gas in diesel

chmielowiec jetta

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Joined
Feb 16, 2017
Location
palmer alaska
TDI
2006 Jetta
my wife messed up and put gasoline in our 2006 TDI while engine was running she shut down the engine without driving the car we drained tank and changed fuel filter flushed system and car started ran ok except for being a little sluggish and sputtering upon acceleration drove for about 1,000 miles then i put a jug of Seafoam fuel additive in the tank and it helped then the in tank fuel pump quit so it was replaced now car sometimes starts hard and the engine dies after adding fuel its mileage is at 153,000 i am all set up to do the required 160,000 mile maintance any suggestions will be a great help as we love the car but i am at a dead end thank you
 

dweisel

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Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Location
Wheeling, West Virginia
TDI
dweisel isn't diesel anymore!
I'm not all that familiar with the PD engine as I have all ALH engines. I would check with someone that knows whether gas would damage the unit injector pumps.

That would be my guess.
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
If the car never started, never turned on, you should be fine. I mean the gas could not have got into the engine.
Perhaps somehow it stressed out the in tank pump?
 

Mike_04GolfTDI

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Nov 19, 2003
Location
Richmond, BC, Canada
TDI
Mine: 2019 Golf R DSG, Wife's: 2015 Golf Comfortline TDI
When you say the "engine dies after adding fuel" do you mean it stops running if you put fuel in the tank, or do you mean it dies when you press the gas pedal?

If it dies when you try to accelerate, I'd start looking for a disconnected boost hose connection.

If it dies when you put fuel in the tank, well that's got me stumped, unless the fuel is gasoline.
 

turbobrick240

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Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
I think the gallon of Sea foam was a bad idea. If anything you'd want to add something heavier than D2 like motor oil. Might be good to drain again and refill with diesel. It will take a little bit of driving for the fuel in the filter, lines, pump, to work it way through.
 

bbarbulo

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
this is an odd thing, i remember as a child my dad (he worked at VW back in Europe in the 90s) would put a bit of gas in the diesel to prevent gelling - this was a VW recommended practice at the time. I find it hard to believe a bit of gas residue is causing all these issues.

I don't know much about new-ish diesels (post ALH cars), but if it was me, I'd look for causes other than the gasoline incident. I've heard worn cams brought up related to those engines? Surely there is some troubleshooting flow chart out there to help eliminate that as a possibility?
 

turbobrick240

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maine
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2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
I know my ten year old Kubota tractor with 2L 4 cyl., runs like garbage with even a tiny amount of gas in its fuel. My '84 diesel Volvo specifies up to 25% gas in the winter, but I never used any. I'd use K1 first. As far as the sea foam- I think it's something like 15% alcohol, 30% naptha, and the remainder pale oil.
 
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dweisel

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Jul 28, 2006
Location
Wheeling, West Virginia
TDI
dweisel isn't diesel anymore!
None of the info on other engines tolerance of gasoline has any bearing on the OP problem. He needs PD specific info. The engine was probably run for several minutes while his wife was fueling up. So,it also probably ran on a fairly high concentration of gasoline. The question is: what if any damaged would be caused by gasoline to the unit injectors?
 

turbobrick240

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Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
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2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Sure it does. Modern diesels don't run well on gasoline contaminated fuel. That simple. Very unlikely any damage was done.
 

AnotherPerson

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Joined
Oct 24, 2015
Location
New Orleans
TDI
1999 Beetle
There was a youtube show i saw forever ago that they had a VW diesel from our era (dont know which engine) And they ran that can back and forth on 100% gas. Was a noisy bastard but after running it for a bit they drained and put in 100% diesel and it went back to normal driving. Whos to say it didnt cause any internal wear but it came back to normal driving after it was put back to diesel. I suspect something else may have happened at the same time.
 

BobnOH

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May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
If the car runs O.K., I'd run it, your next tank fill should clear up some of the issues.
Seems like you've done what you could.
 

AndyBees

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May 27, 2003
Location
Southeast Kentucky
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
I agree......... the older VW diesels tolerate gasoline up to 25%. Thus, comparing them to the PD engine is of no value to the OPs issues.

As the OP stated, wife put gasoline in while the engine was idling... Thus, 'some' mix did make it to the unit injectors. Now, it's obvious there are problems. We do have to assume the engine was fine before the fueling mistake!

I tend to think at this point, dump in a bottle of ash-less two-cycle oil for improved lube and just keep driving it. If there was damage to the injectors, it's already done and nothing will change that fact.

So, after a couple of tanks of fuel with lube, if the engine is still not performing properly, well, you probably need a new set of injectors.

