Ferniegair: Put Petrol in a Diesel Car?
If you have not started your engine yet, do not. A drain and nothing more is nearly always what a vehicle requires while the fuel is still in the tank and your engine has not turned over, which is why it's the next few minutes that matter, not how much was put in. Petrol in Diesel comes to the vehicle wherever it has ended up in Ferniegair or the remainder of South Lanarkshire, on the forecourt, by the roadside or on a drive, and drains and cleans it there. Call us so our engineers can tell you what happens after that before you try anything else.
Petrol in a diesel: what to do now
- Whenever you drive, the pump and the fuel injectors wear. This is why you never fire it up, and why you do not depend on it once it has started. The catch about petrol in a diesel especially — the part motorists get wrong — is that it drives away happily for the first mile or two. Diesel in a petrol engine normally will not run at all, which stops the driver and stops the damage with them. This one lets you carry on.
- Two jobs, diesel: it ignites, and on the way through it keeps that injection pump and injectors oiled. Petrol only handles the one. That is why the ignition stays off too — turn it on and you often prime the system, and that's petrol exiting that tank for precisely those parts.
- Never dilute it. Diesel poured on top takes out nothing, so all you get is more of what was already there, since percentage is not how a diesel fuel system accepts petrol. Super unleaded? Simply petrol. The octane makes no difference.
- We would sooner come to a difficult place than have it started — so if you safely can, stay still. Nothing is easier to deal with than a motor that has never moved. On the verge on O'Donnell Gardens, that means hazards on then leave the car.
- The van turning up rather than circling depends on two things: a postcode that starts ML3 7, and whatever is closest to you with a sign on it. Get both ready before you call.
- Dial 0333 366 0103. Expect three questions — what got in, approximately how many litres, plus if the engine has been run. The replies shape all that happens next.
Tonight, please, rather than Monday. Running it home is the one thing not to do: a commute has forced real quantity through your pump already, petrol-thinned diesel and plenty of it, and the return trip would more or less double the figure to no gain. The Volkswagen Golf can wait outside Chatelherault perfectly safely. Phone from the platform if quicker; standing over us whilst we work is not necessary.
A passer-by will urge you to move it out of the gateway and fix it later. Please don't. A misfilled diesel Peugeot 308 on the zig-zags at the local primary school is a hassle; the same vehicle restarted three more times to be helpful is a fuel system and not a tank. Every restart primes the fuel lines and pulls more petrol past the fuel filter then into your pump. Leave it, let everyone grumble, and call us.
Emptying your Ford Kuga, changing your filter where there's a usable one, rinsing your lines, putting fresh fuel through the entire system: that's the job, and it's shaped by the worst of it sitting in the lines instead of in the tank by this point. Three things help when you call from close to War Memorial — which side the filler is on, whether our van can stand next to without blocking the road, and if your engine has run since you filled up. On-street is the most common spot our technicians work, so the location itself is hardly ever the trouble. A cramped parking spot is better than a vehicle driven somewhere more handy.
Turn off where you have stopped, and do not restart it to find somewhere better — close to Normandy Veterans Association Memorial or anywhere at all. Knocking, an uneven idle, white smoke and a dead throttle are a misfuelled diesel Citroen C3 telling you what's wrong.
That deadness is your fuel failing to build pressure correctly, not the engine packing up — and with no dashboard light for it, cars in that position usually get driven again before anybody phones. Do not. A few streets is all it got: throttle gone soft, idle turned uneven, and a diesel Audi Q5 now sitting close to Portrait Bench. Turn it off and phone us.
Pump-side drains for petrol in a diesel
Most of this job begins at a forecourt, meaning a good share of it gets finished there. Still at Esso? Then that's typically where it gets done. Petrol station forecourts are normal for us, with the consent of the owner.
A filling station is the only place this can be stopped before your engine has started. We can still sort it out where it is, even away from the pumps. In a car park, on a private drive or in a lay-by, your car has been started and moved there, and that drew fuel through the filter then into the high-pressure pump, right from the tank. None of that is a catastrophe, although the flush then has to reach past that tank to the lines and the filter, and the few seconds between reading the till receipt and going for the keys are what decide that.
The staff will generally help you wheel the car clear of the pump so the next motorist can get past. That is worth doing. Firing it for four vehicle lengths? Never.
Ferniegair and the areas next to it
Being a village, Ferniegair gets a routine call, whilst the places close by come along on that same journey: Allanton and Barncluith, Knowetop and Silvertonhill, Hamilton.
Not on that list? It says nothing. The places above are simply the nearest few, and most places across South Lanarkshire have a page of their own somewhere on our site. Ring us and check rather than guessing, especially where you are on a border or somewhere a satnav can't find.
The ground this page covers sits on the map. Your vehicle does not need to move to us. We work over the lot — roadside, forecourts, driveways, car parks.
