Possible misfuel

[AFTiggerIntel]

Cousin's car (2003 Beetle GL ALH) stalled twice on him today. I talked to him on the phone right after he filled up on Sunday morning to make sure he didn't fill up with gasoline so we're fairly confident he used the right pump. Does not mean that the station didn't have an issue on their end. We think about 11-11.5 gallons into it while it sat at an 1/8th tank of good diesel.

He has driven it Sunday - Today but not sure how much he actually put in it yet or if there’s something else going on with it. I pulled fuel filter and it had a sweeter smell than regular diesel but wasn’t sickly sweet like straight gasoline.

Plan is:

1. Call station when fuel manager is there to find out exactly which handle he used.
2. If he didn't grab wrong handle, hold the station accountable for it.
3. If he DID, I'm going to have to drain fuel tank, flush all lines, and hope the injector pump isn't toast.

Questions since we've got a BEW Jetta and more familiar with that:

ALH - does it have a lift pump in tank? Pretty sure not but double check before I drive myself nuts. If it does not, can we put one in it? If we do put one in it, can it ditch the injector pump? If I'm draining tank and flushing the lines with diesel clean at max load, what else do we need to do besides pray IP is ok?

 

[turbodieseldyke]

ALH has no in-tank pump, unless someone added it later.

If it does not, can we put one in it? If we do put one in it, can it ditch the injector pump?

1. Yes
2. Lol no

Best way to tell if it has gasoline is open the filler cap. You will smell it. You might even hear it, if gas vapors whoosh out. I'm thinking, if 7/8 of the tank is gasoline, it wouldn't run far enough to stall, twice. It is possible they had water or other contaminants in the diesel underground.

 

[Nuje]

ALH:
1. No lift pump in the tank. Yes, you can install one - I'm sure there's some discussion around that on here.
2. Injector pump - definitely needed. that's what gets the fuel to the injectors (akin to tandem pump on your BEW)
3. Find a good deity currently accepting prayers.

 

[AFTiggerIntel]

Yeah told him he wasn’t going to like the cost if the IP goes out. Had to explain tandem vs IP in parking lot I got it into last night. Something is definitely up with the fuel filter at a minimum. He said he had no issues for 100 miles. Now take that with a grain of salt because right after he filled up (and I was 3 hours away), he couldn’t start the vehicle at all. Ended up playing with battery cable and it started after a few tries. Then said no issues until it did. Not sure how much of that is true vs someone who hasn’t driven a vehicle in 10+ years and suddenly got one would even know it’s got issues. Fun times!

 

[AFTiggerIntel]

Verdict? Yes it has gasoline. The fuel from the filter went up with barely touching it with lighter. Now I’ve got to track down receipt to see if he did it or station did.

 

[AFTiggerIntel]

Beetle ALH

• AFTiggerIntel
• Sep 28, 2023
• 2

Videos of both the fact I was RIGHT and he either put gasoline in it thinking it was diesel or the station was mis fueled and refuses to admit it. Told him he needs to get the receipt from Bakers/Krogers and see what it actually says for the fuel type. If it’s diesel, I’m reporting the station because that was about 65-70% gasoline. I could smell it but it didn’t smell overly sweet like gasoline. Know that smell as we’ve got our HHR currently with a fuel leak thanks to rusty lines (they’re in my to-do list but lower priority in order to get the lines in to me - no one carries them local).

So a 55 gal steel drum + hand pump = 13 gallons out of the car. Took Diesel Purge (you can get it at NAPA!) and filled new fuel filter to the brim. Then on return line added some vacuum with my hand pump and a smaller tube until we ran most of the diesel purge through it. Topped it back up with diesel purge then came the fighting with it to start. Probably took about 15 tries but it’s running. Not smooth but it’s running.

 

[AndyBees]

Back in the day, I removed many gallons of diesel/gasoline mix of which all were filled by accident (from MK1s to MK4s). The smell of gasoline was not questionable with any of the instances...... from only a couple of gallons to more than 90% gasoline. No IP was destroyed by these incidents.

After pumping the tanks at the access hole under the back seat, I blew out the fuel lines with compressed air. Then, I put in a couple gallons of fresh diesel fuel with added 2-cycle oil at about a 100:1 ratio. Using vacuum, I pulled fuel thru the system from the IP. Then, with the injector line nuts cracked at the Injectors, I bled the lines.......... then proceed to start the engine.

I'd guess if the station diesel tank was mis-filled the station would have been overwhelmed with questions and complaints. As I understand, the access points to fill the tanks are clearly identified. Locally, where I've lived all my life, I've never heard of a mis-filled station tank. My father and two uncles, as well as numerous acquaintances, were auto mechanics. So, if there had been such a mis-fill it would have been the talk of the town...... with laughs.

 

[AFTiggerIntel]

Fully used our vacuum lines to pull the good diesel from the tank once I got everything done. Upside is the diesel purge should have also helped clean anything that was still meh in it. Since the station gets diesel every 2 weeks while the gasoline is filled daily, my guess is that he just really doesn't want to own up to his mistake. Would have been better to go ahead and let me know he did it wrong because I would have just taken him to the gas pumps and made sure the next time he's got the right one.

I've seen several mis-fills at the station before but it would really depend on how much they actually got out of there first. Especially since it smelled like about 90% gasoline based on fill up data I knew and how much was in there prior to filling up.

 

[turbobrick240]

Sweet is an interesting descriptor for the smell of gasoline, lol. I think it smells nauseating. Diesel fumes don't make me salivate either, but they don't give me a headache as fast as gas fumes.

I'd have skipped the diesel purge and just added diesel with a little 2 stroke oil as Andy mentioned. Probably safe to assume your cousin goofed and grabbed the wrong handle. It happens. Some stations (like BP) have green gas pump handles.