Help! Effects of gasoline through a diesel

[sutyak]

I need some advice from some diesel folks. A buddy of mine has a 2009 VW Jetta. He filled up the tank with gasoline and drove it about 5 miles. The last 2 miles the car sputtered but he limped it home. So maybe 2 miles on nearly 100% gasoline.

He had it towed to the VW dealer. They said all fuel lines and filter need replaced with an estimate of $4,000 . Possibly more he's not telling me or they are not telling him to reach that price point. He has not said OK to let them perform the fix yet. I told him I would look into it.
Assuming I can determine what all needs replaced I can locate parts used and replace them for nothing.
This is where I need guidance. With driving this short of a distance, do you really think all the fuel lines need replaced? Obviously fuel filter and the fuel system needs drained and flushed. I wouldn't think <5 miles would be enough to completely ruin the fuel lines.

[travj31]

This happened to a buddy of mine last summer in an old Hot Rod, but it was the other way around... He accidentally filled up with diesel. Limped it home about 15 miles, drained everything, put some 93 back in and was good to go. Obviously, not nearly as technologically advanced as a new VW, but he had no issues once he drained the diesel out.

I need some advice from some diesel folks. A buddy of mine has a 2009 VW Jetta. He filled up the tank with gasoline and drove it about 5 miles. The last 2 miles the car sputtered but he limped it home. So maybe 2 miles on nearly 100% gasoline.

He had it towed to the VW dealer. They said all fuel lines and filter need replaced with an estimate of $4,000 . Possibly more he's not telling me or they are not telling him to reach that price point. He has not said OK to let them perform the fix yet. I told him I would look into it.
Assuming I can determine what all needs replaced I can locate parts used and replace them for nothing.
This is where I need guidance. With driving this short of a distance, do you really think all the fuel lines need replaced? Obviously fuel filter and the fuel system needs drained and flushed. I wouldn't think <5 miles would be enough to completely ruin the fuel lines.

[thedak]

I had a 2010 TDi Jetta.

The HP Fuel pump is the expensive part.

If it isn't lubed correctly for any amount of time it will fail.

Especially the new 2009 design. Causing it to destroy the injectors.

Even shitty diesel was causing havoc on the 2009-10s.

[sutyak]

I had a 2010 TDi Jetta.

The HP Fuel pump is the expensive part.

If it isn't lubed correctly for any amount of time it will fail.

Especially the new 2009 design. Causing it to destroy the injectors.

Even shitty diesel was causing havoc on the 2009-10s.

Thanks! I also asked the question on SVTP and the conclusion is the same. Great to hear from someone who has owned one of these.

[Silverhatch]

The fuel lines could be ruined?

[CobraII]

The Click and Clack/Car Talk column in the Sunday Post Gazette just had that question a couple of weeks ago:

Dear Car Talk:
Will a car be damaged if a person mistakenly puts diesel into a gasoline car's gas tank? And also, what happens if you put regular gas into a diesel vehicle? How often does this happen? It happened to us recently. Thank you.
-- Carolina

Well, it's not something we see every day, Carolina. First of all, diesel pumps are labeled "Diesel," and they're usually a different color -- most often green. So most people notice that something's different before they make that mistake.
I'm not making you feel better yet, am I, Carolina?
Actually, despite the markings, it happens surprisingly often, so don't feel too bad. I guess people are just busy and distracted these days, trying to refuel the car while responding to text messages and stopping the Cheerios fight the kids are having in the back seat.
When diesel fuel does end up in a gasoline tank, the car will run for a few miles or so, until all the gasoline that's still in the fuel line gets used up. At that point, the engine will shut down -- boom.
Gasoline engines cannot combust diesel fuel, so the car would stop running.
Once that happens, it has to be towed to a shop, and the fuel system needs to be drained. We start by emptying the gas tank. Then -- assuming the car has been driven since the errant refueling -- we get all of the diesel fuel out of the fuel lines, the fuel rail and the injectors.
We'll usually remove the injectors and run them outside of the car so they just squirt out a bunch of the diesel fuel. Sometimes that doesn't work, and we have to take things apart, and, well, it can be a real mess. But it's doable. And normally, no permanent damage is done to the injectors, the seals or anything else. And because the car won't actually run on diesel fuel, there's little risk of damaging the catalytic converter.
But it's a costly and time-consuming process, as I'm sure you now know, Carolina! Depending on the car, it can cost $500 to $1,000.
Accidentally putting gasoline in your diesel tank can be even more harmful, depending on how much gasoline you've added. I mean, if you had an empty 20-gallon tank, and you caught your mistake when you'd put in only a gallon, you might be all right if you filled the rest of the tank with diesel. But if it's more than that, you could create serious problems.
Aside from being the fuel, diesel also is a lubricant. So running a diesel engine on gasoline starves the fuel-injector pump of lubrication.
And because of their different combustion properties, the gasoline detonates too early in a high-compression diesel engine and causes all kinds of damaging knocking and misfiring. So not only would you have to drain the tank, in that case, but you might need to replace other parts as well.
So I think we need to launch a new public-service campaign to reduce distractions while refueling, Carolina: "Don't Text and Pump." Want to be the poster girl?

[03 OW SVT]

We just had some dumb ass employee at my shop do this to our roll off truck (Ford 7.3 Powerstroke). Fortunatley it didn't do much damage to the truck. It was fixed for free from the students at Rosedale Tech in Robinson.

[SixSpeedSS]

OP...Too bad your buddy took it to a dealer, as now it is on record. If the car is under warranty, I wonder if they will refuse coverage for a future repair if THEY don't repair it. Just a thought.

The lack of lubricant is the big thing, but I would think in such a short time it should be fine. As TheDak states, the HP pump is the big thing, and I know VW has had lots of issues with it in the newer gen TDIs.