This is why I don't like how NJ handles it's fuel stations. They need to get away with not allowing you to fill your own tank. I would hold the service station liable since they were the ones that screwed up. Only thing you can really do. You have the receipt and probably the guy who served it to you number/name. Put all repair cost in their court. Best thing you did was to quit driving it right away. I refuse to go to NJ anymore because of this type of stuff. Bad enough you have some who miss fuel on their own and then now you throw in where they don't allow you to fill your own tank.

 

station is liable. don't ever lose your receipts.

 

Since there's no self-serve in Oregon, I always get out of the treg, look the attendant in the eye and say "Fill it with Diesel" and watch to confirm what they do. I also added a big green "DIESEL ONLY" sticker next to the filler.

(edit: yes I know the law allows self-serve for Diesel here but explaining that to a clueless attendant each time gets tedious)

 

Taxidodger.....if you send me your personal email to my CT account I can send you the service manual PDF that has a step-by-step process as to how to diagnose and remove gas from your tank and fuel system....I'll send you the PDF when I get home tonight

 

Thanks for the replies.
Lesson learned. I will supervise refueling in future.
I have contacted insurance company and checking on my legal rights.
Zagg - sent you my contact details - thanks.
I'll post an update for those that are interested in the outcome.
(VW! - Still think that there must be a tech/operational solution to avoid this kind of issue).

 

That's some mess. I agree with Yeti on the full-service at NJ gas stations. Hopefully you can get this sorted out inexpensively. But, yeah....sue them.

 

My 2013 has a fill port that cannot use a regular unleaded nozzle. The regular unleaded nozzle is MUCH to big to fit in the diesel fill port, at least at every gas station in Connecticut that I've been to.

I did notice in Vermont that some of the diesel pumps have HUGE nozzles for filling truck tanks, and VW makes an adapter for such situations. The first time it happened to me though, I did not have that adapter and had to drive to another station to find a diesel pump with a smaller nozzle.

 

Did someone remove all the Diesel tags at your filler ? That attendant must have been a dope to miss them. This is a pic of mine.

 

+1 this is exactly what I was thinking. OP, does your vehicle have these yellow warning labels? VW had a service campaign to add them several years ago, VW mailed them directly to the owner. Also, the dealers were supposed to check the vehicle for this at time of next service.

The only sticker from the factory is the white one, along with the word "diesel" on the fuel cap, which should have been enough to begin with, notwithstanding people who shouldn't be breeding.

 

The stickers are there - whats worse, I asked him to direct me to the diesel pump when I drove in, so it couldn't have been clearer that this vehicle needed diesel. On reflection though, he was on the phone - and we all know what a lobotomy that is..

 

"Modern" Diesel nozzles are smaller than gas nozzles. That's how the anti-misfuel gizmo in the filler of current TDIs is supposed to prevent a gas nozzle from being inserted. But some stations still have the older large Diesel nozzles and they won't fit without an attachment, some kind of reducer.

I think the anti-misfuel insert became standard on MY 2013 TDIs.

 

Smaller diameter inlet, warning stickers... Seems it doesn't work. These bureaucrats regulate cucumbers curvature but unable to develop efficient standard for fueling. Whereas the simple solution is used for a long time in other industries as an additional safety stud welded to hose flange at 12 o'clock position to prevent wrong connection. Why don't they design diesel tank inlet to have a PS2 connector shape/profile or something like this?
Regarding gas station attendants. Understood this is not a prestigious work. Probably less educated people work there. There is a chance they do not understand English (foreign language).
One time I went by taxi in Porto city (Portugal). I saw a young man working as an attendant at a gas station. Poor boy, apparently he had Down syndrome symptoms. Is it legal to hire such kind of labour (from ethic point of view)? Looked a bit cruel. Or they try to keep them involved/busy? I do not humiliate. Just curious. I'm sure he is a hard-worker and do his job properly.
The driver him/herself can make an error. I read at local autoforum one lady's thread. She accidentally drove from a gas station with the hose in. Safety device triggered to disconnect the hose from the pump. People were laughing at her. And she answered: Look, I have three kids, try to walk in my shoes. It's a constant headache.
And I made a mistake myself. One day I traveled by ferry from Warnemunde (Germany) to Hanko (Finland). Prior to departure I paid for a higher gas grade and then filled the cheaper one. Fortunately the motor digested this fuel. Do you understand what means Super Bleifrei Benzin or other words in Deutsch?

