Dechmont: Petrol in a Diesel Car? Here Is What Happens
Whatever you do, never switch your motor on, even briefly, to move the vehicle. Pause; leave the vehicle off. Hasn't been run? Then petrol in a diesel tends to be a straightforward drain-and-flush job wherever the vehicle has stopped — and nothing settles that as much as these next few minutes do. What follows is the order from this point, wherever in Dechmont you happen to be.
Petrol in a diesel, motor off — the first minute
Do the following first, in this sequence.
- Take the keys out. Even your ignition by itself can prime your fuel system, drawing petrol out of your tank to exactly the parts it harms, so keep the vehicle alone wholly.
- A fuller tank of the same mix is all adding diesel gives you, since it takes out nothing. So no extra diesel.
- Get your car easy to see first — hazards on — if there's moving traffic anywhere near you.
- The staff will generally help you push it clear of the petrol pump. Ask, and move it by hand — never on your engine, even for a couple of yards.
- The first thing you will be asked is which fuel went in and about how much — and your receipt says both. Hold on to it.
On the M8, under a mile from Dechmont, the next junction is the place to leave the vehicle; elsewhere, the first sensible spot to stop. Do not press on to the services. Then go back to stage one.
Each Dechmont fuel drain starts here: has the motor run?
From this stage on, everything comes down to a single answer.
If it has never been started:
- No place but your tank: that's where the petrol still is.
- Usually it is emptied and purged just where the car stands.
- Stage one matters for exactly this reason: it is the best spot to be in.
If it has been started, even for a moment:
- Petrol has been drawn from that tank, past your filter then into the fuel lines.
- On a bigger run it has got to the high-pressure fuel pump as well as the fuel injectors.
- The farther it went, the bigger this job — the lines, your filter, and now and then more besides.
That line falls there because diesel protects the high-pressure pump and the injectors on its way through them — and petrol doesn't. In your tank, sitting still, petrol harms nothing. Once it is pumped, petrol begins wearing whatever moves it.
Dechmont, petrol in a diesel: have these prepared before you call
Whether the van goes round or finds you comes down to a little preparation.
- EH52 6 and the remainder of the postcode makes the ideal way to start telling us where you are.
- A road name helps: Knightsridge Road, say, or whichever street you have stopped in. A car park does the trick too.
- Car parks are located more easily by what they serve: say the one outside Morrisons, and it is easy.
- That it is a diesel, along with the make and model of the vehicle.
- Tell us which got in — petrol or AdBlue — since AdBlue is a separate job, with a page of its own for Dechmont.
- How long the nozzle was in, or the litres from your receipt — whichever gives us how much.
- If it has run, how far and how heavily — and whether it's run at all.
- Sort who has the car before we get there: some hire or company agreements want the owner to approve this work, and doing it quicker first.
Next, 0333 366 0103. Not urgent, your car left at home with nowhere to be? Then works as well.
The wait for a Dechmont fuel drain, and what to do in it
Hold to these: kindly meant help causes the damage during the wait.
- Safety before your car. If it has stopped somewhere unsafe, get yourself clear of the traffic then wait away from it. If it is safe where it is, wait with it.
- Not to roll it a few yards, not to check it is all right, not as a passer-by's kindness: nobody starts it.
- Additives stay in your boot. Injector cleaner and two-stroke oil draw none of that petrol out once more.
- No home-made emptying. Siphoning petrol into a can at the roadside is risky, and it leaves the fuel that has already gone beyond that tank.
- Not for the radio, not for your windows: the ignition stays off.
The fuel drain, step by step, after the van arrives
- First, three queries: which fuel went in, the quantity, and has it run? Those replies decide this job, and so the price follows them.
- Out of that tank comes the contaminated blend: the tank is cleared.
- Purging the fuel lines comes next, because a vehicle that ran has petrol past your tank, inside your lines themselves.
- Where the car has a usable filter, it's changed; otherwise, cleared.
- Priming comes once clean diesel is in.
- Starting up. Once the fuel system is bled with clean diesel, our technicians start it and check it runs smoothly.
We stay until it's running on new diesel. The car goes back to normal use straight away, and lasting damage is very unusual when it has been spotted early.
After your fuel drain: back on the road around Dechmont
- Started on fresh diesel, it needs nothing special of you. Simply drive normally.
- Pull over and ring us back if anything seems wrong early on — a light on your dash, smoke from the exhaust, an idle that is lumpy, or a throttle with a dead spot.
- Hold on to the paperwork. A hire company, a fleet manager or an insurer may ask what was carried out.
- Check the label on the petrol pump next time, not the colour of the handle.
About Dechmont itself
Dechmont is a small village in West Lothian, situated on the riverside at an elevation of 142 metres. Dechmont lies near the towns of Uphall and Knightsridge, and is approximately 10.8 miles from Dunfermline. Dechmont has a mix of housing types, with terraced housing being predominant in the village. Dechmont is located about 335.2 miles north of London.
Fuel drains across Dechmont and nearby
The same vans that answer petrol in diesel jobs around Dechmont serve Knightsridge, Wester Dechmont and Uphall, and most of West Lothian beyond them. Guessing doesn't help near a boundary or somewhere hard to describe; a quick ring and a question will.
Leave it off and ring: petrol in a diesel in West Lothian
Engine off. Keys out. Receipt in your pocket. That's the whole of step one, and Petrol in Diesel carries on from there — by the kerbside, on the forecourt or on your drive.