warranty) and then your bill will be less than what I paid. If you have already started your car and then your car dies, you're probably going to be on the hook for replacing your entire fuel system which won't be covered under warranty. If you're lucky and didn't put in much at all (like my .42 gallons), you MIGHT be ok. I was told that if you're going to have major problems, it would happen within just a few miles.
Now I know to always read the sign and smell the nozzle before I fill up. I am also banning myself from going to BP (or any other place for that matter) for diesel until they conform to the standard of using green handles for their diesel fuel. I know there's no law that stipulates what color the handles must be, but most other places have adopted a standard of using green handles.
I hope that this helps someone out there who might be in the same situation as I was. Good luck and I hope your repair bill isn't too much.
Something happened to me a couple of days ago, and I thought I would share my story so others may be able to benefit from it in case they have the same problem.
I have owned my 2012 Jetta TDI since ~September 2011. Although I will admit that I don't go many places, I have never been to a gas station where the diesel handle wasn't green. A couple of days ago, that all changed.
I pulled into an unfamiliar gas station and immediately saw 3 black handles and 1 green handle. So I took the green one and started filling up my tank. I then realized my mistake and turned off the pump, with only pumping .42 gallons of unleaded into my tank. I had about 30 miles of diesel in my tank (according to the display in my car) prior to filling it with the .42 gallons of unleaded.
After turning off the unleaded fuel pump, I went into panic mode, and finished filling my tank with with diesel. My phone battery was nearly dead, and I had just moved the charger from my VW to my other vehicle, so I didn't have a way to charge the phone. My quickest bet to find out if I'm screwed was to call my dad and ask him his opinion. He knows the old engines and diesels well, so he told me .42 gallons shouldn't be enough to cause any damage.
I ended up driving my car home and upon arrival immediately started charging my phone so I could do a bunch of internet searches. What I found was that even a TRACE of unleaded in the >2009 TDI engines could be catastrophic, and the repair bill could be ~$11,000.00. Needless to say, I was freaking out!
Some people had said that their insurance company paid for their vehicle to be repaired, so I thought I would call mine in the morning and see if they would. Well, I have American Family, and they told me that the only way they would tell me if they would cover it is if I submitted a claim, and then they'd research it and determine if they would pay it. The people who claimed that their insurance paid for it said that they had Farmers Insurance and another guy had State Farm.
I decided to call State Farm and ask them if they really do cover the repair, and they called their claims department and told me that they would cover the cost of the parts, but not the labor. I think I will be switching to State Farm VERY soon in case I made a huge mistake like this again.
Anyway, I also called the dealership in the morning and asked them if I should be concerned, and they told me that their official response is that I should immediately have my vehicle towed to their dealership and have them empty the tank, flush the lines, and replace the fuel filter. He also said that because I had put in such a small amount that the mechanic said that I could probably just continue to drive the car. I was reluctant to just continue to drive the car due to the fact that I might end up getting an $11,000 bill and my insurance company had already said that they probably won't cover it.
I decided to just have my vehicle towed in by VW Roadside assitance. I didn't tell them why it's being towed - I just told them that I spoke with the VW service department and they recommended that I get it towed. No more questions were asked.
So, the car was towed and then I just had to wait to find out if I was soon going to be $11,000 poorer, or if I was ok. Finally I called the service tech who told me that everything was fine and I just owed ~$540.00.
I picked my car up that night and have been driving it for about a week now with no problems.
Before I had the work done, I also asked the service tech if my warranty would be impacted by this. Some people have claimed that VW wouldn't honor the warranty after someone puts regular gas in their diesel engine. The answer I got from the service tech was that there would not be any effect on the warranty because the work that was being done (flush, etc) was not being covered under warranty so they do not need to disclose that to VW.
To conclude, I was extremely lucky in that I didn't cause any damage. If you have put regular gas into your diesel and you realize it before you start your car, DO NOT START your car. Call roadside assistance and just tell them that your car died. No more information is needed. They'll tow you for free (if under warranty) and then your bill will be less than what I paid. If you have already started your car and then your car dies, you're probably going to be on the hook for replacing your entire fuel system which won't be covered under warranty. If you're lucky and didn't put in much at all (like my .42 gallons), you MIGHT be ok. I was told that if you're going to have major problems, it would happen within just a few miles.
Now I know to always read the sign and smell the nozzle before I fill up. I am also banning myself from going to BP (or any other place for that matter) for diesel until they conform to the standard of using green handles for their diesel fuel. I know there's no law that stipulates what color the handles must be, but most other places have adopted a standard of using green handles.
I hope that this helps someone out there who might be in the same situation as I was. Good luck and I hope your repair bill isn't too much.