05TL08

I was filling up my gas tank today at an older Chevron station, and I thought I was filling up on 91 when I looked closer and it happen to be diesel!!!

I felt awful, this is an 05 TL with only 5100 miles. Luckily I noticed this and stopped pumping at 4 gallons. I did not start the engine of course, but I still have to get rid of the diesel.

I hope there is no damage to the engine since all I did was turn the ignition only to the accessory level to shift to neutral so the AAA guy could give me a tow.

Well, im taking it to the dealer tommorow to get this pump out.

Can anyone ease my mind, and tell me if I did any damage?

I can't believe I even did this, I felt stupid, but what can i do.

00accordtyper

Hey,
I'm sure you didn't harm anything at all. I'm sure that once you get it pumped out and refilled the worst you will have is some smoke from the exhaust. I wouldn't worry about it to much.

caball88

don't worry too much you didn't try to start the car. when they drain the fuel from your car they will probably drain the fuel lines and change the fuel filter(just in case). this should probably get rid of any diesel fuel in the system.

Crazy88

LOL i almost did that too!!

KJSmitty

A small amount of diesel fuel left in your system would be of little harm to your engine. Diesel fuel is like kerosene, more oily than flammable. Now, if you put 91 unlead in a diesel engine,,, that would be different story. You made the right call by not starting it, sucking up your ego and getting it towed to the shop. Like crazy88 alluded to, many of us have almost done it and many more will.
Like others mentioned, they will probably drain your tank to the best of their ability, purge the lines and change the filter. Due to you not going past the "acc" position, the fuel pump didn't pressurize the system. If they know that they may not even recommend a filter change or line purge..

Rest easy...

RAdams

Several years ago I wasn't paying attention while fueling and tried to put diesel in the tank of my mom's car and found that the nozzle would not fit in the gas fill hole. Apparently this is no longer the case?

Pro Stock John

Diesel nozzles over here are still bigger. (shrug)

rescueswimmer

Most diesel nozzles are bigger from what I can remember but its an easy mistake when your in a hurry

J RIDE 81

Good thing you didn't start the car. That would have been a nightmare. You did the right nothing and everything will turn out fine. G'Luck!

reloaded

That's pretty crazy. I'm a newb to this so can any of you guys explain what will happen if you do start the car?

Here in my town, diesal fuel is seperated pretty far away from the other three pump nozzles..either that, they're colored green while the regular nozzles are black.

gitRplyr09

:shakehead

crazymjb

Well, look on the bright side, if you had started it you may as wall get in a high speed pursuit...Smoke screen!

KJSmitty

crazymjb is right,,,
Besides smoking like crazy and running most likely "poorly", no permanent engine damage would occur.

From what I have seen regarding cars coming to the dealer that I use to work at with this "predicament", most required a good "flush". Others required new O2/oxygen sensors. All depended on how much (fuel to diesel mix) and how long the car was driven etc..

05TL08,
Let us know what your dealer response is to you having it towed in vs driving the car. I'd be interested to hear what they had to say about damage etc.

ShansTL23

Good thing I live in Jersey and don't pump my own gass!!! hahah

Dr.Murdock

Wow, thats sad. Same thing actually happened to my friends g35 sedan last year. All i know is that it cost him a lot of money to clean that crap up from his car.

Its true, diesal pumps do not fit into your car like the others nozzles. But there are some gas station with nozzles that have no difference from the diesal ones - they are big and dont fit all the way in. I went ot one of those station in upstate ny, and i was paranoid the whole time, making sure 100 times that i was not putting diesal into my car, since the pump had such a f'ed up nozzle.

johnstl

I go to the same gas station in town so I should never make that mistake plus the handles are green for deisel.

Good luck getting your TL back on the road!

rontatuaf

I doubt the car would run on diesel once the proportion of diesel/gas to the engine reached a high concentration. But getting to that concentration you would probably destroy the oxygen sensor, foul the catalytic convertor, ruin the spark plugs and carbon up the valves and combustion chambers. It wouldn't be pretty.

05TL08

Like I said, I went to an OLD Chevron Station, I was also in a hurry, the nozzles were the same color as the unleaded gas (I wish it was green), and it fit into my tank.

my car is still at the dealer, hopefully i will get it back today. The preliminary estimate for the work surprisingly was $86.88. Maybe because i didn't start the car?