Ferniegair: broken down where you parked
The opportunity to pull in somewhere sensible doesn't fall to everyone. A normal call for us and not an odd one: realised after setting off, ended up along the verge of Isabella Gardens or at a lay-by with the hazard lights on.
Whether you wait with the motor or move away from it turns on whether being nearby seems wise. Every mile a diesel obliges you for on petrol pulls that mixture further into the fuel system — and oblige it frequently will, which is why your engine doesn't get restarted to limp somewhere better. A van coming to an inconvenient location is no trouble for us, and it is a lot better for the vehicle than driving on.
Run it already? Stop, then see below
Here is where the M74 matters, under a mile from Ferniegair. Lost power, a lumpy idle, smoke: those are the signs when they appear, instead of a tidy stop — and a wrongly fuelled diesel will often take you onto it and some way along before anything seems wrong at all.
The first safe junction is the one to take. Switch off there, then leave the restarting alone. It affects what our engineers bring, and so tell us when you phone: on a longer trip — anything close to the under 15 miles to the closest city — take it the contamination has been through your filter, your pump and your injectors.
Where is Ferniegair?
Ferniegair is a village situated on the riverside in South Lanarkshire, with a relatively low elevation of 59 metres. Ferniegair lies near several smaller communities, including Allanton and Barncluith, and is within commuting distance of Glasgow, which is 11 miles away. Ferniegair has a population of around 1358 people, predominantly living in detached housing.
Our job in Ferniegair, step by step
- Our technicians find out what got in, how much, and if your engine has run. The answers alter the work, which is why our engineers ask before quoting.
- The tank is drained of everything.
- We clean the fuel lines and clean the fuel filter, and so what's remaining in the system isn't what created the trouble.
- Priming follows, once new diesel is in.
- It is fired up with new diesel in it, and our engineers make sure that it is running smoothly.
That has your car ready to set off. Permanent damage is very unusual when it has been noticed soon, and as all of this is done where your car is, it never has to be taken to a workshop.
A distinct job: AdBlue in a diesel tank around Ferniegair
If what went in was AdBlue rather than petrol, the first step is the same — never crank it — but this problem is not. The protection a fuel system relies on gets taken away by petrol, which weakens the diesel. Urea in water, AdBlue, and in a diesel tank that causes corrosion and residue.
AdBlue removal around Ferniegair has a page of its own with the detail on it, including why it is frequently the more serious of the two. We cover both.
What a petrol-in-diesel fuel drain costs in Ferniegair
Frankly, no single figure fits on a page like this. The job differs. Here's what varies it:
- Started? Driven? Either answer matters more than anything else on this list.
- How much of the wrong fuel got in, weighed against how much the tank can hold.
- AdBlue or unleaded, whichever was put in.
- Whether a van can sensibly get to the car and work on it, which depends on where the vehicle is.
The vehicle, the quantity, whether it has run — give us those and the answer comes back clear instead of as a range. Not time-critical, with the vehicle at home and going nowhere? Then works.
Questions our engineers get about petrol in diesel in Ferniegair
At a petrol station in Ferniegair, can you do a fuel drain there?
Yes — forecourts are where a big part of this gets done. Our engineers attend JET and the other forecourts nearby all the time, with the owner's consent — tell us which one you're at when you call and we'll tell you if our engineers can work there.
How much petrol is too much for a diesel?
Ratio decides it rather than litres — and more than either, whether the engine has run. Five litres into a nearly dry tank is not five into a full one, no. But both land on the same query in the end: has that blend been sucked right through, or has it not?
Petrol in my diesel, and I have driven the vehicle
Somewhere safe, then stop, then turn off and leave it off. It's salvageable much more commonly than people assume, even though driving is what takes the problem from the tank into the pump and injectors — and the single most valuable thing you can do now isn't restart it.
Is a fuel drain going to void my warranty?
No. Carried out properly, clearing and purging is no alteration at all, and the warranty from your manufacturer is unaffected by it. Running a diesel on petrol is the thing more likely to cause a disagreement with one, which is another reason to leave the car switched off.
Could I put some two-stroke in and just drive?
Two-stroke oil solves a separate issue, and an old one at that. Nothing it does puts back what petrol weakened. No. The pump still has to put up with it, as the tank still has petrol in it afterwards.
Do I need a main dealer for petrol in a diesel?
You do not need one. The car is drained and flushed wherever it is, with no need to bring it to a dealership.
Is the vehicle still with you?
Don't switch it on again.
Driven it already? Then somewhere safe, stop, switch off, and no restarting the vehicle later. Cold and still, a motor is in the best position available — and people fear this much more than the recovery rate warrants.
Across South Lanarkshire and around Ferniegair: call-out fuel draining, at home or on the forecourt or at the roadside.