Put Petrol in a Diesel Car in Caterham? Don't Start It
With your tank still holding the fuel and the engine not yet run, nearly every job takes only a drain, so keep the engine off. That outcome is decided in the minutes right after filling up, rather than by the amount that went in. Throughout Caterham and the remainder of Surrey, Petrol in Diesel drains the car and cleans it where it stands, whether at a roadside, on a drive or at a forecourt. Call us before all else starts, and you will see what happens after that.
What to do next about petrol in a diesel
- Do not crank it. Turned on anyway? Then don't depend on it. Diesel in a petrol motor normally can't run, so the person stops and the wear halts with them. Petrol in a diesel? It starts. It idles. It moves off happily, for several miles. Motorists get that confused. It's not all right — your fuel system is grinding every mile you do.
- Turning the car's ignition on frequently primes your system, and priming is what draws petrol out of that tank then into the pump and injectors. Those are the components diesel keeps greased on its way through, before it combusts. Petrol manages the burning and none of the protecting. Leave the ignition alone.
- Don't weaken it. Diesel put on top gets rid of nothing, so all you have is more of what was already there, because percentage isn't how a diesel fuel system tolerates petrol. Super unleaded? Still petrol. The type makes no difference.
- We'd rather drive to an odd spot than have it started — so if you sensibly can, sit tight. Nothing is quicker to sort than a car that hasn't moved. On the verge on Stafford Road, that means hazards on and leave it.
- Our van arriving instead of circling rests on two things: a postcode that starts CR3 6, and whatever is next to you with a sign on it. Have both ready before you ring.
- What went in, approximately how much, and also if the car has started — these three answers shape the whole visit. Ring 0333 366 0103 then tell us.
On the forecourt: draining petrol from the diesel
Plenty of this work starts at a pump, meaning a big chunk of that gets done at one. Still at Texaco? Then that's typically where it gets done. Station forecourts are routine for us, with the permission of the station.
Before the motor has started — a garage is the only spot it is stopped. Everywhere else — a car park, a private drive, a lay-by — the vehicle was started and moved to get there, which means fuel was pulled from that tank, through the fuel filter then into the high-pressure fuel pump. That is not a calamity, and our technicians can still deal with it where it is. It does mean your lines and the fuel filter need rinsing as well as the tank, and that's settled by the few seconds between seeing your receipt and reaching for the keys.
The staff will usually help you wheel the car out from the petrol pump so the next motorist can get by. That is worth doing. Firing it over four car lengths? Don't.
How much fuel the pump has drawn is what we're actually asking — not how long ago any of it was. So the enquiry our technicians like sounds like this: diesel Skoda Octavia, some litres of unleaded, a couple of miles covered, now turned off outside Waitrose.
Put diesel in a petrol motor and generally it will not run, and so the motorist stops there and the damage stops with them. Reverse it — petrol into a diesel — and the thing fires up, ticks over and drives off as though nothing had happened, whilst your high-pressure pump works without the protection your fuel is supposed to be supplying. That's the trap, and it is why the diesel Peugeot 308 will have seemed entirely usual coming back from Hillcroft Primary School & Nursery. They always do. From behind the wheel there's nothing to caution you about, and so nothing warns you. Ring us with about how far you travelled, and how hard; the second one matters more than the first.
Hardly ever the issue, the location. On-street is the commonest spot our engineers work, and a cramped parking spot is far preferable to a vehicle that has been driven somewhere more convenient. What does help, when you phone from close to Caterham Museum, is three things: the side the filler is on, whether a van can stand beside without blocking the road, and if anything has run since you filled up. Then your Citroen C3 gets cleared, your filter changed where a serviceable one exists, the fuel lines rinsed and fresh fuel put through the full circuit — as by now the worst of it is in the lines, not the tank.
A throttle gone dead, white smoke, a ragged idle, rattling: that is a misfuelled diesel Volvo XC60 telling you what's wrong. Don't start the car to find a better spot — turn off where you have stopped, by Caterham Library or anywhere else.
Drain it and put clean diesel in — that's the suggestion you'll get, normally from someone confident, and it is half true. Do precisely that to a diesel Mercedes GLC near Soper Hall and it would start, which is what makes the tip sound plausible. What happens next is the trouble: the motor at once draws the petrol left sitting in your filter and the feed lines straight back through your pump, since emptying a tank does nothing about fuel that has already left it. Ring us instead. We flush your circuit and take your filter off where the vehicle has a serviceable one, which is the difference between your car being put right and your car simply starting.
Parts we serve near Caterham
As a town, Caterham has a routine call, and the areas round about come along on that same journey: Woldingham Garden Village and Chaldon, Woldingham and Tylers Green, Whyteleafe.
If yours is not on the list it does not mean we don't come — there are dedicated pages for nearly all towns around Surrey, and the ones mentioned above are just the immediate neighbours. Call us and check rather than presuming — county lines above all, and wherever your phone might get wrong.
