2002 Golf with a Belly Full of Gasoline...

Bengoshi2000

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Location
Triad NC, USA
TDI
2002 Golf (0M1)
How eff'd am I?

Got a call from my son about an hour ago. Says he needs a jump, the Golf won't start. I get across town and find that the car is turning over fine. It just won't catch. My son says he just fueled up. "You didn't put regular in it did you?" "No" he protests... "DIESEL." I try to start it again. No dice. On a whim I pulled the fuel cap and sniffed it. GASOLINE. Asked him for the receipt. $10.00 of Premium. Sweet Baby Jesus...
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
$10 is only 3 or 4 gallons, right? It would be better to pump the gasoline out of the tank but if you can't you could try filling it to the brim with diesel, emptying the fuel filter and filling that with diesel, dump some lubricity additive in there (PowerService or similar) and see if it'll run.
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
This happened. To my daughter too.
Dump in about a half a quart of whatever cheap motor oil you can find and top off with diesel.
Pull and replace fuel filter and fill it up with either diesel or diesel purge and you should be ok.
Some idiot put about 4 gallons into my daughters car before she caught the guy 2 summers ago......she has put about 40,xxx miles on it since with no issues........just my experience and ..02
 

PakProtector

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Location
AnnArbor, MI
TDI
Mk.4's and the Cummins
That is a wee bit rich of a gas mix. Remove it all into 5 gal tanks and put a gallon or two in at each subsequent fill up( don't fill with the vent depressed, and hold it when putting in the last 2 gal of 'mix' ). No sense wasting it, but 30-40% gasoline will significantly alter the cetane rating...
cheers,
Douglas
 

Prairieview

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 9, 2017
Location
Too close to Sturgis 'ithole
TDI
Two 2000 Beetles, 2002 Jetta, 2002 gas avh Jetta, fleet of older 1.6 turbo and non's
I would not use motor oil as it can quickly build up on back of valves and stems. But, I do run hydraulic fluid all the time for lubricity in VE engines.

Perhaps the kid should spend a little time walking?
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
People make mistakes.

Several years ago my son took a 10,000 mile cross country trip with two friends in his A3 Jetta. It was his first car, so he'd only owned a diesel. I repeatedly warned him about making sure his friends didn't put gasoline in the car. But after an all night drive from Montana to Wisconsin he stopped and filled the car, not noticing that RUG pump nozzles, not diesel, are green in Wisconsin. Diesel is green in MA. So he filled his own car with gasoline. It wouldn't start, of course, but Jason's TDI repair was within AAA's free tow range. Jason pumped out the tank, emptied and refilled the fuel filter with diesel (didn't even replace it) and they motored on.
 
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Bob S.

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Location
Central MD.
TDI
A B4V, some ALHs & BRMs
Something similar happened to the NB my son had in FL. Long story made short, he let his older brother (also a TDI owner) borrow it for a spring break trip. One of his older brothers friends, who was 1st in his class at USNA & headed off to Nuc power school was trying to be nice & contribute by buying fuel. Unfortunately, he filled it with RUL. Stuff happens. Be content that it happened to an ALH & not a newer common rail.
 

Bengoshi2000

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Location
Triad NC, USA
TDI
2002 Golf (0M1)
Perhaps the kid should spend a little time walking?
Not walking, so much as he now has to negotiate with his younger brother for the other "teen car". He will also get the pleasure of siphoning out the gas. I also might make him *think* he has to do it by mouth... but I have a bulb siphon I'll give him before it gets that far.

And thanks for the above advice. All told, it doesn't sound like it's the dire situation that I may (or may not) have let my son believe it is. I'll post back once it returns to the road.
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
Joined
May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
TDI
New Beetle 2003 manual
Yea, you did it right. The tank is easy to get to (under back seat, seat pops out), siphon it all out. There will be a bit left in the lines, but these cars seem to tolerate a little. Dump the filter, fill the tank, then bleed the injection pump will remove almost all of it. Usually these stories end with the car being driven, lucked out on that.
 

Bob S.

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Location
Central MD.
TDI
A B4V, some ALHs & BRMs
Yes. You did it right. I let my son deal with his drama (albeit with a few suggestions when he asked). Experience is the best educator.
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
my ip needs rebuild i think 420000 miles can some one recomend in LA orVentura county tanks all Julian
He will also get the pleasure of siphoning out the gas. I also might make him *think* he has to do it by mouth... but I have a bulb siphon I'll give him before it gets that far.

lol I’d make him dry siphon the tank.....one mouthful of that and guarantee you it will never happen again.😉
 

joep1234

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2014
Location
NC
TDI
former '04 Beetle TDI, now 2x '15 Audi Q5 TDI's, 2007 Dodge Ram 4x4 6.7
Be careful with that. I got gas in my lungs when a fuel line blew off on a van I was working on. 3 1/2 weeks in the hospital and the only thing that saved me was the surgeon washed my lungs out to stop the chemical pneumonia. Not worth dying over and a hard lesson learned.
 

Bengoshi2000

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Location
Triad NC, USA
TDI
2002 Golf (0M1)
I got the Golf back on the road this past Sunday. I couldn't get the siphon tube all the way into the tank... there seems to be some sort of a lip or catch about where the filler neck enters the tank (maybe its an anti-siphoning device?)... who knows. So I siphoned the gas out via the hose that feeds the inlet side of the fuel filter. The receipt from the "gas" fill up showed my son put 4.1 gallons of premium in (on a nearly empty tank). I siphoned out over 4 gallons of gas. Filled the fuel filter with b99 biodiesel and put 5 gallons of same in the tank. It took nearly an hour to get it started. Eventually had to jumper the battery to my 300D. Once it started running it was mostly fine. Then I drove it to the b99 pump and filled it the rest of the way. Evidently, there are a few pockets of gas still floating around. The car has died twice while my son was driving it. So for now, we are only using it for short trips.

My thanks to the excellent advice given above!
 
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fatmobile

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2019
Location
north iowa
TDI
an ALH M-TDI in a MK2, a 2000 Jetta, 2003 wagon
To flush a pump it helps to swap the "OUT" banjo bolt with a regular one.
This will allow HUGE amounts of fuel to flow through the pump.
It won't run well that way or maybe not at all with a TDI

I'd run my old 1.6 Rabbit on vegy and sometimes wouldn't get it flushed before it got thick.
Carried around a regular banjo bolt.
 
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