put unleaded into my Jetta TDI 2010

ianferguson

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Location
California
TDI
Jetta Sportswagen
I filled the tank with unleaded fuel. I Did NOT drive it or even crank the ignition before I realized this stupid mistake. The tank is now practically full with unleaded.
I had it flat bed towed to the dealership to be dealt with today.

I have already read several threads in these forums about this issue. What I am hoping some fine folks can help me with is how to respond to the dealer if they tell me they need to charge $750 or $800

It looks like people have been told it would cost anywhere from $150 to $800 to deal with this problem.
From reading all the related posts, it looks like the only thing needed for my situation is for the tank to be drained and the fuel filter to be replaced.

I live in Los Angeles, so I would expect rates to be a little inflated in comparison.
.
One of the threads mentions they might say they have to drop the fuel tank to drain it and a respondent said they don't need to drop the tank to drain the fuel. How is the fuel drained effectively without dropping the tank?

The car is under a full 7 year warranty; what if they say they need to change the fuel pump to keep the car under full warranty?

I am not in a position to do the work myself and I hope to avoid gettting racked over the barrel - even though it was my addled brain that caused the problem.
Any VW mechanics or dealership mechanics out there with the best info to counter any Bull the dealership might try to feed me????

All specific help is greatly appreciated.

-Ian
 

Henrick

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Location
Ireland
TDI
Golf VI TDI, 77 kW (CAYC)
Your mistake was to take it to the dealer. You'd better have the gas drained silently in your garage and performed all those procedures (there was a thread abou how to drain a tank, prime fuel pump, etc). Now they might void your warranty, besides, they WILL charge much for this job.
 

halocline

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Location
San Antonio
TDI
04 Jetta Wagon
Bummer, but excellent job of not even turning the key with gas in it. Good luck in convincing the dealer of this; I guess you're going to find out if you have a good dealer or not.
 

Plus 3 Golfer

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Location
ARIZONA
TDI
Und tschüss! 2009 Jetta 12/23/2012
There's no need to drop the tank. The fuel can be easily syphoned via the lift pump access port under the passenger seat. I see the issue being that in order for VW to continue warranty coverage on your fuel system, the dealer will likely do many unnecessary things like changing your FF, evacuating perhaps all the fuel in the system and so forth resulting in higher costs than than necessary since you didn't crank the car.
 

MayorDJQ

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Location
Williamstown, Mass
TDI
'10 Golf 2dr 6m, sold.
Before the dealer does any work, they will have to advise you of what they plan to do, and you can either authorize the work or not authorize it. If they want to do excesive work, don't authorize it. If they won't simply drain the tank have the car towed to another mechanic who will just drain the tank. It really shouldn't be that complex of a job.
 

ianferguson

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Location
California
TDI
Jetta Sportswagen
Hey these guys at the VW dealership are saying that when you turn the key to the on position it activates the fuel pump to prime the pump. They are saying with this car that this even happens when you simply open the door.
I did turn the key to be able to shift the car into neutral to get it on and off the flat bed and of course I opened the door to get in and out.
Are they full of it, or is this really the truth?
 

tomtom1989

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Location
Pontefract
TDI
VW Golf MkV
If you put the ignition on, it more than likely ran the lift pump and primed part of the fuel system with unleaded.
 

ianferguson

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Location
California
TDI
Jetta Sportswagen
so, sorry to be thick in the head, but that means even if I didn't crank the car on but simply turned the key to release the steering column and put it in neutral?
No starting the car involved.
 

rackaracka

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2001
Location
Monroe, NJ
Yes. When you turn the key to the ON position, without cranking - you hear a click and you will hear the in tank fuel pump run.
 

owr084

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 20, 2004
Location
Northern Virginia (NoVA)
TDI
Passat GLS, 2005, Stonehenge Gray
Question - is the function of briefly energizing the pump to pressurize the circuit only or to pressurize AND circulate fuel? If the former, then there is no way for the unleaded to spread through the system. If the latter, then, even so, the unleaded probably won't even make it to the fuel filter.
 

MayorDJQ

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Location
Williamstown, Mass
TDI
'10 Golf 2dr 6m, sold.
Get the car away from the dealer!! Now they're trying to hose you. It has been reported and observed that the lift pump does NOT run whensimply turning the key to ON in an '09+ car. You can remove the tank-to-filter hose and turn the key on and nothing comes out.

In 40k miles on my '09 I never once heard any noise when turning the key on to glow. I have 5k miles on my '10 and likewise have never heard any noise.

Unless you ran the tank bone dry, there would still have been Dieselnin the lift pump and line to the filter. If there's any doubt, go ahead and open the fuelmfilter canister and takr a sniff. If it smells like normal Diesel fuel, no gasoline made it to the filter. You could always evacuate the line after draining the tank.
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
Hey these guys at the VW dealership are saying that when you turn the key to the on position it activates the fuel pump to prime the pump. They are saying with this car that this even happens when you simply open the door.
I have read on this Forum that the dealers first statement is false and their 2nd statement is true if the drivers door is opened.