 

I did not know that diesel pumps for passenger vehicles do have smaller nozzles than gas pumps – I thought that they are identical. Are you sure? If so, how the OP situation can be explained?

P.S. Diesel pumps with larger nozzles are for trucks and should be of a greater throughput so they can fill semi-truck’s couple of tanks (100-150 gallons each) quickly enough. These nozzles will require adapter.

 

Very certain, but the smaller nozzles are a relatively recent development. Some pumps may still have the old larger nozzles. In the OP's case, his MY 2011 doesn't have the anti-misfuel gizmo, so any nozzle will fit in his filler.

Lemme see if I can find a link about the nozzles... Well it appears the smaller nozzles have been around for a while... Not sure when they were deployed at regular consumer filling stations...

Here, check this out: Official VW Diesel Filler Neck Adapter

Found a good photo showing the difference:

 

Interesting! The attached picture shows clearly a good difference between passenger gas and diesel nozzles! But I have never been to a station equipped with these newer nozzles – they must be used in those States where I normally would not drive to but fly to…

P.S. I have such adaptor in my trunk – this is for larger throughput pumps for semi-trucks.

 

Interesting! The attached picture shows clearly a good difference between passenger gas and diesel nozzles! But I have never been to a station equipped with these newer nozzles – they must be used in those States where I normally would not drive to but fly to…

P.S. I have such adaptor in my trunk – this is for larger throughput pumps for semi-trucks.

Interesting indeed! Likewise, have never seen these new nozzles. When did this go into effect on VW's? My wife has a Jetta TDI and frequently complains that she can't find a pump with a small enough nozzle to allow her to fill up her wagon - even though I've gone to the same station and had no problems filling up my '10 Treg. I was under the impression that diesel nozzles were larger than gas nozzles to prevent people from putting diesel into their cars rather than preventing diesel owners (or others, as the OP discovered) from putting gas into their tanks. Sounds like the opposite case now.

 

I would be worried that the attendant will say well that's what he asked for. Which will be your word vs his. Curious to know how this will all play out. I do believe it would be the gas station fault but I'm sure they will say what ever they have to, too cover their ass.

 

If they don't accidentally lose that days footage!

 

Lawyer Up

Document, document. THEN GO and visit a lawyer for advice. The attorney fees are included in the law suit. This could be an expensive repair.

I have 4 with different areas of legal speciality and protect myself from business and gov legal stupidity.

 

Taxidodger.....I sent you the files

 

I did this to a v-10 and the same result it ran for a while then died. there was a hell of a lot of pressure when i opened the tank cap. well it was my fault and i was afraid i would void my warranty as i had only 30k miles on it so i had it carted off to a non dealership shop and $700 dollars later it was good and never had any issues as i ran it up to 215,000 miles. what they did was remove and empty the tanks, purge the fuel pumps and fuel lines, im sure they didnt touch the pumps on the engine just the pumps under the seat in the tanks. damm it was embarrassing

 

I did this to a v-10 and the same result it ran for a while then died. there was a hell of a lot of pressure when i opened the tank cap. well it was my fault and i was afraid i would void my warranty as i had only 30k miles on it so i had it carted off to a non dealership shop and $700 dollars later it was good and never had any issues as i ran it up to 215,000 miles. what they did was remove and empty the tanks, purge the fuel pumps and fuel lines, im sure they didnt touch the pumps on the engine just the pumps under the seat in the tanks. damm it was embarrassing

your v10 doesn't have the same type of hpfp that the TDI does.


This is a $15-16,000, yes, thousand dollar repair job on the new CR tdi's. NOT covered under warranty.

 

And for a long time, I had thought that NJ had full-serve only fuel stations because the state did NOT trust people to fuel up their own vehicles until I learned that they did it to protect jobs.

 

I think it's a combination of both. Living in NJ, I don't even think to get out of the car to pump my own gas. I know people like to do it but I don't understand why. In the winter we can sit in our cars while someone else struggles with the freezing temperatures. Gas is also much cheaper. Going to school in PA I have to pump my own gas and i don't dislike it but its also an inconvenience when it's snowy and icy outside.

