Facit: Petrol in a Diesel Car? Here Is What Happens
Not for a moment, and not for moving it: the motor stays off. Stop there. The coming few minutes settle it more than anything else: petrol in a diesel still unrun usually amounts to emptying and rinsing, right there. Wherever you are around Facit, this is the order things run from now.
Minute one: petrol in a diesel, motor off
Work through the following in sequence, first.
- Keys out of your ignition. Turning your ignition on can be enough to prime the system, while priming pulls petrol out of your tank towards the components it harms. Keep it off completely.
- A fuller tank of the same mix is all topping up leaves you, because it takes out nothing. So no more diesel.
- Near passing traffic? Then the hazard lights come on before anything else, and so the car is simple to see.
- Off the pump by hand. At a forecourt, ask the staff to help you push the car away from the petrol pump. Do not fire it up to move it, however short the way.
- Hold on to your receipt. It says which fuel got in plus about how much, which is the first thing we'll ask.
If you were still driving when you realised, pull over somewhere sensible rather than pushing on for the services — on the A627(M), under 5 miles from Facit, that means the next junction. Step one comes next.
Each Facit fuel drain starts here: has the engine run?
What happens after this turns on one answer, and just one.
If the engine has not run at all:
- The petrol remains in your tank, and only there.
- Draining and flushing, on the spot, is usually all of it.
- Step one counts for precisely this reason: it's the best spot to be in.
If it has been started, even for a second:
- The fuel lines and your filter now hold petrol pulled from your tank.
- Your high-pressure pump and your injectors get it on a bigger run.
- Flushing the lines, the fuel filter seen to, and sometimes more: this job grows as the mileage does.
That line falls there since diesel protects your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors on its way through them — and petrol doesn't. A tank of petrol, left still, hurts nothing. The components that shift it are grinding the moment petrol is being pumped.
Before you call about petrol in a diesel around Facit: what our technicians need
Whether the technician goes round or finds you depends on a little preparation.
- Your whereabouts: a postcode beginning OL12 8 works best.
- Wherever you have parked, the road's name helps — whether that's Station Road or somewhere else — and so does the name of a car park.
- Or the landmark. A car park is quicker to find by what it serves, such as the one outside Aldi.
- Say what the car is — make, model — and check it's diesel.
- Petrol or AdBlue? Say which. They are separate jobs, and AdBlue has its own Facit page.
- How much. Litres from the receipt, or how long the nozzle was in.
- The mileage it did, and how heavily, if it has run at all.
- Hire or company car? Some contracts need the owner's go-ahead for the work, and getting it before our technicians get there is faster than afterwards.
Next, 0333 366 0103. Not urgent, the vehicle left at home with nowhere to be? Then works too.
Waiting for a fuel drain around Facit: what to do
The wait is where well-meant help does the damage. Hold to these.
- Your safety comes before the car. Somewhere dangerous? Get away from the traffic and wait away from it. Safe where it stands? Wait with it.
- No one starts it. Not a passer-by being kind, not to check it is all right, not to roll the car a few yards.
- No additives. Two-stroke oil, injector cleaner, something from your boot — none of that gets the petrol back out.
- Draining it yourself is out: a can of siphoned petrol on a verge is a danger, and your fuel beyond the tank remains where it is anyway.
- Not for the radio, not for the windows: your ignition stays off.
When the van gets there: the fuel drain, step by step
- Three queries. What was put in, how much, and whether it has run. Those answers decide this job, which is why our quote comes after them but not before.
- Your tank is cleared. The tainted mix comes out of that tank.
- The fuel lines are purged. If it ran, that petrol has moved beyond your tank, and the lines are carrying it.
- Your filter is sorted. Cleared, or replaced where the vehicle has a serviceable one.
- Clean diesel in, and the system primed.
- Our engineers fire it up only after clean diesel has gone in and primed the system, then confirm that it's running smoothly.
Your car has new diesel running through it before we leave. The vehicle goes back to normal driving at once, and permanent damage is very uncommon when it has been spotted soon.
Once the fuel drain is done: driving in Facit a second time
- Nothing special is needed after a start with fresh diesel — normal driving will do.
- Pull over and call us back if anything looks wrong early on — a light on your dash, smoke from your exhaust, an idle that is lumpy, or a throttle with a dead spot.
- Your documents covers the query a rental company, fleet manager or insurer may ask: what work was carried out. Keep it.
- Next time, go by the pump's label rather than the colour of its handle.
About Facit itself
Facit is a suburban area in Lancashire, situated near the lakeside at an elevation of 241 metres. Facit lies within commuting distance of Manchester, approximately 13 miles away, and is close to nearby places such as Millgate, Whitworth, and Shawforth. Facit has a population of around 1480 people and is characterised by predominantly terraced housing.
Fuel drains across Facit and nearby
Millgate, Whitworth and Shawforth are covered by the same teams that take petrol in diesel calls in Facit — and so is most of Lancashire beyond. If you are close to a boundary or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask and not guessing.
Ring, and leave the vehicle off — petrol in a diesel around Lancashire
Stage one is all of it: motor off, keys out, receipt in your pocket. From there Petrol in Diesel carries on, on the forecourt, at the roadside or on your driveway.