After draining the tank and putting clean Diesel back in, I would most likely remove the fuel supply line at the fuel filter and run the lift pump with VCDS To purge the supply line. I would remove the fuel filter, dump the fuel out of the canister and if I found evidence of gas, I would replace the fuel filter.

Even with the door open thing (if it's true), gas probably didn't even make it to the FF.
 

rackaracka

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2001
Location
Monroe, NJ
Get the car away from the dealer!! Now they're trying to hose you. It has been reported and observed that the lift pump does NOT run whensimply turning the key to ON in an '09+ car. You can remove the tank-to-filter hose and turn the key on and nothing comes out.
MayorDJQ - Thanks for correcting me!
Sorry for the mis-information about the Key ON fuel pump energizing. I've not done anything on an 09+ TDI yet.
 

MayorDJQ

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Location
Williamstown, Mass
TDI
'10 Golf 2dr 6m, sold.
Hey these guys at the VW dealership are saying that when you turn the key to the on position it activates the fuel pump to prime the pump. They are saying with this car that this even happens when you simply open the door.
I did turn the key to be able to shift the car into neutral to get it on and off the flat bed and of course I opened the door to get in and out.
Are they full of it, or is this really the truth?
I don't know how I missed this the first time I read the post. I don't think opening the door activates the fuel pump(s) either. If this were the case, you wouldn't need VCDS to prime the fuel filter after a filter change. You could just open/close the door 25 times to prime/purge. I've also never heard any pump noise when opening the door.
 

abctdi

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Location
ABQ, NM, USA
TDI
2005 Passat GLS
OP, look on the bright side. You will never do that again, ay?
You also need to develop keen sense of dealership paranoia, but don't go over board.
 

MonsterTDI09

TDIClub Enthusiast, Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2009
Location
NoVa/NJ
TDI
2010 Jetta DSG/ up keep on 2009 Jetta DSG 2006 Jetta Pag 2 in North SEA Green
Open the door doesn't turn on the lift pump what are the smoking.In fact the pumps runs for few seconds after you turn the car off,you can here it's pretty loud.
 

Got Bearings?

Veteran Member
Joined
May 5, 2007
Location
SoCal
TDI
2001 Golf GLS
When you go to the dealer, ask them to SHOW you that the lift pump operates when the door opens and when the key is turned on... on a car in their lot. That should eliminate any doubts on either end.

Also, if the lines were already filled with diesel and you didn't crank it, there's no way for RUG fuel to get pushed past the diesel that's already there.... even if the lift pump does run.

Siphon the gas and replace with diesel and some additives.
 

MayorDJQ

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Location
Williamstown, Mass
TDI
'10 Golf 2dr 6m, sold.
Open the door doesn't turn on the lift pump what are the smoking.In fact the pumps runs for few seconds after you turn the car off,you can here it's pretty loud.
The only noise I've ever heard after shutting the car off is the "EEEEEEEEEEEEE" from the EGRs re-aligning. Why would the fuel pump(s) run after the engine is shut off?
 

Henrick

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Location
Ireland
TDI
Golf VI TDI, 77 kW (CAYC)
Guys, a new fuel filter prime procedure:

When you replace a fuel filter on your 09 or 10 VW, (30k miles interval I believe?), be sure to open and close the driver's door for at least 5 times to ensure new fuel filter gets primed.

LOL :D This is one of the biggest nonsenses I've heard of :D The second place belongs to 'The gearbox is being blocked if the doors are not fully closed' :D
 

MayorDJQ

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Location
Williamstown, Mass
TDI
'10 Golf 2dr 6m, sold.
LOL :D This is one of the biggest nonsenses I've heard of :D The second place belongs to 'The gearbox is being blocked if the doors are not fully closed' :D
Ha! That's a good one! I never heard that before.

When TDIs first came to North America, the gems of the sales staff told prospective buyers that opening the driver's door activated the glow plugs. For some reason that myth is hanging on to life by a thread.
 

ianferguson

Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Location
California
TDI
Jetta Sportswagen
spoke with another mechanic from another VW dealership and he confirms that the opening of the door, depending on how long the car has been idle, does indeed prime the pump.
Didn't tell him about the scenario until after getting an answer to the question.
 

eddif

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Location
MS
TDI
2004 Jetta PD Automatic
When you go to the dealer, ask them to SHOW you that the lift pump operates when the door opens and when the key is turned on... on a car in their lot. That should eliminate any doubts on either end.

Also, if the lines were already filled with diesel and you didn't crank it, there's no way for RUG fuel to get pushed past the diesel that's already there.... even if the lift pump does run.

Siphon the gas and replace with diesel and some additives.
I do not know.

But​
If the electric pump at the engine runs the bypass valve in the HPFP should let some fuel go through the system.​

I think at this point I would be very careful not to run the engine without making sure what does what. We have a lot of advice that conflicts.​

eddif​
 

MayorDJQ

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 4, 2001
Location
Williamstown, Mass
TDI
'10 Golf 2dr 6m, sold.
spoke with another mechanic from another VW dealership and he confirms that the opening of the door, depending on how long the car has been idle, does indeed prime the pump.
Didn't tell him about the scenario until after getting an answer to the question.
That makes 2 dealerships you should avoid at all costs.
 
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