 

Reading all this is kinda starting to freek me out a bit.....I am going away for a month in May and will be leaving my Treg, my NINER with my wife......ooooh I'm nervous. She already fueled my dad's Dodge Ram diesel with gas once before which I was able to fix, but I am so afraid of her with NINER. I have already talked to her multiple times about it and the only diesel station she should go to and what not, but...................I'm worried. I mean imagine that......my wife filling NINER with gas and the HPFP going shot.....the irony

 

I don't let my wife fill up my Treg and it is her day to day car. I put 80 to 100 miles a day on the one I drive. The day will come when I have to leave for more then 2 weeks and I will have to go through with your anxiousness.

I think what we have to worry about is a tanker truck putting unleaded in the diesel tank. I usually push 'no' to getting a receipt at self serve in IL. I will NEVER push 'no' again...

 

Buy an audible mis-fuelling warning device that, when you open the fuel flap, shouts "Shove diesel in here airhead and not frickin' gas" or something along those lines.

 

Those stickers were on mine when I bought it - When I first went to top the tank it was like WOW - there is no mistake on it takes diesel

 

Gas in TDI tank update

Thanks for all of the comments and advice - you may be interested in an update.
T-reg has been repaired by dealer - the bill is $11,580. Replaced is the tank, fuel pump, fuel lines, fuel rail, injectors, knock sensors, high pressure pump and of course labor. Not covered by warranty - but insurance will pay, less the deductible. It had to be done by a dealer otherwise the warranty would have been voided.
Insurance company will go after gas station (Shell defer liability to independent gas station owner).
Lesson learned. From now on, I will personally witness every act of refueling.

Talked to a friend of mine with a (diesel) Range Rover who told me that his SUV has a valve in the tank neck which closes as soon as it detects when gasoline is being poured into a tank. So its not possible to put in more than a few drops of gasoline. Sounds like VW should help us protect ourselves from stupidity in a similar way.
This is a big price to pay for a mistake that is so easy to make (however dumb it may seem).

 

Talked to a friend of mine with a (diesel) Range Rover who told me that his SUV has a valve in the tank neck which closes as soon as it detects when gasoline is being poured into a tank. So its not possible to put in more than a few drops of gasoline. Sounds like VW should help us protect ourselves from stupidity in a similar way.

Not quite how it works. It detects the wrong diameter nozzle of the gas pump, and closes a little plastic flappy thing that you have to reset with a special tool. Further, it's hardly foolproof:
Wrong Fuel RangeRover Sport | FuelFixer

While it is a somewhat clever additional protection, it is no replacement for being mindful at the pumps!

 

Someone correct me if I have it wrong, but VW has a published procedure for dealers to follow when a common-rail TDI fuel system is contaminated by gas. Everything they say to do needs to be done. It isn't make-work. If the HPFP self-destructs, it can send metal shards throughout the fuel delivery system.

 

I send injection pumps out all the time to get rebuilt or cleaned and adjusted or some seals changed and once gas gets in there the engine dies immediately so it's not like it's running on gas for 20 minutes. I know VW will spec out the worst case scenario but all I'm saying is that sort of work isn't necessary to get it running properly. If you believe so then ok. I've been rebuilding diesels for 40 years and changing a fuel tank, pumps, lines and injectors for gas is way over the top. This is my perspective and I've done it a hundred times.

 

Typical injection pump puts out what, 100 PSI? The common-rail HPFP puts out > 20,000 PSI. No disrespect, but if you don't know what HPFP is... ?

 

Please keep in mind. Pumps only provide FLOW. It is the resistance to this flow that produces PRESSURE.

Pumps are classed as positive or non-positive displacement.

 

The issue isn't just gas flowing through the system. It's the immediate catastrophic destruction of the high pressure fuel pump due to having no lubrication from diesel fuel. That catastrophic destruction then sends shards of metal as far as the injectors.

 

I doubt that it is immediate catastrophic destruction. The question is how long could it realistically run for? I think 10 seconds is the max the pump could run with gas in it before the engine died. But the engine dies because of gas entering the cylinders not because of HPFP failure and at 10 seconds it's unlikely lubrication will be a problem. It just hasn't run long enough to do any damage. This is my point.

Anyways so be it if the pump died but I'd be surprised. Pumps are more robust than you think and my earlier point is changing all those other components were not necessary. I understand this is a $$ making opportunity but it would seem they went overboard.