Intermittent starting problems

My brother has a Holden captiva 09, my brother put petrol instead of diesel, lucky he didn't start the car I was wondering how to drain the fuel if it doesn't have a drain plug??

sounds like you have water in the fuel, put in a some dry gas and let it sit over night then drive it the next day to see if it improves

you put it on right they are a one way filter

seem to get this problem with the 4 litre jeep engine where you have to crank for a second then twice and it starts on teh thrid crank ,and i havent been able to fathom it out as yet ,but the explorer has a electronic voltage switch on top of the tank thats is operated by the immobilisor ,So what i would do here is to remove the fuel tank and join the two big wires together which effectivly by-passes this switch and i think this may cure your problem .Lower tank on a jack a bit then disconnect the multiplug and the petrol pipes ,join the two wires on this switch which is on top of the sender /pump unit ,pump the fuel out to lighten the load using the fuel pump with two wires to it ,then lift tank back up and reconnect ,good idea to remove the sender unit and check the gauze filter on the end of sender unit whilst you have it out .and check for rust in the bottom of the tank

do a fuel pressure test and check for injector signal wiith a noid light

Main fuel line from tank to fuel pump, Sounds like the pump is sucking the fuel and air is getting in also, only when the fuel system is pressurised and the return line is sending fuel back to the tank will the air pressure in the tank be higher than the outside atmosphere and then air will no longer be sucked into the system - if this is true there will be a fuel leak - maybe only a little - to find if there is a leak, start the car on level ground, turn off the engine and restart it several times, then move the car back and check on the ground for any fuel - also check under the bonnet and sniff around for any strong petrol smells - there will probably be a fuel pipe damp with petrol - tell me what you find - if it is or isn't leaking I can give you the next steps to identifying the problem -

You can buy a suction hose small enought to get intothe tank at an auto parts store. you will have to remove the fuel from the tank. All of it and then replace fuel filter.

first thing I'd do is change the fuel filter.

take of the fuel sender hose of tank and be prepared to catch any spills wen finshed fill with deisel