How Worried Should You Be? Petrol in a Diesel Car in Ashlett
Likely less than you already are — as long as no one has started it. Until the ignition primes the pump, the starter turns, or the car is driven, petrol in a diesel tank simply sits there and does no harm. Which makes the truthful reply to that first Ashlett query — "have I ruined it?" — usually no. Leave your motor off then ring Petrol in Diesel — that keeps it that way. The remainder of this page explains what petrol actually does to a diesel, how to judge how far it has got, and how to make sure it does not happen to you again.
What petrol in a diesel does to your engine
Passing through a motor, diesel does two jobs at once. Before it burns, it protects — then it combusts. Your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors are made to very fine tolerances, and the diesel passing through them is what keeps those surfaces from wearing down against each other.
The second job petrol doesn't do at all, and the first it does poorly. Being less viscous than diesel, petrol strips away the lubrication a fuel system needs, leaving a pump on the mixture to wear itself. It is also made to resist igniting under compression — the reverse of what a diesel needs — which is why you get the clattering.
Combined, those make the shape of the issue plain. The damage is done by circulation, not by contact. Petrol in a tank is a fuel fault. A pump that has been working on that petrol is the start of a mechanical one, and whatever a worn pump sheds moves on with your fuel to the fuel injectors downstream.
Petrol in a diesel in Ashlett: how serious is it? Four situations
Filled up, and not started: nothing beats it. That petrol is in the tank and only that tank, and the task is a drain and a flush where your car sits. This is the one scenario that can only really happen on a forecourt, as anywhere else your car has been driven to get there.
Ignition on, or started for a second. Once primed, the fuel system has drawn petrol out of that tank as far as your filter and the lines. Still normally simple: drain, flush, and your filter seen to.
Some miles driven, and your pump has spent each of them working on weakened fuel. The work is the tank, your lines, your filter and fresh fuel through the whole system, and how hard the vehicle was driven counts as much as how far. Driving the children to Fawley Infant School is one kind of trip. A run as far as Southampton, under 10 miles away, is a very different task. So is any miles on the M27, under 5 miles from Ashlett, where your engine has been labouring hard the whole time.
Driven on till it protested — clattering, smoke, a lumpy idle, a dead throttle. The motor is telling you the fuel is no longer behaving like diesel. Whether it's the verge on Ashlett Road, a lay-by or a side road, stop there and leave it. What comes first is still the drain and flush, and that sorts it out, with lasting damage very rare when a car is pulled over soon.
Stories Ashlett drivers hear about petrol in a diesel
It will not be fine. The myth: "Fill it the rest of the way with diesel and it'll be." Nothing is removed by topping up — you are left with a bigger tank, still the same mixture. The idea behind the guidance — that diesel fuel systems accept petrol by percentage — is wrong.
If anything, the opposite is true. Myth: "A current diesel can cope with a bit of petrol." Finer components and higher pressure are how a current diesel runs its fuel, and that makes the protection count more, not less.
This is the one that fools drivers. Myth: "If it starts and drives, there's no damage done." Feed diesel to a petrol motor and it usually will not run, and so the motorist stops — and the harm stops with them. Feed petrol to a diesel and it usually starts, ticks over and pulls away like nothing has happened — all the while its pump wears. A running engine does not mean fine.
An old fix for a different problem lies behind this one. Myth: "Add some two-stroke oil and drive it home." What petrol has weakened stays weakened, and that petrol stays in the tank regardless.
"Drain it yourself and you are sorted" — a myth, because after it's been running some petrol sits in your filter and lines, waiting to go right back through the pump on the next start. Besides, petrol drained into a can by the road is genuinely risky.
How does petrol in a diesel occur?
It is rarely carelessness, and no one does it on purpose. One way only, since of the nozzles: the narrower petrol one slides inside a diesel filler with almost no resistance, whereas the diesel one generally will not fit a petrol motor. That is how the forecourt makes it straightforward.
It happens when habit and the car stop matching. Courtesy car, hire car, or a motor that's new. Two vehicles on one driveway, one petrol, one diesel. The pumps in a different order on a well-known forecourt. Racing for a train at Hamble and fuelling up en route. The first fill-up in a diesel Volkswagen Passat after years of driving petrol is exactly the moment it takes place. Your hand does what it has always done once you add rain, a phone call or a back seat full of kids.
Ashlett drivers: how to avoid petrol in a diesel next time
- The label is what counts, so check the petrol pump rather than the colour: in the UK unleaded handles are normally green and diesel black, yet not on every forecourt.
- The first fill in a strange vehicle is the time to check the filler flap — on it, or on the cap, plenty of cars state which fuel to use.
- One of each in the home? Label the key to your diesel — a bright fob, a sticker — since meaning to remember isn't enough.
- It seems daft and it does the trick: on the first fill in a new or hired car, say "diesel" out loud before you lift the nozzle off the pump.
- Tuck the phone away. This is an easy mistake to make while you are thinking about something else.
- Add-on devices are available for cars without one, and some diesels are built with a filler that won't take a petrol nozzle. Helpful — but a safety net at best, never a reason to stop checking the label.
- The moment you realise, stop: less petrol in that tank means a weaker blend. What to do next doesn't change, though — still don't start the car.
Already put petrol in a diesel in Ashlett?
In that case, there is only a short order of things. Never fire it up, and do not turn your ignition on. If you're still on the forecourt — Esso or anywhere else — ask the attendants to help you push it clear of the pump. Next, 0333 366 0103. We will ask what went in, about how much, and if it has been run.
AdBlue, not petrol? Then tell us. Corrosion and deposits, not lost lubrication, make it a different fault — Ashlett has a page all for it.
Why one petrol in a diesel job in Ashlett costs more than another
Four separate tasks lie behind the four scenarios above — which is why there's no honest single price. What shifts your cost is chiefly which of them you're in. After that it is the share — how much petrol got in against how much that tank takes — and then where the car is and whether a technician can get to it safely.
Ahead of any quote, not after, come three queries: the fuel that got in, the amount, and whether it has run. That's why. Those answers are what turn a range into one firm number.
About Ashlett
Ashlett is a small coastal hamlet in Hampshire, situated near the larger towns of Fawley and Southampton. Ashlett lies on the shores of Southampton Water, with its detached homes and quiet lanes reflecting its residential character. Ashlett is close to several nearby places, including Stonehills and Sprats Down, and offers views of the surrounding coastline. Ashlett has a population of around 665 people, living in a relatively low-lying area with an elevation of 22 metres.
Ashlett and Hampshire: where our fuel drain cover reaches
The teams answering petrol in diesel call-outs around Ashlett, in the SO postcode area, also work the locations around it, Stonehills, Fawley and Sprats Down included. The vehicle does not need to move to us: we drain on a forecourt, in a supermarket car park, in a lay-by or on your own drive.
At the petrol pump in Ashlett, still?
Then, you could not be in a better spot. Turned off it remains; then phone.