Should You Worry? Petrol in a Diesel Car in Burmarsh
Far less than you probably are, provided it has not been started. Till your ignition primes the pump, the starter cranks, or the vehicle is driven, petrol in a diesel tank just rests there and does no harm. Which means the truthful reply to that first Burmarsh query — "have I ruined it?" — usually no. Petrol in Diesel is who to ring, with the motor left off, and so it remains that way. Read on for three things: the effect petrol has inside a diesel motor, the signs of how far it has got, and the way to make sure you never do it again.
Inside the motor: what petrol in a diesel really does
Two jobs fall to diesel on its route round a motor. It burns, and before it ignites it lubricates. Designed to very fine clearances, the injectors and your pump depend on the diesel flowing through them to stop their surfaces wearing against one another.
Petrol does the first job badly and the second not at all. A pump running on a petrol mix is wearing itself out, because petrol is thinner than diesel and takes away the protection your fuel system depends on. Petrol is also designed to resist igniting under compression — the reverse of what a diesel needs from its fuel — and that's where any clattering comes.
Together, those leave the shape of the issue plain. It's movement that causes the harm, not contact. All a tank with petrol in it amounts to is a fuel fault. Whatever a worn pump sheds goes on, borne by the fuel, into your injectors further along, which is why a pump that has been working on that petrol is where a mechanical problem starts.
Petrol in a diesel around Burmarsh: how serious is it? Four situations
Filled up, and not started: nothing beats it. At a forecourt, and really only there, that petrol is still limited to your tank — because anywhere else your car was driven to get to it. The job is emptying and cleaning on the spot.
Started for a second, or only your ignition on. Once primed, the fuel system has pulled petrol from your tank as far as the fuel filter and your lines. Drain, flush, see to your filter: still normally easy.
A couple of miles driven, and your pump has spent every one of them labouring on thinned fuel. Miles is only half of it; how hard it was driven matters just as much. Either way this work includes your tank, the lines, the filter and fresh fuel through the entire system. A school run to Palmarsh Primary School is one matter. Any mileage on the M20, under 3 miles from Burmarsh, means the engine has worked hard throughout, and a run to Canterbury, under 15 miles away, makes a very different job too.
Clattering, an uneven idle, smoke, a throttle gone soft: driven till it complained. What you are hearing is the engine signalling fuel that no longer runs like diesel. Leave it wherever it stops: a lay-by, a side street, the verge on Nightingale Avenue. Long-term damage is very unusual when a car is pulled over early, and the drain and flush-through that still go first deal with it.
Stories Burmarsh drivers hear about petrol in a diesel
Myth: topping up to full with diesel makes it fine. It does not. A fuller tank of the same mix is all you get, since topping up removes nothing. The assumption behind the advice — that diesel fuel systems accept petrol by percentage — is wrong.
"Newer diesels can handle a little petrol" — a myth, and nearer the opposite. Lubrication matters more on newer diesels, not less, since their fuel passes through finer parts at higher pressure.
Myth: "If it starts and drives, there's no harm done." This is the one that fools drivers. The driver of a petrol engine fed diesel usually has no choice but to stop, since it will not run, and the harm stops there. A diesel fed petrol generally starts, idles and drives away as though nothing has happened, while your pump wears. Running isn't the same as fine.
Myth: a two-stroke additive makes it safe to drive home. It is an old fix, supposed for another problem. None of what petrol weakened gets put back by it — and afterwards, that tank still holds that petrol.
Myth: "Drain that tank yourself and you are sorted." After the engine has run, some of that petrol is no longer inside that tank: it is in the fuel filter and the lines, and it goes straight back through the pump on your next start. Emptying petrol into a can by the roadside is also truly risky.
Why petrol in a diesel happens so easily
It's seldom carelessness, and no one does it on purpose. One way only, because of the nozzles: the narrower petrol one slides inside a diesel filler with almost no resistance, whereas the diesel one mostly will not fit a petrol vehicle. That's how the forecourt makes it easy.
Routine and the vehicle getting out of step is how it occurs. Any vehicle that is new to you — a hire car, on loan as a courtesy car, or brand new. A household with one petrol and one diesel on the drive. A well-known forecourt with the pumps in a different order. Filling up in a rush en route to Sandling, with a train to catch. Precisely the moment it takes place: after years of driving petrol, someone fills a diesel Volkswagen Golf for the first time. Add rain, a phone call or a back seat full of kids, and the hand does what it has always done.
Burmarsh people: how to avoid petrol in a diesel next time
- The label is what matters, so read the petrol pump rather than the colour: in the UK unleaded handles are usually green and diesel black, yet not on each forecourt.
- Many motors state the fuel inside your filler flap or on the cap, so check it on your first fill in any car you don't know.
- A coloured fob or a sticker on your diesel's key does more than any amount of meaning to remember, for a home with one of each.
- "Diesel", aloud, before you lift the nozzle — every time a new or hired car gets its first tank. It sounds silly. It works.
- Mistakes like this are simple to make whilst your mind is on something else, so your phone goes away.
- Add-on devices exist for cars without one, and some diesels come with a filler that won't accept a petrol nozzle. Useful — but a safety net at best, never a reason to stop checking the label.
- Noticing it mid-fill? Stop at once. A thinner blend follows from less petrol in your tank, yet the next step remains the same: do not crank it.
Burmarsh: already put petrol in a diesel?
Short and simple, then, is the order of things. Leave it unstarted, with the ignition switched off as well. If you're still at the forecourt — JET or anywhere else — ask the staff to help you push the car away from the petrol pump. Next, 0333 366 0103. We'll ask what went in, about how much, and if it's been run.
If it was AdBlue and not petrol, say so. That's a separate fault — corrosion and deposits rather than lost protection — and it has its own page for Burmarsh.
What makes one Burmarsh petrol in a diesel job cost more than the next
An honest single price does not exist here: four situations, four separate jobs. The situation itself does most of the work of moving the cost. The share matters next, meaning how much of your tank is petrol, followed by the location of the vehicle and whether reaching it is safe for a van.
Ahead of any quote, not after, come three queries: your fuel that went in, its amount, and whether it's run. That is why. The answers change a range into a straight figure.
About Burmarsh itself
Burmarsh is a small suburban area in Kent, situated on the coast near the Romney Marshes. Burmarsh has a low elevation of around 3 metres, and its proximity to the sea has influenced its development. Burmarsh is located near other small places such as Palmarsh and Pennypot, and is within commuting distance of Canterbury. Burmarsh is characterised by its semi-detached housing stock, typical of many suburban areas in the South East.
Burmarsh and Kent: where our fuel drain cover runs
Palmarsh, Pennypot and West Hythe are among the locations around Burmarsh that the same teams work, answering petrol in diesel call-outs across Burmarsh's CT postcode area. The car doesn't need to move to us: we drain at a forecourt, in a supermarket car park, in a lay-by or on your own driveway.
Burmarsh: still at the petrol pump?
Then you are in the best spot there can be. Phone, and keep it turned off.