Petrol in a Diesel Volkswagen Scirocco? Leave It Switched Off
Anyone who has put petrol in a diesel Volkswagen Scirocco without running the engine should keep it switched off, and not run it even to move it away from the pump. With your motor kept off, that petrol stays put inside your tank, and in the majority of cases a drain is all your Scirocco requires.
Your Volkswagen Scirocco can stay put wherever it has stopped, forecourt or not, as Petrol in Diesel empties wrongly fuelled vehicles on the spot. We'll go through it with you on the phone, so ring us before trying anything yourself.
Your first steps with petrol in a diesel Scirocco
- With petrol inside your tank, a diesel Scirocco will usually still start and run, and feel perfectly ordinary for some miles. That is how motorists frequently drive off without noticing a problem, and the reason the engine should be left off.
- The ignition has to remain off as well, because switching it on sets the fuel pump priming on a lot of diesels, and your pump then pulls fuel out of the tank.
- Don't fill the remainder of your tank with diesel to thin it. Your Scirocco holds up to 55 litres, and topping it up just leaves more contaminated fuel to empty out. Super unleaded counts as petrol here too.
- Forecourt staff will normally help roll the vehicle clear in neutral when it is blocking a pump.
- When the badging shows the exact variant, for instance the Scirocco 2.0 TDI, mention it when you call 0333 366 0103. Let us know too which Scirocco you have and where it is parked, about how much petrol was put in and whether your motor has been run.
Wrong fuel in your Volkswagen Scirocco once your engine has run
Turning on the motor is what draws the wrong fuel in your Volkswagen Scirocco out of the tank, and only then does it begin to reach your engine. In a diesel motor, your fuel oils your injectors and the injection pump on its way past. That lubrication is washed away when petrol dilutes the diesel, so the harm, where there's any, is down to driving on the mixture.
Stop in a safe place and turn off if the Scirocco has already been on the road. We drain the tank, then flush the lines and filter through until no contaminated fuel is left, so it can still be dealt with. When it is caught early and cleaned out thoroughly, long-term harm is very unusual.
Volkswagen Scirocco fuel tank capacity
If you filled up when your tank was almost empty, the same couple of litres make up more of the fuel in there, and the risk hinges on that proportion, so the size of the tank matters.
It doesn't matter which variant you have, since each diesel Volkswagen Scirocco in our figures uses the same tank, holding 55 litres.
Finding your diesel Scirocco version
Look for the badge on your boot lid, which usually gives the variant, and let us know what it says when you call.
On a diesel Scirocco you will see TDI on the badging.
All the versions on our records have 2.0-litre motors.
AdBlue in a diesel Volkswagen Scirocco by mistake
AdBlue is a blend of water and urea that certain diesel cars use to clean up their exhaust, and it has a separate tank and filler. The key needs to remain out of the ignition if you have AdBlue in a diesel Volkswagen Scirocco through the incorrect filler, and that covers shifting your vehicle.
The fuel pump has no protection at all from AdBlue, which is largely water and will not ignite. It will not mix with diesel either, and sinks to the base of the tank, the very spot the pump pulls from, so a tank of up to 55 litres won't dilute it.
However modest the quantity, some of it gets pulled into the line. Once the water evaporates, the urea forms crystals inside your fuel system, including the fuel filter and injectors, and it eats into the metalwork it touches.
If the Scirocco has an AdBlue filler, it could well lie beside the diesel filler under the same flap, as it does on plenty of vehicles. You can typically spot the AdBlue lid by its blue shade and the far slimmer nozzle it accepts.
The fuel drain on your Volkswagen Scirocco, step by step
There's no garage needed, since we carry out a fuel drain on your Volkswagen Scirocco at your car itself. Before we fire up your motor, the fuel system is primed and your tank filled up with clean diesel. First comes finding out what went in and whether it's run, emptying a tank that takes up to 55 litres on the Scirocco, and cleaning the lines and fuel filter.
Clean diesel is what the Scirocco is running on by the time we have finished, and you are free to drive off in it.
Handling AdBlue removal from a diesel Volkswagen Scirocco
Like emptying petrol, AdBlue removal from a diesel Volkswagen Scirocco runs through the same steps. AdBlue gathers at the base of the tank rather than mixing in, and if the Scirocco has been run it may leave crystals inside the pipes, so we rinse those through as well and replace the fuel filter if it needs doing.
AdBlue removal on this page means taking AdBlue out of the diesel tank once it has gone in the wrong filler. It doesn't mean taking out or switching off the AdBlue system on your car.
What sets the price of a fuel drain on the Volkswagen Scirocco
We don't publish a fixed price, since this work varies from one task to the next. These are the biggest things that shape it:
- whether anybody has started or driven the Scirocco, the thing that counts most
- how much was put in against the capacity of the tank
- what went in, petrol or AdBlue
- whether the van can safely reach the Scirocco where it stands
With those answers over the phone, we can tell you what the work is going to involve.
Queries about petrol in a diesel Volkswagen Scirocco
Do you know the fuel tank capacity of the Volkswagen Scirocco?
All the variants we have figures for hold 55 litres.
Is it all right to add diesel after just a little petrol in my Scirocco?
It isn't something we would recommend, since adding diesel does nothing to remove the petrol. It only lowers its share, and that petrol is still in the fuel system after you drive off. With just a little petrol, a drain to take all of that out is usually all your Scirocco needs.
Is a trip to the Volkswagen dealer necessary for my Scirocco?
There is no reason to take it anywhere. We empty and clean your Scirocco where it is, and we are independent, with no connection to Volkswagen or its dealers.
Is wrong fuel in my Volkswagen Scirocco covered by my insurance?
Some policies have misfuelling cover and some don't, so it's worth looking at yours. Either way, we come out to drain your car for you.
What if I put diesel in the AdBlue tank of my Scirocco?
In that case, too, leave the key out of the ignition. When it is driven like that, a car will generally display a warning and enter limp mode. The AdBlue system needs emptying as well. Which tank your fuel went into is worth telling us when you ring.
I drove my Scirocco before I noticed. What do I do?
Find a safe location to pull over, then turn your engine off and keep the car that way till we arrive. Catching it this early means lasting damage is very uncommon, and we empty and clean your fuel system wherever you happen to be.