Foreglen: Petrol in a Diesel Car? Here Is What Happens
Whatever you do, don't switch the motor on, even briefly, to move the vehicle. Stop; leave it off. Petrol in a diesel that has not been run is usually a simple drain and a flush, done right where your car sits, and what happens in the coming few minutes determines that more than anything else. Below is the sequence from here, anywhere around Foreglen you happen to be.
Petrol in a diesel? What to do in minute one
In this order, and before anything else:
- Bleeding your fuel system draws petrol from the tank toward the parts it harms, and turning the ignition on can be all it takes to do that. So the keys come out, and the ignition remains off altogether.
- Topping up with diesel seems like it thins the problem. It doesn't: nothing comes out, and your tank just carries more of the same.
- Visibility comes before the rest beside moving traffic: put your hazards on, and only then deal with anything else.
- By hand, not on your engine: that's how it comes off the petrol pump. Ask the forecourt attendants to help you push, whatever the mileage.
- The first thing you will be asked is which fuel went in and roughly how much — and the till receipt shows both. Keep it.
Still driving when you noticed? Come off the M77 at the next exit if that is where you are, over 50 miles from Foreglen, and stop somewhere sensible instead of pushing on to the services. Then start at stage one.
The fork in each Foreglen fuel drain: has it run yet?
Everything after this stage depends on one answer.
Engine never run at all?
- The petrol is still inside your tank and nowhere else.
- A drain and flush, on the spot, is usually all of it.
- No place is better, and it is why the first stage matters so much.
Engine run, however briefly?
- The lines and your filter now hold petrol drawn out of the tank.
- Run it further and the petrol reaches the injectors, having passed through your pump first.
- Miles is what turns it into a larger job: the lines flushed, a filter seen to, and at times more than that.
Petrol does not lubricate. Diesel does, protecting your pump and injectors as it flows through, which is why the line sits where it does. A tank of petrol, left alone, damages nothing. Move that petrol, though, and it grinds down the very parts doing the moving.
What to have ready when you call about petrol in a diesel from Foreglen
Get ready a little, and the van finds you rather than circling.
- The best start is a postcode — one beginning BT47 4 — for where you have stopped.
- Wherever you have pulled up, the road's name is useful — whether that is Crown Street or somewhere else — and so does the name of a car park.
- What a car park serves is the easiest way to find it, so say the landmark — like the one at the local shops.
- Say what the vehicle is — make, model — and check it's diesel.
- Tell us which went in — petrol or AdBlue — because AdBlue is a different job, with a page of its own for Foreglen.
- How long the nozzle was in, or the litres on your receipt — either tells us how much.
- Has it run? If so, tell us how far it went, and how it was driven.
- The owner may have to authorise this work under some hire or company agreements — which is why it is quicker to settle whose motor it is before our technicians get there.
Then phone 0333 366 0103. If it can wait — your car is at home with going nowhere — does the trick as well.
Foreglen fuel drain on its way? Whilst you wait
Hold to these: kindly meant help causes the damage during the wait.
- Stay with the car if it is safe where it is — but if it has stopped somewhere exposed, you come first: away from the traffic, waiting apart from it.
- No one starts it. Not a passer-by being helpful, not to check it is all right, not to roll it a couple of yards.
- None of it gets that petrol back out — not two-stroke oil, not injector cleaner, not something from the boot. So no additives.
- Siphoning petrol into a can at the kerbside is hazardous — and it also leaves whatever fuel has already gone beyond your tank. Don't drain the car yourself.
- Not for your radio, not for the windows: your ignition remains off.
Van arrived? The fuel drain, one stage at a time
- Three queries. What was put in, how much, and whether it's run. Those replies shape the job, which is why our quote comes after them but not before.
- Your tank is cleared. The polluted blend comes from the tank.
- If it ran, the fuel lines are holding petrol that has shifted beyond the tank — so they are cleaned.
- Your filter is seen to. Cleared, or swapped where the vehicle has a usable one.
- The system is primed with clean diesel.
- The start-up. With fresh diesel in and your system primed, it's started and checked to be sure it runs correctly.
Until it runs on new diesel, we remain with it. Long-term damage is very rare when it has been caught quickly, so the vehicle can go straight back to normal use.
Foreglen, after your fuel drain: back on the road
- Nothing special is needed after a start with clean diesel — usual driving is all.
- Pull over and ring us back if anything looks wrong early on — a light on your dash, smoke from the exhaust, an idle that runs rough, or a throttle with a dead spot.
- The work may come up later with a hire firm, an insurer or a fleet manager. Hold on to your documents.
- Next time, check the pump. The label, not the colour of its handle.
About Foreglen itself
Foreglen is a small locality in County Londonderry, situated inland at an elevation of around 130 metres. Foreglen lies near the city of Derry, approximately 8.6 miles away, and is close to other nearby places such as Claudy, Killaloo, and Ballyrory. Foreglen is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and a population of around 583 residents.
Fuel drains in Foreglen and the spots nearby
The same vans that answer petrol in diesel call-outs in Foreglen serve Claudy, Killaloo and Ballyrory, and most of County Londonderry beyond them. If you're close to a border or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask and not guessing.
Leave it off and ring: petrol in a diesel in County Londonderry
Petrol in Diesel takes it from there — on your driveway, at the kerbside, at the forecourt — once you have done step one: keys out, engine off, receipt in your pocket.