The lift pump probably didn't go bad. The gasoline broke loose all the crud, black algae, and soot (yes soot), thus, the pump began to bind leading you to believe it went totally kaput. I bet that pump can be cleaned up and it will perform just fine... Attach 12 volts to it for testing... you will be surprised. Keep it for an emergency spare (been there and done it all)...
 

turbobrick240

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maine
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2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Yeah, I would probably just dump in some two stroke oil and run it. The rough running will probably clear up after a tank or two.
 

jjblbi

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2000
Location
lbi, nj
TDI
2014 Passat SEL TDI
I noticed your in Alaska, could any issues be temperature related? How are your glow plugs? Unrelated to your fuel issue, have you checked your cam & lifters?

I would be adding a pint of ashless two stroke oil for the next couple of full fuel tanks. If the car runs reliably take it for long drive, an hour or two. Try a couple of runs to 3500-4000 rpms in the second hour, preferably up a nice hill.
 

eddieleephd

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Joined
May 27, 2012
Location
Battle Ground, Wa
TDI
2002 jetta Wagon
I would agree that adding heavier oil would make sense.
I am not sure about the PD engines either.
I know the issue I would be concerned with would be the seals in the injection pump on the ALH.
The gasoline could effect these seals. Running more fuel through them could resurect them though.

Running biodiesel makes them shrink causing fuel leaks, not sure about the PD engines.
I recommend looking into this aspect to see what you can find though.
 

ebeday

Active member
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Location
canada
TDI
2003 jetta TDI 2015 jetta TDI
Gasoline in diesel tank

After reading your post, I have a couple of concerns. If you live in an area where "winter fuel" is supplied to retailers from October to March every year, diluting this fuel would have more pronounced effects than #2 diesel fuel. This may be the cause of driveability problems. I avoid adding additives or oils to fuel tanks, like the plague.
I am suspecting the in tank supply pump, even if it is new. Refuelling will put large amounts of air (foam) in the fuel supply. I suspect that the in tank supply pump is supplying fuel with air entrained to the high pressure pump, all the time for whatever the reason.
The high pressure pump is the most highly stressed component of the whole FIE system so is anything was damaged by gasoline dilution, that would be my first thing to check.
Finally, in my 40 year career I have seen many many engines that had driveability problems that were suddenly discovered after an incident like this. The problems were there before, they just went unnoticed.
 

AndyBees

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Joined
May 27, 2003
Location
Southeast Kentucky
TDI
Silver 2003 Jetta TDI, Silver 2000 Jetta TDI (sold), '84 Vanagon with '02 ALH engine
After fueling up. diesel foam clears-up by the time you grab your receipt at the pump. Sure, it is possible with the engine idling while being fueled, that air bubbles could have been sucked into the system, which I doubt, otherwise, we would here of it on a frequent basis. However, in this case, the car has been driven over 1000 miles since the incident, according to the OP.

The Lift Pump in the tank would have been fully saturated with fuel when installed unless the fuel tank was empty. The unit containing the pump is pushed to the bottom of the tank during the installation process. I've installed several of these pumps. When the engine is first fired-up, there will be some rumbling and rough idle for a few minutes until all the air is out. I generally hold a fast idle until all the air is cleared out... takes less than two minutes.

The engine has Unit Injectors driven by the Cam Shaft. The vehicle in question does not have a High Pressure Pump.

Adding an 8 ounce bottle of ashless 2-cycle oil to 15 gallons of diesel fuel provides about a 240:1 ratio (.00416%) which is nothing compared to a typical 40 or 50:1 ratio for a 2-cycle engine. Thus, other than providing a minute amount of additional lube, it should have no negative affect on engine performance. However, the fuel gelling issue might possibly be negatively affected. But, if the car has been driven 1000 miles and shows rough idle, bad performance, etc., then the gasoline may have damaged the Unit Injectors.

The only other suspect would be as indicated by some of the comments, there was a problem already beginning to show it's ugly face ............. what would it be? Cam lobes for the Unit Injectors sure comes to mind.
 
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ebeday

Active member
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Location
canada
TDI
2003 jetta TDI 2015 jetta TDI
wrong

Andy Bees, about the high pressure pump in my last post, I was thinking of the common rail fuel system where a high pressure pump creates the pressure spikes at the correct time for injection to take place. I'm not sure what year this system was introduced, so I must apologize.
Trying to diagnose something without seeing it with our own eyes is a hazardous occupation indeed.
 

Ed ke6bnl

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Joined
Aug 24, 2015
Location
High Desert So. Ca.
TDI
2002 TDI Jetta
I think the gallon of Sea foam was a bad idea. If anything you'd want to add something heavier than D2 like motor oil. Might be good to drain again and refill with diesel. It will take a little bit of driving for the fuel in the filter, lines, pump, to work it way through.
I believe he said he put a JUG of seafoam not a gallon but maybe a start over like you say is instore.
 
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