Hollingthorpe: Petrol in a Diesel Car? How Worried to Be
If it hasn't been started, you can worry far less than you probably are. "Have I wrecked it?" is the first question everyone around Hollingthorpe asks, and the truthful answer is generally no, because petrol resting in a diesel tank hurts nothing until it is dragged through your fuel system — by ignition priming, by the starter, or by being driven. To leave the vehicle like that, ring Petrol in Diesel then leave your motor switched off. The rest of this page explains what petrol actually does to a diesel, how to tell how far it has got, and how to make sure it does not happen to you a second time.
Inside the engine: what petrol in a diesel does
On its way through a motor, diesel has two jobs. Oiling comes before burning; it does both. Extremely fine gaps go into the injectors and the high-pressure pump, and just the diesel flowing through keeps those surfaces from grinding together.
Of those two tasks, petrol handles the first badly and the second not at all. A pump running on a petrol mixture is wearing itself out, since petrol is thinner than diesel and takes away the protection the fuel system relies on. Petrol is also designed to resist igniting under compression — the reverse of what a diesel needs from its fuel — and that's where any rattling starts.
Put those together and the shape of the issue is clear. The damage is done by circulation, not by contact. Petrol in a tank is a fuel problem. A pump that has been working on that petrol is the start of a mechanical one, and whatever a worn pump sheds travels on with the fuel to the injectors further on.
Four scenarios our engineers see in Hollingthorpe: how serious is petrol in a diesel?
Filled up, and not started: nothing beats it. Being at a forecourt is what makes this the case: elsewhere, the vehicle has been driven there to begin with. With that petrol kept in the tank alone, it is drained and rinsed right where it stands, and nothing more is needed.
A brief spell of running, or just the ignition on. Petrol has come out of your tank and got to the fuel filter and the fuel lines, since the fuel system has been bled. Still generally simple: drain, flush, and the fuel filter dealt with.
Driven a few miles. Now your pump has spent those miles labouring on thinned fuel. How hard your car was driven counts as much as how far, and this work takes in that tank, the lines, the filter and clean fuel through the whole system. A school run to Crigglestone Dane Royd Junior and Infant School is one thing. Very different again: a run to Wakefield, under 5 miles away, or any miles on the M1, under a mile from Hollingthorpe, where the motor kept working hard.
Knocking, an uneven idle, smoke, a throttle gone soft: driven till it complained. The fuel is not acting like diesel any more, and your engine is saying so. Pull up where you are — on the verge on Copeworth Drive, at the kerb, down a side road — and don't move it. The drain and flush-through still go first, and they deal with it: when a car is stopped early, lasting damage is very uncommon.
Petrol in a diesel myths Hollingthorpe motorists hear
"Top it up the rest of the way with diesel and it will be fine" — a myth. It will not. A fuller tank of the same mixture is all it gives, because topping up takes out nothing. A diesel fuel system doesn't tolerate petrol by percentage in the way that guidance presumes.
Myth: a newer diesel copes with a bit of petrol. Rather, the reverse. Smaller components and higher pressure are how a current diesel runs its fuel, and that makes the protection count more, not less.
One myth that catches motorists out: if it starts and drives, it must be unharmed. Feed diesel to a petrol engine and it generally won't run, so the driver stops — and the harm stops with them. Whilst the pump wears, a diesel fed petrol usually starts, idles and drives away as though nothing has happened. Running does not mean fine.
Myth: "Add some two-stroke oil and drive it home." It's an old fix for a distinct problem. It does not put back what petrol has thinned, and the petrol is still inside the tank afterwards.
Myth: "Drain your tank yourself and you are sorted." After your engine has run, some of the petrol is no longer inside the tank: it is in your filter and your lines, and it goes straight back through your pump on your next start. On top of that, petrol drained into a can by the road is truly hazardous.
Petrol in a diesel: how does it take place?
On purpose? Never. Through carelessness? Seldom, if ever. One way only, because of the nozzles: the smaller petrol one slides inside a diesel filler with almost no resistance, while the diesel one mostly will not fit a petrol vehicle. That is how the forecourt makes it easy.
Routine and the vehicle falling out of step is when it happens. A new motor, a hire car or a courtesy car. Households running one of each, petrol and diesel. Your normal forecourt, its pumps now in a different order. A train to catch, and a hurried fill en route to Sandal & Agbrigg. The first fill-up in a diesel Volkswagen Golf after years of driving petrol is exactly the moment it occurs. Add rain, a phone call or a back seat full of children, and the hand repeats what it has always done.
How to prevent petrol in a diesel at your next fill-up around Hollingthorpe
- Check the pump, not the colour. In the UK unleaded handles are generally green and diesel black, but not on every forecourt. The label is what matters.
- In a car you don't know, look inside the flap over the filler or at the cap before your first fill: plenty of cars state the fuel there.
- One of each in the home? Mark the key to the diesel — a bright fob, a sticker — since meaning to remember is not enough.
- "Diesel", aloud, before you lift the nozzle — each time a new or hired car gets its first tank. It sounds daft. It works.
- Whilst you are thinking about something else, this is an easy mistake to make — so put your phone away.
- Add-on devices exist for vehicles without one, and some diesels come with a filler that will not accept a petrol nozzle. Useful — but a backstop only, never a reason to stop checking the label.
- As soon as you notice, stop: less petrol inside the tank makes a weaker blend. What to do next doesn't change, though — still do not crank it.
Put petrol in a diesel around Hollingthorpe already?
Then, there's just a short order of things. Starting it is out, and so is switching on the ignition. Ask the attendants to help you roll it clear of the petrol pump if you're still on the forecourt, whether that is BP or anywhere else. Phone 0333 366 0103 next, with three facts — your fuel, the approximate quantity, and whether it has run.
AdBlue, not petrol? Then say so. Corrosion and deposits, not lost protection, make it a separate fault — Hollingthorpe has a page just for it.
Hollingthorpe petrol in a diesel jobs: why one costs more than another
An honest single price doesn't exist here: four situations, four separate tasks. Mostly, your cost moves with which situation you are in. After that it's the share — how much petrol went in against how much your tank holds — and after that where the car is and whether a technician can reach it safely.
Ahead of any quote, not after, we ask three queries: the fuel that was put in, its volume, and if it has run. That is why. Those replies change a range into a straight figure.
About Hollingthorpe
Hollingthorpe is a suburban area in West Yorkshire, situated near the River Calder at an elevation of 84 metres. Hollingthorpe lies close to the city of Wakefield, with nearby places including Hall Green, Painthorpe, and Chapelthorpe. Hollingthorpe has a population of approximately 1653 residents, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type in the area.
Fuel drain cover across West Yorkshire, Hollingthorpe included
Petrol in diesel jobs in Hollingthorpe — part of the WF postcode area — go to teams that also cover the places round it, Hall Green, Painthorpe and Chapelthorpe included. You need not move your vehicle to us. Forecourts, supermarket car parks, lay-bys and your own drive are all locations we drain.
Still at the petrol pump in Hollingthorpe?
Then you're in the best position there can be. Keep the car turned off, then ring.