What a tw*t

[mozza666]

Sadly I made the mistake of putting diesel in my GS. Decided to fill it up at one of those Asda self serve card only deals, spotted an R1 pulling out of a bay and also noticed a spill on the ground at the pump. In my distraction it looks like I filled her up with diesel, bike seemed OK initially but a twist of the throttle said otherwise, tried again and same response. Pulled over and thought it was weird then it struck me so smelled in the tank anbd it smells like diesel.

AA recovery.

Question is how deeply in the sh*t do you estimate i'm in. I'm in central Scotland so no doubt Motorrad will sting me no matter what.

 

[Coolcarbon]

Not as deep as I was when I filled the car with petrol and should've been diesel (wrong side of 2 hundred quid to sort it, if only I seen Proffs advice beforehand).....drain it and refill...should be fine...

 

[JJH]

Probley not as bad as you think. It's a question of volume how much fuel was in the tank? Did you fill it? I think that unless the tank was empty you are not on 100% derv maby 70 or 80%. Now it's like this petrol kills diesels fuel pumps ect. Diesel dose not do the same damage to petrol engines. So drain out the tank and filters and lines fill with unleaded and away you go with a bit of luck. JJH

 

[Pukmeister]

I saw a mobile van in that London the other day that comes to you in the event of such an event and sucks out your fuel tank then gets you on your way. If I can find them on google I'll post it up, it looks like some kind of franchise.

EDIT: Check out www.speedstart.co.uk looks like a new chain getting established nationally so probably not covering central Scotlandshire yet.

 

[gsbiker]

This reminds me of when I filled my Diesel car with £50 of petrol! I noticed my mistake before I started the car. RAC recovery home and a mobile mechanic drained fuel into 2x 25L containers. As my car at the time was near dry before I filled with petrol I reused the 50L of fuel in my motorbikes without a problem.............I think?


Easy mistake to make - Hope you get it sorted!

 

[mozza666]

Thanks for the advice guys, seems like it might not be as bad as I feared. I'll try draining it all today and see what happens, thanks for the wise words y'all.

 

[Blues Boy]

Try Ultra Evac Diesel form Petrol 08006342573. I haven't used them myself, but got it from Cw Riders site some years ago, so put it in my mobile should I make the mistake.
Hope it works out on for you.

 

[VAL. H.]

Thanks for the advice guys, seems like it might not be as bad as I feared. I'll try draining it all today and see what happens, thanks for the wise words y'all.

The 1200 is designed to run on some really rough, poor quality fuel. All you need do is drain it and refill with petrol. It will run rough till the diesel has been flushed, then it should be fine.


Val.

 

[mozza666]

Sorry for my stupididty but i've stripped all the crash bars and panels from the bike and am unclear how to actually drain the tank.

it's a 2005 and on the rhs fuel assembly looks like this.

I know that the two lower lines just lead to under the bike as drains so am assuming it's one of these somehow.

I've also stripped the lhs so have access to the fuel pump.

So what's what and how do I go about draining the tank without using a syphon or similar.

 

[Deleted User O]

Find the lowest part of the tank

 

[mozza666]

Find the lowest part of the tank

Can't say i'm not tempted but no thanks

 

[Myke Rocks]

Another method.

At tank connections, disconnect the return pipe, depress sealing plunger in end of it & keep it depressed by widging it open with pop rivet in or similar. Place end into suitable recepticle.
Unplug fuel pump plug & hotwire to a battery. (Without creating sparks.)
Pump will empty tinak in 5 mins or so, or:
Take off fuel filler (using torx driver)
Take off tank, & turn upside down.

Myke

 

[The smudger]

Hi Mozza666,

Take the tank off matey, i stopped at the roadside to help a bloke out with a brand new one once, he'd filled it with Diesel like you have.

We took the tank off (15 mins) removed the fuel pump assembly then just tipped it all out. pushed it back to the fuel station (we were able to dump the diesel there) and filled it with unleaded, it started almost straight away, sounded a little rough for a minute or so, then it was fine, although it smoked like a bastard for about 10 mins!!!

Like others have said if it was the other way round you'd be fooked!!!

 

[The smudger]

At tank connections, disconnect the return pipe, depress sealing plunger in end of it & keep it depressed by widging it open with pop rivet in or similar. Place end into suitable recepticle.
Unplug fuel pump plug & hotwire to a battery. (Without creating sparks.)
Pump will empty tinak in 5 mins or so, or:
Take off fuel filler (using torx driver)
Take off tank, & turn upside down.

Myke

Check the fire bit on youre insurance policy first though

 

[rocky burns]

Probley not as bad as you think. It's a question of volume how much fuel was in the tank? Did you fill it? I think that unless the tank was empty you are not on 100% derv maby 70 or 80%. Now it's like this petrol kills diesels fuel pumps ect. Diesel dose not do the same damage to petrol engines. So drain out the tank and filters and lines fill with unleaded and away you go with a bit of luck. JJH

+1

 

[Davy F]

Ashamed to say I also made this mistake once with my 12GS. All I did was get a bit of garden hose, syphoned as much out as possible and refilled with petrol. She was a bit (white) smokey for about a mile, but right as rain after that and never had another problem.

 

[mozza666]

A progress report for all that are interested.

Disconnected all of the wires and tubes as per your wise guidance. Took the tank completely off the bike and emtied into a container in the garden for later disposal.

Put it all back together and connected all the pipes etc in reverse. Put maybe a litre or two of unleaded in and hit the button. No go. Can't say she's not trying but it's getting to the point that the batteries wekening.

I'm off to buy a can or two of UNLEADED and then give it another go. Meanwhile i'll leave it on the charger.

Anymore words of wisdom ?

 

[Myke Rocks]

Before you try again:

A progress report for all that are interested.

Disconnected all of the wires and tubes as per your wise guidance. Took the tank completely off the bike and emtied into a container in the garden for later disposal.

Put it all back together and connected all the pipes etc in reverse. Put maybe a litre or two of unleaded in and hit the button. No go. Can't say she's not trying but it's getting to the point that the batteries wekening.

I'm off to buy a can or two of UNLEADED and then give it another go. Meanwhile i'll leave it on the charger.

Anymore words of wisdom ?

First of all give the fuel quick disconnects a full shove to make sure they are on properly. Same with connections to fuel pump.
When you switch on igintion, fuel pump should whine for a second before cutting out. If it does, well & good. If not, look again at plug.
If it does, switch off ignition & on again maybe 20 or 30 times before trying to start again. The fuel pump circulates a little fuel each time, & this should flushe most of the diesel out of the lines before you attempt to try starting.
Now take the fuel you removed and put it in a half full diesel car!

Myke

 

[mozza666]

Just to say thanks to everyone who replied with advice. After a bit of tweaking and battery charging it spluttered to life again, a fair amount of white smoke from the exhaust for 10 minutes or so but all appears well. I took it out for a ride for a couple of hours without any hassles.

Anyway, thanks again and at least I know how to remove the tank etc., not that the diesel trick will be happening again, hopefully.

Cheers all, give yourselves a pat on the back.