My 2006 Prius Died Today...

Very sorry to hear about that.

What will be done to your car? I assume that the diesel fuel will be pumped out of the tank and the fuel injectors replaced? Is any other work planned to be done?

 

There is a post here on PC about a lady's daughter accidently pumping diesel into her Prius. If I remember correctly the repair cost was in the thousands. She was happy that her insurance company paid the bill. You can do a search on PC to see if you can find the post.

 

Yeah that tends to happen when the engine cant run

Yes of course it's related to the diesel in the fuel.

 

Hmm, it would probably be easier just to disconnect the fuel line where it connects to the fuel injector rail, direct the fuel line into a suitable container, then run the fuel pump (the Toyota diagnostic laptop can activate it) to pump the diesel out. Then pump a couple of gallons of gasoline into the tank, and run the pump more to flush that through the fuel line.

I hope they are not going to physically remove the fuel tank, seems like unnecessary work.

 

There is a silver lining here. The diesel will soak into any deposits in the combustion parts of the engine and when it is finally started with gasoline that diesel will "explode" off the deposits, leaving the engine nice and clean. The mechanics at a place I used to work used this technique often to clean engines. There should be no damage to the fuel injectors. There may be damage to the O2 sensors and the cat.

 

I would really want a new fuel tank unless Toyota has tested the effect of diesel on the bladder. How does anybody know that the diesel hasn't started to break it down, and will only show up months or even years later. In my opinion, you had a gas tank that only had gasoline in it, now you've got a gas tank that has had diesel in it too, therefore they should put a new one on.

 

petrol in a modern diesel is trouble but diesel in a petrol.....never know it will be a problem like this i always expected petrol in a diesel would be really bad

 

Hi Vinnysca, do you know what the concentration of the diesel was in it. Was it regular gas with diesel contamination (at some percent) or was it more like straight diesel?

 

The bladder probably helped in this case. There was probably several gallons of gas still in the Prius that diluted the diesel fuel. Same thing with the service stations tank. The "double dilution" probably helped limit any damage to the Prius engine. I any case you dodged a bullet so be happy.:cheer2:

 

Haha, really? misfuelling is close to a billion pound industry over here! Get used to it as the germans push more diesel cars onto you...

 

OK, coincidentally, I have the same exact problem. My wife had driven our 2001 Prius to the bank yesterday, and when she got back in to drive home, it wouldn't start. Guy sent by AAA jump started it, but halfway to the dealer, it died (it sounded like it was running on batteries only), so I had it towed the rest of the way.

Anyway, just got a call from the service tech at the dealer (Manhattan Toyota, btw, owned by NFL QB John Elway) saying that there was diesel in the fuel tank. They want to charge me $1480 to replace the fuel tank, clean out the lines, & replace the spark plugs. Does that sound reasonable? He said something about the diesel ruining the seals, which is why the tank had to be replaced. And they don't have a fuel tank on hand, won't be coming in until Tuesday. But, like, what are my options? Tell them no and tow it to someone else to have them try & clean out the tank?

 

Sound like overkill. If you are stuck with the bill, I would just flush the tank and the fuel lines. Diesel is less volatile then gas, so it should not damage seals that can handle gas. The opposite may cause a problem. If you must replace the tank, get a used one. One plug should be pulled, if it is fouled, they will probably all need to be changed. You can tell the dealer to just flush the tank. If they refuse, take it elsewhere, and don't give them any business in the future. A small amount of diesel won't hurt anything, and will be burned off. Old cars become oil burners. Burning diesel is like burning oil.
A friend of mine had this happen to her this year on her Lexus. The dealer just flushed the tank and lines and changed the plugs.

 

Just wondering, but did you figure out how the diesel got into the tank yet?

 

No. I do know my wife filled up the tank before she went to the bank, so I'm going to go to the gas station this morning and ask them if anyone has reported getting diesel instead of regular unleaded in their gas.

I did talk to a mechanic friend of mine last night. He said to find out how much the fuel tank itself cost. He said if the part costs $200, then it might be worth replacing just because the price difference would be worth the peace of mind. But if it costs $500, I might consider just flushing the tank. He said flushing the tank is fairly labor intensive because they have to remove the tank anyway to adequately drain it.

<sigh>I hate big car expenses.

 

Overkill. Just have them flush it once or twice using the fuel pump as Patrick outlined above and it should be fine.