Fold Head: Petrol in a Diesel Car? Here Is What Happens
Whatever you do, don't switch the motor on, even for a moment, to shift the car. Pause; leave the vehicle off. Petrol in a diesel that has not been run is generally a drain plus a flush, done where your vehicle sits, and what you do in the coming few minutes settles that more than anything else. Anywhere you happen to be around Fold Head, this is the order things run from here.
Minute one: petrol in a diesel, engine off
Work through the following before anything else, in this sequence.
- The keys out of the ignition. Switching the ignition on can be all it takes to prime the fuel system, while priming pulls petrol out of the tank toward the components it damages. Leave it off altogether.
- No diesel on top. More fuel in takes away none of the petrol — it only makes you with extra of the same mixture.
- Hazard lights on. If you're anywhere close to moving traffic, make your car easy to see before you do anything else.
- The attendants will usually help you roll it away from the pump. Let them, then roll it by hand — never on your engine, even for a couple of yards.
- Which fuel, and about how much? Your receipt replies both, and that is where our first question starts. Do not throw it away.
Still on the move when you realised? Come off the A627(M) at the next exit if that's where you are, under 5 miles from Fold Head, and pull over somewhere sensible rather than pushing on to the services. Then start at stage one.
Each Fold Head fuel drain starts here: has the motor run?
One answer is what everything after this stage rests on.
If it has not once been started:
- Just your tank has petrol in it for now.
- Draining and flushing, on the spot, is normally all of it.
- This is the best case — which is the entire point of stage one.
If it's been started, even for a second:
- Some petrol has left the tank already, passed through the filter, and got into your lines.
- A bigger run takes it right through to your high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors.
- Flushing the lines, the filter seen to, and sometimes more: the job expands as the distance does.
Diesel keeps your high-pressure pump and the injectors lubricated as it runs through them. Petrol offers them nothing, and that's why the line is drawn there. Nothing is harmed by petrol that's only sitting in a tank. Petrol being pumped is grinding down the parts that shift it.
Calling about petrol in a diesel from Fold Head: what to have ready
A little preparation is the difference between a van that finds you and a van that goes round.
- Where you have stopped. A postcode beginning OL12 8 is the best place to start.
- The road or the car park. A road name is a help — Ainsdale Drive, or wherever you have pulled up.
- Or the landmark. A car park is quicker to find by what it serves, such as the one at Co-op Food.
- That it's a diesel, plus the make and model of the vehicle.
- Say which got in — petrol or AdBlue — because AdBlue is a different job, with a page of its own for Fold Head.
- Roughly how much — in litres from the receipt, or by how long the nozzle was in.
- Has it run? If so, tell us how far it got, and the way it was driven.
- Whose car it is. Some hire and company agreements want the owner to approve this work, and that is quicker settled before our technicians get there than after.
Next, 0333 366 0103. Not time-critical, your car parked at home with nowhere to be? Then will do as well.
Fold Head fuel drain on its way? While you wait
Hold to these: well-meant help does the harm during the wait.
- Your safety comes before the vehicle. Somewhere dangerous? Get away from the traffic then wait away from it. Safe where it stands? Wait with it.
- Not to roll it a couple of yards, not to check it is all right, not for a passer-by's favour: nobody starts it.
- Something from your boot, oil made for two-strokes or injector cleaner: no additive removes the petrol.
- No home-made emptying. Siphoning petrol into a can by the kerbside is dangerous, and it leaves your fuel that has already gone beyond the tank.
- Not for your radio, not for your windows: the ignition stays off.
Step by step: your fuel drain when our van gets there
- The quote comes after three questions, not before them — what was put in, how much, and whether it's run — since those answers set the job.
- That tank is emptied. The polluted mixture comes from that tank.
- The fuel lines are cleaned. If it ran, the petrol has moved beyond the tank, and your lines are carrying it.
- The fuel filter is dealt with. Cleared, or swapped where the vehicle has a usable one.
- Clean diesel goes in, then your system is primed.
- The first start on clean diesel. When bleeding is done, the motor is fired up and our technicians make sure that it runs smoothly.
Our engineers stay until it is running on clean diesel. Permanent damage is very unusual when it has been noticed soon, so the vehicle can go right back to normal driving.
Fold Head, after your fuel drain: back on the road
- Drive normally. There is nothing unusual to do once it's been started on clean fuel.
- Watch the first miles. A warning light, smoke, a rough idle or a flat spot under the throttle tells you to pull over then ring us back.
- An insurer, a fleet manager or a hire company may ask what was done, so keep your paperwork.
- The handle's colour isn't the guide to go by next time — the label on the petrol pump is.
About Fold Head itself
Fold Head is a locality situated on the riverside in Lancashire, with an elevation of 234 metres and a mix of terraced housing. Fold Head lies near several small communities, including Wallbank, Whitworth, and Broadley Fold, and is approximately 12 miles from Manchester. Fold Head has a population of around 1701 residents and is located in the North West region of England, about 171 miles from London.
Fuel drains around Fold Head and beyond
Most of Lancashire has the same teams as Fold Head for petrol in diesel jobs, Wallbank, Whitworth and Broadley Fold among them. If you are near a boundary or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask instead of assuming.
Ring, and leave it off — petrol in a diesel around Lancashire
Petrol in Diesel carries on from there — on your driveway, by the kerbside, on the forecourt — once you've done stage one: keys out, motor off, receipt in your pocket.