Should You Worry? Petrol in a Diesel Car in Dovercourt
Less than you probably are, provided it hasn't been started. Till the 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 Dovercourt question — "have I wrecked it?" — usually no. Keep it that way: leave the motor off then phone Petrol in Diesel. The rest 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.
Inside your engine: what petrol in a diesel does
On its way through an engine, diesel does two jobs. Lubricating comes before burning; it does both. The high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors are designed to very fine tolerances, and the diesel passing through them is what keeps those surfaces from wearing against one another.
The second task petrol does not do at all, and the first it does poorly. It's runnier than diesel and takes away the lubrication your fuel system depends on, and so a pump running on a petrol blend is a pump wearing itself. And petrol is made to resist igniting under compression, which is the opposite of what a diesel needs from its fuel. That's where the rattling comes from.
Taken together, they make clear what shape the trouble has. It is circulation that does the harm, not contact. Petrol in a tank is a fuel issue. Once the pump has been labouring on that petrol, a mechanical fault has started: whatever is shed by a pump that is wearing down is carried downstream to the injectors with your fuel.
How serious is petrol in a diesel? Four situations our technicians see in Dovercourt
Fuelled, and not started: no case is better. Just that tank has petrol in it, and so the job is clearing that tank and flushing your system where the vehicle stands. This scenario can only really happen at a forecourt: anywhere else, the car got there by being driven.
Your ignition turned on, or a brief start. Your system has been bled, so petrol has left the tank and reached the fuel filter and the lines. Drain, flush, deal with your filter: still normally simple.
The pump now spent a few miles on thinned fuel — that's what driving the vehicle meant. The work is your tank, the fuel lines, your filter and fresh fuel through the whole circuit, and how hard your car was driven counts as much as how far. Short trips, like the school run to The Mayflower Primary School, are one thing. Any distance on the M11, under 50 miles from Dovercourt, means your engine working hard throughout, and a run to Colchester, under 25 miles away, makes a very different job too.
Driven till it protested. Rattling, a ragged idle, smoke, a throttle that has gone soft. That's the motor telling you its fuel has stopped acting like diesel. Pull up where you are — on the verge on Cliff Road, at the kerb, down a side road — and don't move it. The fuel drain and flush still come first, and they take care of it: when a vehicle is stopped quickly, lasting damage is very uncommon.
Petrol in a diesel myths Dovercourt drivers hear
Myth: "Fill it the rest of the way with diesel and it'll be fine." It will not. Nothing is removed when you top up — that tank simply holds more of the same blend. A diesel fuel system does not tolerate petrol by percentage in the way that advice supposes.
"Current diesels can handle a little petrol" — a myth, and closer to the reverse. At higher pressure, through more precise components: that is how a newer diesel handles its fuel, and so the protection counts more, not less.
This is the one that fools motorists. Myth: "If it starts and drives, there's no harm done." Diesel in a petrol motor generally leaves a motor that won't run: the driver stops, and so does the harm. A diesel fed petrol generally starts, idles and drives away as though nothing has happened, whilst your pump grinds. A running engine doesn't mean fine.
"A drop of two-stroke oil and drive it home" — a myth, borrowed from a fix from years ago, for a separate issue. What petrol has diluted stays thinned, and the petrol stays inside the tank regardless.
The next start draws petrol back round your pump out of the lines and the filter, where some of it sits once the motor has run. That is why a DIY tank drain does not leave you sorted — a myth. On top of that, petrol cleared into a can by the road is truly dangerous.
Why petrol in a diesel happens so easily
A careless moment is seldom the cause, and nobody means to do it. The petrol nozzle is the slimmer of the two and slides into a diesel filler with almost no resistance; a diesel nozzle mostly won't go into a petrol vehicle at all. The forecourt makes it simple, and the mistake runs one way.
The moment habit stops matching the car is the moment it happens. A vehicle that's new to you — a hire car, on loan as a courtesy car, or just bought. Two vehicles on one drive, one petrol, one diesel. A familiar forecourt with the pumps in a different order. Racing for a train at the nearest station and filling up en route. Years of petrol vehicles behind you, a diesel Volkswagen Golf in front of you on the forecourt for its first tank — that's when. With rain, a call arriving, or a car full of children to deal with, your hand simply does what it always has.
How to prevent petrol in a diesel on your next fill-up around Dovercourt
- Green for unleaded and black for diesel is normal in the UK — but not on every forecourt. Trust the label on the petrol pump, not the colour.
- Check the filler flap. Many motors state the fuel inside the flap or on the cap. Look at it on the first fill in a vehicle you don't know.
- Good intentions count for less than a sticker or a fob in a vivid colour on the diesel's key when a household has one of each. So label it.
- Say it before you lift it. On the first fill in a new or hired car, say "diesel" aloud before you take the nozzle off the pump. It seems silly and it works.
- Tuck your phone away. This is an easy mistake to make while you are thinking about something else.
- Some diesels have a filler designed to block a petrol nozzle, and devices you can add are available for motors without one. Such an inhibitor helps up to a point — as a safety net, not a reason to stop checking the petrol pump.
- Less petrol means a thinner blend, so stop the moment you notice — while remembering that your next step is unchanged. It is still not to start the vehicle.
Petrol already in a diesel in Dovercourt? Begin here
The order of things is brief, then. Leave it unstarted, with your ignition switched off as well. Ask the staff to help you push it clear of the petrol pump if you are still at the forecourt, whether that is Asda or somewhere else. Then call 0333 366 0103 and tell us what was put in, roughly how much, and whether it's run.
Say so if it was AdBlue instead of petrol: it's a separate problem, with its own page for Dovercourt, because AdBlue brings corrosion and deposits rather than lost lubrication.
Why one petrol in a diesel job in Dovercourt costs more than another
There is no honest single quote for this, because the four situations above are four different jobs. The scenario itself does most of the work of moving your cost. The proportion counts next, meaning how much of that tank is petrol, and then the position of your car and whether getting to it is safe for a van.
That's why our technicians ask three questions before quoting rather than after: what got in, how much, and if it has run. Their replies are what change a range into one firm number.
About Dovercourt and where it is
Dovercourt is a suburban area in Essex, situated on the coast near the town of Harwich. Dovercourt sits at a low elevation of around 17 metres, with its terraced housing stock reflecting its historical development as a residential area. Dovercourt is located near several other local places, including Bath Side and the Outer Part of Town Westward, and is within commuting distance of Colchester. Dovercourt has a population of approximately 4079 people.
Across Essex and around Dovercourt: fuel drain cover
Dovercourt waits in the CO postcode area, and our teams that answer petrol in diesel call-outs there work the places around it as well — Bath Side, Outer Part of Town Westward and Harwich among them. No need to move the vehicle to us. Forecourts, supermarket car parks, lay-bys and your own drive are all places we drain.
At the petrol pump in Dovercourt, still?
The best position there is, then — that's where you are. Turned off it remains; then call.