Aberdulais: Petrol in a Diesel Car? Here Is What Happens
Not for a second, and not for moving it: the motor remains off. Pause there. Emptied and cleaned, right where it sits: that's usually all an unrun diesel with petrol in it needs. Whether it remains that straightforward depends on the minutes to come far more than on everything else. From here on, in order, for anywhere around Aberdulais:
Motor off: minute one with petrol in a diesel
Work through these first, in this order.
- Bleeding the fuel system pulls petrol from the tank towards the parts it damages, and switching your ignition on can be enough to do that. So the keys get taken out, and your ignition stays off completely.
- A fuller tank of the same mix is all adding diesel leaves you, because it takes out nothing. So no extra diesel.
- Hazards on. If you're at all close to moving traffic, make the vehicle simple to see before you do anything else.
- However short the way, starting it to move it is the thing to avoid. At a forecourt, push it away from the petrol pump by hand instead, then ask the attendants to lend a hand.
- Keep the till receipt: the grade and the rough amount are written on it, and they are what we ask about first.
If you were still on the move when you noticed, stop somewhere safe rather than pushing on for the services — on the M4, under 5 miles from Aberdulais, that means the next exit. Stage one comes next.
Has it run yet? The fork in every Aberdulais fuel drain
From this point on, everything hinges on a single answer.
Not run, not even once:
- The petrol is still inside your tank and nowhere else.
- Where the car stands is normally where this work happens: a drain, then a flush.
- No place is better, and it is why the first stage counts so much.
If it's been started, even for a second:
- Petrol has been pulled out of that tank, past the filter and into your lines.
- On a longer run it has got to your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
- The farther it went, the larger the job — the lines, your filter, and sometimes more besides.
The reason the line falls there: diesel protects the high-pressure pump as well as your injectors as it passes through them, and petrol does not. Nothing is damaged by petrol that's just resting in a tank. Move the petrol, though, and it grinds down the very parts doing the moving.
Aberdulais, petrol in a diesel: have these prepared before you call
Whether the technician goes round or finds you comes down to a little planning.
- The best start is a postcode — one starting SA10 8 — for where you are.
- The road or the car park. A road name helps — Fforest Hill, or wherever you have stopped.
- What a car park serves is the quickest way to find it, and so mention the landmark — such as the one outside Spar.
- Make and model of the vehicle, and the fact it's a diesel.
- Which was put in matters: AdBlue is a separate job from petrol, and Aberdulais has a page just for that. So say.
- How much. Litres from the receipt, or how long the nozzle was in.
- If it has run, how far and how heavily — and whether it has run at all.
- Whose car it is. Some hire or company agreements want the owner to approve the work, and that is quicker settled before our technicians get there than after.
Then phone 0333 366 0103. If it can wait — your car is at home and going nowhere — does the trick as well.
Waiting for a fuel drain in Aberdulais: what to do
The wait is where well-intended help does the harm. Stick to these.
- Safety before the vehicle. If it has stopped somewhere unsafe, get yourself clear of the traffic then wait away from it. If it's safe where it is, wait with it.
- No one starts it. Not a passer-by being helpful, not to check it is all right, not to roll the car a couple of yards.
- No additives. Two-stroke oil, injector cleaner, anything from your boot — none of that gets the petrol back out.
- A DIY drain misses the fuel already gone beyond your tank, and siphoning petrol by the road is risky besides.
- Not for your radio, not for the windows: the ignition remains off.
The fuel drain, step by step, after the van arrives
- First, three questions: which fuel went in, the quantity, and has it run? Those replies set this job, and so the price follows them.
- The tank is drained. The tainted blend comes from that tank.
- Flushing your lines follows, since a vehicle that ran has petrol past your tank, inside the fuel lines themselves.
- Then the filter: swapped where there's a serviceable one, cleared where there's not.
- Fresh diesel goes in, and your system is primed.
- The start-up. With new diesel in and the system primed, it's started and tested to make sure it runs smoothly.
The vehicle has clean diesel running through it before our engineers head off. It is very uncommon for a vehicle caught early to be left with permanent damage, and normal driving starts again at once.
Back on the road in Aberdulais after the fuel drain
- Started on fresh diesel, it asks nothing special of you. Just drive normally.
- Give the first miles your attention. Smoke appearing, a warning light coming on, your idle going lumpy or the throttle stumbling: pull over then call us back.
- Keep your documents. A hire firm, a fleet manager or an insurer may ask what was done.
- Next time, go by the petrol pump's label instead of the colour of its handle.
About Aberdulais, briefly
Aberdulais is a village situated on the River Dulais in south Wales, with a mix of detached housing and a population of around 1896 residents. Aberdulais lies near the towns of Tonna and Cilfrew, and is approximately 8 miles from Swansea. Aberdulais has a relatively low elevation of 21 metres above sea level, reflecting its riverside setting. Aberdulais is part of the Neath Port Talbot county borough, within commuting distance of Swansea and its amenities.
Fuel drains in Aberdulais and the locations nearby
The same teams that take petrol in diesel calls in Aberdulais serve Tonna, Cilfrew and Llantwit, and most of Neath Port Talbot beyond them. Somewhere tricky to explain, or close to a border? Asking is better than guessing — ring.
Petrol in a diesel in Neath Port Talbot? Leave it off then ring
Keys out, engine off, your receipt in your pocket: that's stage one done. The remainder is for Petrol in Diesel, wherever your car is — forecourt, kerbside or drive.