Should You Worry? Petrol in a Diesel Car in Hollycroft
Far less than you probably are, provided it has not been started. Till the ignition primes your pump, your starter cranks, or your vehicle is driven, petrol in a diesel tank just sits there and does no harm. Which makes the honest reply to that first Hollycroft query — "have I wrecked it?" — normally no. Keep it that way: leave your engine off then call Petrol in Diesel. Below, you will find what petrol really does inside a diesel, how far it may have got, and how to stop it happening to you again.
The motor and petrol in a diesel: what happens
On its way through a motor, diesel does two tasks. Oiling comes before burning; it does both. The high-pressure pump and the fuel injectors are made to extremely fine clearances, and the diesel passing through them is what keeps those surfaces from grinding against one another.
Petrol handles the first job badly and the second not at all. The knocking comes from petrol being made not to ignite when compressed, which is exactly the opposite of what a diesel needs. On top of that it is thinner than diesel, it strips away the protection the system rests on, and any pump working on such a mix is wearing itself.
Put these together and the shape of the trouble is plain. The damage is done by circulation, not by contact. A tank with petrol in it is a fuel problem. The start of a mechanical problem is a pump that has been working on that petrol — and whatever a worn pump sheds travels on with your fuel to the injectors beyond it.
Hollycroft, petrol in a diesel: four cases, from mild to major
Filled up, and not started: nothing beats it. That petrol is inside the tank and only your tank, and the job is a drain and a flush where the car stands. This is the one scenario that can only truly occur on a forecourt, as anywhere else your car has been driven to get there.
Ignition on, or started for a second. Once primed, the fuel system has drawn petrol out of that tank as far as your filter and the fuel lines. Normally little more than emptying, rinsing and sorting the filter, and so still easy.
Those few miles driven were the pump labouring on fuel weakened by petrol throughout. Tank, lines, filter, then fresh fuel put through the entire circuit: that is this work, and the way your car was driven matters as much as the distance. Driving the children to Battling Brook Primary School is one kind of trip. Any miles on the M69, under 3 miles from Hollycroft, means the motor working hard throughout, and a run to Coventry, under 15 miles away, is a very different job too.
Driven till it complained. Knocking, a lumpy idle, smoke, a throttle that has gone soft. That's the engine telling you its fuel has stopped behaving like diesel. Pull up wherever you are — the verge on Weston Close, a lay-by, a side street — and leave it there. Permanent damage is very uncommon if a car is pulled over quickly, and the fuel drain and flush that still go first take care of it.
Hollycroft drivers and that petrol in a diesel stories they hear
Myth: "Fill it the rest of the way with diesel and it'll be fine." It will not. Nothing is removed by topping up — you're left with a bigger tank, still the same mix. Percentage isn't how a diesel fuel system tolerates petrol, whatever that guidance assumes.
"Modern diesels can handle a little petrol" — a myth, and nearer the opposite. Protection counts more on newer diesels, not less, because their fuel passes through finer components at higher pressure.
"It starts, it drives, so no harm done" — the myth that catches more people than any other. Diesel in a petrol motor normally means a motor that will not run: the driver stops, and so does the damage. Nothing looks to have happened when a diesel fed petrol fires up, ticks over and drives away, which it usually does; meanwhile your pump grinds. Fine and running aren't the same at all.
An old fix for a distinct fault is behind this one. Myth: "Add some two-stroke oil and drive the vehicle home." The petrol is still in your tank after that, and whatever it has weakened is not put back.
If the engine has run, part of that petrol is in your filter and the lines, not that tank — and your next start pulls it straight back through your pump. So the myth "drain your tank yourself and you're sorted" does not hold. It's also really dangerous to drain petrol into a can at the kerbside.
How does petrol in a diesel take place?
No one does it on purpose, and it is rarely carelessness. The petrol nozzle is the slimmer of the two and slips into a diesel filler with almost no resistance; a diesel nozzle generally won't go into a petrol vehicle at all. The forecourt makes it simple, and the mistake runs one way.
It takes place when routine and the car stop matching. Hire cars, courtesy cars, and vehicles that are new to you. A household with one petrol and one diesel on the driveway. Your ordinary forecourt, its pumps suddenly in a different order. Rushing for a train at Hinckley and fuelling up en route. The first fill-up in a diesel Volkswagen Golf after years of driving petrol is precisely the moment it happens. Add rain, a phone call or a back seat full of kids, and the hand does what it has always done.
Hollycroft people: how to prevent petrol in a diesel next time
- Not every forecourt in the UK keeps to green for unleaded and black for diesel, even if most generally do. Read the petrol pump's label; the colour is just a clue.
- The first fill in a strange motor is the time to check your filler flap — on it, or on the cap, many vehicles state which fuel to use.
- Good intentions do less than a sticker or a fob in a bright colour on the diesel's key if a house has one of each. So mark it.
- "Diesel", out loud, before you lift the nozzle — each time a new or hired car gets its first tank. It sounds daft. It works.
- Tuck the phone away. This is an easy mistake to make while you are thinking about something else.
- Add-on devices are available for cars without one, and some diesels are built with a filler that will not take a petrol nozzle. Helpful — but a backstop only, never a reason to stop checking the label.
- Stop the moment you realise. Less petrol inside that tank means a thinner blend. It does not change what to do next, which is still not to fire it up.
Hollycroft: already put petrol in a diesel?
The order of things is brief, then. Do not turn your ignition on, and don't fire it up. The staff at the forecourt — whether at Hinckley Service Station itself or wherever you filled up — will normally help push it away from the petrol pump if you ask. Then call 0333 366 0103 and tell us what was put in, about how much, and if it has run.
AdBlue, not petrol? Then say so. Corrosion and deposits, not lost lubrication, make it a separate fault — Hollycroft has a page all for it.
One petrol in a diesel job around Hollycroft costs more than another. Why?
The four scenarios above are four separate jobs, so no single quote for this would be fair. Chiefly, your cost shifts with which one you are in. Where the car is matters too, and whether a technician can safely get to it, after the proportion of petrol to what that tank takes.
That is why we ask three questions before quoting rather than after: what was put in, how much, and if it's run. Their replies are what turn a range into one firm number.
About Hollycroft, briefly
Hollycroft is a suburban area in Leicestershire, situated near the River Anker and characterised by its semi-detached housing stock. Hollycroft sits at an elevation of 99 metres, with nearby towns including Hinckley and Wykin. Hollycroft is located close to Coventry, which is approximately 10.6 miles away, and is part of the larger East Midlands region. Hollycroft has a population of around 8598 residents.
Hollycroft and Leicestershire: where our fuel drain cover runs
Petrol in diesel calls around Hollycroft — part of the LE postcode area — go to vans that also cover the spots round it, Hinckley, The Crescent and Wykin included. No need to move your vehicle to us. Forecourts, supermarket car parks, lay-bys and your own driveway are all locations we drain.
Hollycroft: still at the pump?
Then you're in the best place there is. Call, and keep it turned off.