Diesel in P6 engine

Hello chaps, I thought I would check with you on this one.

In my rush during school run today I put 8 litres of Shell Optimax Diesel in the P6. There was about 3 litres of petrol in there already.

I have topped it up with 20L of Optimax un-leaded, and driven it 2 miles home - so the current mixture is around 23L un-leaded and 8L diesel (30%).

Should I top it up more to dilute the diesel and continue to run as-is, maybe cleaning the plugs in week or so or drain the tank (which is a pain).

Current consumption is only 20 mpg (at best) and so I'll be back to normal in a week.

I understand an 8-10% diesel to un-leaded ratio should be OK, and diesel is thicker, but I have an electric pusher pump.

Recommendations would be appreciated - many thanks, Simon
 
Yep, we’ve all done it.
If it is still running and not smoking too badly keep on going, but get as much new petrol in there as you can. If it is missing, and the plugs are oiling up I am afraid you are going to have to drain it, keep the mix for your lawnmower, fill with fresh petrol, and fit new plugs after all the mix has gone through.
If you are keeping on going with the mix best carry a spare set if plugs and a wrench.
 
I filled up recently (not a P6) with Shell Optimax, which I haven't used for quite a while as there are now very few Shell stations in my area, and I remember commenting to my passenger that they seem to have changed the colours of the labels on the pumps such that they are now very similar, if not the same. IIRC, they used to be very different colours for diesel and unleaded.

Do you have anything like a Pela oil abstraction vacuum pump, if so you might be able to get a length of pipe in to syphon fuel out,
perhaps decant into some cans, top up etc to try and reduce the diesel/unleaded ratio. I haven't tried it in a P6, so don't know whether it's possible.

Fingers crossed that you can sort it out fairly easily.
 
I don't think that's going to be dilute enough to not cause issues. You might might get away with a litre or two in a full tank.

I would get a 20/25 litre can and try and syphon it out. You can then add a litre or two back in of the mixture every time you fill up.

As you have an electric pump, it's easy. Undo the hose at the carb, remove the power to the coil and turn the ignition on and it'll pump out itself.

BTW I once added petrol to a diesel car which is WORSE. No damage but an unholy smell as the system was cleaned out.
 
Thanks again guys. I was hoping to avoid filling the tank with un-leaded to dilute the diesel only to find that I needed to empty it out due to bad running issues.
Given it's a daily runner, there is always the risk with topping up with more un-leaded that it will splutter and smoke at the most inconvenient times. Carrying a set of spare plugs was a good idea.

I'll push it out into a spare container as suggested and use again in smaller doses (if only I had some toys to use in in like a lawn mower or chain saw)
Much appreciated,
 
happily never had missed fuel issue. it is possible to run old petrol engines with mix of diesel and diesel with part petrol ( not modern once with fuel rails !) a they don't have catalytic converters we dont have to worry about those being destroyed ( poisoned) . if it were my car, I would just top up too full and run with it. then when quarter gone. top up again. no real issues should occur other than smoke from exhaust. power bit lower and slight risk temperature of engine running on high side ( we do not want to lose a gasket etc) still if your happier . most people would be! by siphoned fuel off and topping up with fresh fuel, E5 Not E10 !
 
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