The map is the area the page includes. The car doesn't need to move to us. We operate over every bit of it — roadside, forecourts, driveways, car parks.
Broken down by the kerbside in Caterham
Some people have no safe place to pull in whatsoever. A normal call for us instead of an odd one: realised after setting off, ended up along the verge beside Station Avenue or in a lay-by with your hazards on.
Wait by the motor when it is sensible to sit there, but clear of the vehicle when it's not. Every mile a diesel obliges you for on petrol pulls the mixture further into the system — and oblige it usually will, which is why the motor does not get restarted to limp somewhere safer. We will bring our van to a difficult place without any trouble, and for the vehicle that is far better than carrying on.
A couple of miles on petrol in a diesel: what now?
Here is where the M25 matters, under 3 miles from Caterham. A drop in power, a rough idle, some smoke: those are the signs when they come, instead of a clean stop — and a misfilled diesel will frequently take you onto it and some way along before anything seems wrong at all.
Never start it to reposition. Get off at the first sensible exit and turn off. On a longer trip — anything close to the under 25 miles to the nearest city — take it the petrol has been through the fuel filter, the pump and the fuel injectors, and tell us when you phone. It changes what our engineers bring.
Caterham itself
Caterham is a town in Surrey, situated inland at an elevation of 132 metres, approximately 15.7 miles south of central London. Caterham is characterized by a high proportion of flat housing and is close to nearby places such as Woldingham Garden Village, Chaldon, and Woldingham. Caterham has a population of around 13,581 people and is located near the North Downs, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Caterham is also near the county town of Surrey, Guildford, but is more closely associated with the London commuter belt.
What our technicians do when we get to you in Caterham
- Our technicians ask first, quote after. What went in? How much? Has your motor run? Those responses change what the work actually is.
- The contaminated fuel is pulled from your tank.
- What is left in the system shouldn't be what started the issue, and so the lines get purged and the fuel filter cleaned.
- Your system gets bled, on fresh diesel.
- The motor is started and tested to be sure it runs correctly on fresh diesel.
That has it ready to pull away. Long-term damage is very rare when it has been caught quickly, and as all of this is done where your car is, it never has to be taken to a workshop.
Caterham AdBlue removal is a distinct job
Never crank it: that first step holds whether what got in was AdBlue or petrol. What differs is this fault itself. Petrol dilutes your diesel and takes away the protection the fuel system depends on. Rust and residue are what a diesel tank ends up with instead, because AdBlue is urea dissolved in water.
Usually the more significant of the two, AdBlue — and the details lives on its own Caterham page. Both are ours to deal with.
Caterham prices for a petrol-in-diesel fuel drain
What shifts the figure is listed below, because this job isn't one job and our engineers can't honestly put a single price on this page.
- Whether the engine has been run or driven. This is the big one.
- The tank's capacity, set against how much of the wrong fuel got into it.
- AdBlue or unleaded, whichever was put in.
- Access: the vehicle's position, and if working on it there's sensible for a van.
Tell us the car, the amount and whether it has run, and you will get a firm answer rather than a range. If it is not urgent — your car is at home and going nowhere — works too.
Petrol in diesel queries from Caterham drivers
At a petrol station in Caterham, can you do a fuel drain there?
A fair share of this work gets done there, so yes. Agreement from the site is the condition. Given that, a forecourt like Esso is somewhere we're frequently, along with the rest of them locally — so name yours on the phone and you'll hear if working there's possible.
How much petrol in a diesel is too much?
Ratio settles it rather than litres — and more than either, whether the engine has run. Five litres in an almost empty tank is a separate situation from five in a full one — but either way, the thing that settles how much work is needed is whether that mixture has been pulled through your fuel system.
I put petrol in my diesel and drove it. What next?
Somewhere safe, then stop, then turn off and keep it off. Driving shifts the problem along — out of the tank, into your pump and injectors. People fear it a good deal more than the recovery rate warrants, mind. The one genuinely helpful thing left to you is not restarting the vehicle.
Fuel drains and manufacturer warranties
A manufacturer's warranty withstands a drain and flush done to a correct standard, which is no alteration at all. A disagreement over a warranty is likelier to come from running a diesel on petrol — so leave it turned off.
Can I just add two-stroke oil and drive home?
No. It belongs to a different issue from a different era, and petrol has weakened something no oil of that kind puts back. Petrol remains in that tank later, whatever else goes in, and your pump gets no break from it.
Does petrol in a diesel have to go to a main dealer?
Not at all. Our technicians drain and flush the vehicle wherever it is, so there's no need to bring it to a main dealer.
Still with your vehicle?
Shut off is how it stays.
If you have already driven it, stop somewhere safe, turn it off then leave it off. Cold and still, a car is in the best place available — and people fear this much more than the recovery rate warrants.
Draining misfilled vehicles, Caterham and the rest of Surrey, wherever they are. Roadside. Forecourt. Home.