Anyways, the service manager is also doing a homelink update on the car.

I will update once i get my car back.

thanks for your comments

ou sig

:whocares:

gtgrad95

Don't be too hard on yourself. It happens. I've pulled a lot worse (and costly) bone head moves. $85 is not bad at all.

Flippie

Get a Kenworth sticker !!!! Just kidding. I have to agree with rescueswimmer our diesel knozzels (in Missouri) will not fit in a gas car or truck. You didn't start your motor so you should be fine after the diesel is pumped out.

DAVERUBINO

Hey, don't feel bad. I was on a around the outside of the United States trip on my Honda Goldwing motorcycle and accidently filled up with diesel in North Dakota, almost in the middle of nowhere. I started up and hit the highway. Two miles later, I came to a halt. I had to leave my wife with the bike along side the highway and go get help. I had it flatbedded and luckily, there was a Honda dealer right there. It cost me a day and loss of pride but the bike still ran great after cleaning the carbs. Lesson: Watch what ya pump! I won't make that mistake again!

jhan1102

update?

Dr.Murdock

Im sure he is going ot have 0 problems with it. As i said, it happened to my friends g35 sedan, but he truend his car on as well. They had to flush everythnig out, i think it cost around 2k, but i might be mistaken. As for damage, no damage was done, just a costly clean up.

05TL08

sorry guys for not updating, but im feeling kind of crappy about what the dealer did to my car.

Here's the story:

The tech drained the diesel out of the gas tank with no problems, didn't have to touch anything else. Here's the problem, the car wouldn't start!

The service manager said that it was a relay problem because it would start when they jumped it. Someone told me they shouldn't jump a new car? He said they would put one in and I could get my car back the next day.

He calls me in the morning and says that my ecu or the computer of the car was fried!!!!!!!!! He said it was their fault, and that the tech incorrectly jump some wires. (I can't believe this) So, apparently the part is going to take some time to get. I got an MDX loaner.

The good news is that they got the part today, and hopefully I will get my car back on Monday.

caball88

damn sorry to hear that dude. that would really annoy me cause it means more trips to the dealership. hopefully they will get it right this time and fix your car.

shux69

could have been worse

dnd2984

iTrader: (6)

For my sisters Sweet 16 my dad got her a RSX. The first time she filled up she put diesel in it. Then she drove for about a mile and the car stopped. So here we have a brand new RSX with 250 miles with diesel. Also she tried multiple attempts to start the car after it stauled out. The Dealer charged $168 to pump the tank, clean the lines, clean the injectors, and replaces all the filters.

triggle

I know this is off topic but can you tell us more about the Homelink update the dealer was doing ?

05TL08

Hi Guys,

Finally, I got my car back. I've been driving it for a day and a half now. Everything seems to be in order. So far so good.

The homelink update for my car wasn't needed since it was an 05. I think if you have an 04 there is an update for it.

thanks for all your comments, and I guarantee you from now on, I won't put diesel in a car unless it needs it.

Lore

What's all this talk about a Homelink update?

mickey3c

I can't believe it either. We all make mistakes, but think about this the next time you take the car in for service where you are paying whatever they charge you for labor and think does the tech know what the hell they are doing.

05TL08

I know what you mean mickey, i know I put diesel (my mistake) and took it to the dealer to get it fixed right, but they made it worse by frying my ecu (the part is at least $1000). The thing that gets me most and it might be nothing, but its that things are being unnessarily getting taken apart and put back together when it doesn't have to be, for example, when i got the car back, there are several places where there are small gaps in and around the dash where before this, was a tight fit. I know it might sound anal but i just had to get that off my chest.

VelfarreClubber

good to see everything is working, which dealer did you go to?

mickey3c

It is not anal at all.. I had an issue once with another car I owned where they took part of the dash apart and it took 3 trips to straighten it out, but they finally did. I got a loaner and told them to take their time on it.. You do not need a dealer to add more problems. And I know it might be tough trying to reassemble something. But consider when you screw up at your job and then you quickly try to cover it up. Sometimes we create more problems....

05TL08

Sierra Acura in Alhambra.

soopa

oh man. lucky you caught that!

glad it turned out alright

muadib

Amen!