Fortescue: Petrol in a Diesel Car? Here Is What Happens
Pause, and leave the motor off — not on, and not for a second to shift the vehicle. Emptied and rinsed, right where it is: that's generally all an unrun diesel with petrol in it takes. Whether it stays that straightforward rests on the minutes ahead more than on everything else. From now on, in order, for anywhere in Fortescue:
Petrol in a diesel? What to do in minute one
Go through the following in order, first.
- Bleeding your fuel system draws petrol from your tank toward the parts it harms, and turning your ignition on can be enough to do that. So your keys come out, and your ignition stays off altogether.
- A fuller tank of the same mixture is all adding diesel leaves you, since it takes out nothing. So no extra diesel.
- Visibility comes before the rest near moving traffic: switch your hazards on, and only then think about everything else.
- However short the way, starting it to move it is the thing to avoid. On a forecourt, push it away from the pump by hand instead, and ask the attendants to lend a hand.
- Hold on to the receipt. It shows which fuel was put in and roughly how much, which is the first thing we'll ask.
Realised on the move? Get off at the next junction if you're on the M5, under 15 miles from Fortescue, and stop somewhere sensible — not at the services farther on. Step one comes after that.
Each Fortescue fuel drain starts here: has the motor run?
Everything after this point rests on one answer.
Motor not run at all?
- Only your tank has petrol in it so far.
- A drain and flush, on the spot, is usually the whole job.
- Being here is the best case — which is the entire point of stage one.
Motor run, even for a moment?
- Petrol has been pulled from that tank, past the fuel filter and into your lines.
- Run it farther and that petrol gets to the fuel injectors, having gone through your pump first.
- Flushing your lines, the fuel filter seen to, occasionally more: this job expands as the mileage does.
The reason the line falls there: diesel lubricates the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors as it flows through them, and petrol doesn't. A tank of petrol, left alone, hurts nothing. Move the petrol, though, and it wears the very parts that move it.
Calling about petrol in a diesel from Fortescue: what to have prepared
Whether the van goes round or finds you comes down to a little preparation.
- Your whereabouts: a postcode beginning EX10 9 works best.
- Name the road — Higher Fortescue or wherever you have stopped — or the car park.
- Or the nearest landmark. A car park is easier to find by what it serves, such as the one outside Lidl.
- That it's a diesel, plus the make and model of your vehicle.
- Which was put in counts: AdBlue is a separate job from petrol, and Fortescue has a page for it. So tell us.
- How much. Litres from the receipt, or how long the nozzle was in the filler.
- The mileage it did, and how heavily, if it has run at all.
- Hire or company car? Some agreements want the owner's go-ahead for the work, and getting it before our technicians get there is quicker than after.
Phone 0333 366 0103 once you have got that together — or, if the car is at home, going nowhere, use .
While you wait for a fuel drain around Fortescue
In the wait, the damage comes from well-meant help — so these matter.
- Where the vehicle has stopped settles where you wait. Exposed: away from it, clear of the traffic. Safe: with it. Either way, safety ahead of the car.
- No one starts it. Not a passer-by being kind, not to check it is all right, not to roll it a few yards.
- No additives. Two-stroke oil, injector cleaner, anything from your boot — none of that takes the petrol back out.
- A home-made drain leaves your fuel that has already gone beyond your tank, and siphoning petrol by the road is dangerous too.
- Not for the radio, not for your windows: your ignition stays off.
Step by step: your fuel drain when the van arrives
- Fuel, quantity, whether it has run: those replies decide this job, and that's why we give a price after them rather than before.
- Your tank is cleared. The contaminated blend comes out of the tank.
- Cleaning your lines follows, since a vehicle that ran has petrol past that tank, in the fuel lines themselves.
- The filter is dealt with. Cleared, or swapped where the car has a usable one.
- Fresh diesel in, and the system primed.
- We fire it up only after new diesel has gone in and bled the system, then make sure that it's running smoothly.
We stay until it's running on clean diesel. The vehicle returns to normal driving right away, and permanent damage is very rare when it has been spotted quickly.
Back on the road around Fortescue after your fuel drain
- Once it has been started on clean fuel, there is nothing unusual to do: drive normally.
- The first miles are the test. A dash warning, exhaust smoke, a rough idle or a flat throttle is your signal to stop and call us a second time.
- An insurer, a fleet manager or a hire firm may ask what was done, so hold on to your paperwork.
- The handle's colour is not the guide to go by next time — the label on the petrol pump is.
About Fortescue
Fortescue is a small suburban area in Devon, situated near the coast and approximately 13.6 miles from Exeter. Fortescue sits at an elevation of 37 metres, overlooking the surrounding countryside and nearby settlements like Sid and Sidford. Fortescue is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock, reflecting the area's residential nature.
Fortescue and nearby: fuel drains across the area
Sid, Lower Woolbrook and Sidford are covered by the same vans that take petrol in diesel jobs around Fortescue — and so is most of Devon beyond. If you are close to a boundary or somewhere hard to explain, ring and ask rather than guessing.
Ring, and leave the vehicle off — petrol in a diesel across Devon
Petrol in Diesel takes it from there — on your driveway, at the roadside, at the forecourt — once you've done step one: keys out, engine off, receipt in your pocket.