Petrol in a Diesel Car in Hurst: How Worried Should You Be?
Likely less than you are now — provided nobody has started the car. "Have I ruined it?" is the first question anyone around Hurst asks, and the honest answer is normally no, since petrol left in a diesel tank hurts nothing till it's dragged through the system — by ignition priming, by the starter, or by being driven. Leave the motor off then ring Petrol in Diesel — that keeps it like that. The remainder of this page covers 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.
The motor and petrol in a diesel: what happens
On its way through an engine, diesel does two tasks. Before it burns, it protects — then it combusts. What keeps the surfaces inside the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors from wearing down against each other is the diesel passing through them — they're designed to very fine clearances.
The second task petrol doesn't do at all, and the first it does poorly. The clattering comes from petrol being designed not to ignite when compressed, which is exactly the reverse of what a diesel needs. On top of that it is runnier than diesel, it strips away the lubrication the system hinges on, and any pump working on such a mixture is wearing itself.
Combined, those leave the shape of the problem clear. Contact does not do the damage — movement does. All a tank with petrol in it amounts to is a fuel fault. Whatever a worn pump sheds travels on, carried by the fuel, into the fuel injectors further along, which is why a pump that has worked on the petrol is where a mechanical fault starts.
How serious is petrol in a diesel? Four scenarios our engineers see in Hurst
Fuelled but never started — the best it gets. Being at a forecourt is what makes this the case: elsewhere, your car has been driven there to begin with. With that petrol held in the tank alone, it is drained and rinsed on the spot, and nothing more is needed.
A brief spell of running, or just your ignition on. Petrol has left that tank and reached the filter and the fuel lines, because the fuel system has been primed. Still usually easy: drain, flush, and the filter seen to.
Driven a couple of miles. Now the pump has spent those miles labouring on thinned fuel. Tank, lines, filter, then clean fuel run through the entire circuit: that is the work, and the way the vehicle was driven counts as much as the miles. Short trips, like the school run to Hurst Knoll St James' Church of England Primary School, are one thing. Getting as far as Manchester, under 10 miles away, makes a very different job — as does any mileage on the M60, under 3 miles from Hurst, with the motor labouring hard the whole time.
It complained, and only then stopped: smoke, rattling, a throttle gone soft, an idle gone ragged. The fuel is not acting like diesel any more, and the motor is telling you. Pull up wherever you are — the verge on New Lees Street, a lay-by, a side street — and leave the car there. The fuel drain and flush-through still come first, and they sort it out: if a vehicle is stopped soon, lasting damage is very uncommon.
What Hurst drivers get told about petrol in a diesel — and the myths in it
Myth: "Fill it the rest of the way with diesel and it will be fine." It will not. Nothing is removed when you top up — that tank just carries more of the same blend. A diesel fuel system does not tolerate petrol by percentage in the way that advice assumes.
Not so: a current diesel copes with a bit of petrol. Rather, the reverse. At higher pressure, through more precise components: that's how a current diesel handles its fuel, so the lubrication counts for more, not less.
This is the one that catches drivers. Myth: "If it starts and drives, there's no damage done." A petrol engine fed diesel normally will not run, so the motorist stops and the harm stops with them. Nothing looks to have happened when a diesel fed petrol fires up, ticks over and drives away, as it usually does; meanwhile your pump wears. Fine and running aren't the same thing.
Myth: "Add some two-stroke oil and drive the vehicle home." It is an outdated workaround for a different fault. What petrol has weakened stays weakened, and the petrol stays in that tank regardless.
The next start sends petrol back round your pump from the fuel lines and the fuel filter, where some of it ends up once the engine has run. That's why a DIY tank drain does not sort it — a myth. Emptying petrol into a can by the roadside is also truly hazardous.
Petrol in a diesel: how does it take place?
It's rarely carelessness, and no one does it on purpose. The forecourt makes it simple: the petrol nozzle is the slimmer of the two, and it slips into a diesel filler with almost no resistance, while a diesel nozzle mostly will not go into a petrol car at all. So the slip runs one way.
It occurs when habit and the car stop matching. Courtesy car, hire car, or a vehicle that's new. A household with one petrol and one diesel on the driveway. A well-known forecourt with the pumps in a different order. A train to catch, and a rushed fill en route to Ashton-Under-Lyne. The first fill-up in a diesel Volkswagen Passat after years of driving petrol is exactly the moment it takes place. Throw in a back seat full of kids, a phone call or rain, and habit wins.
Next time you fill up in Hurst: avoiding petrol in a diesel
- Read the petrol pump, not the colour. In the UK unleaded handles are normally green and diesel black, yet not on every forecourt. The label is what matters.
- Many vehicles state the fuel type inside your filler flap or on the cap, and so check it on your first fill in any motor you do not know.
- Good intentions do less than a sticker or a fob in a bright colour on the diesel's key when a household has one of each. So mark it.
- It sounds daft and it works: on your first fill in a new or hired car, say "diesel" out loud before you take the nozzle off the pump.
- Put your phone away. This is an easy mistake to make whilst you are thinking about something else.
- A misfuel inhibitor helps, up to a point. Some diesels have a filler designed to block a petrol nozzle, and add-on devices exist for cars without one. They are a backstop, not a reason to stop reading the pump.
- Less petrol means a weaker mixture, and so stop as soon as you notice — though remembering that the next step is unchanged. It is still not to crank it.
Put petrol in a diesel around Hurst already?
Then, there's just a short order of things. Starting it is out, and so is turning on the ignition. If you're still on the forecourt — Texaco or anywhere else — ask the attendants to help you roll the vehicle clear of the pump. Next, 0333 366 0103. We'll ask what got in, about how much, and if it has been run.
Corrosion and deposits are the issue with AdBlue, whereas petrol means lost lubrication. So if it was AdBlue, say so — and read its own Hurst page.
Hurst petrol in a diesel jobs: why one costs more than another
There's no fair single price for this, because the four scenarios above are four separate jobs. Which of them you are in is mostly what shifts the cost. Two things follow that: the petrol that was put in as a share of what your tank takes, then the place your car is in and whether our van can get to it safely.
Ahead of any quote, not after, come three queries: the fuel that got in, its amount, and if it's run. That is why. With those replies, you get a straight figure instead of a range.
About Hurst, for a moment
Hurst is a suburban area in Greater Manchester, situated approximately 6.8 miles east of Manchester city centre. Hurst occupies a relatively high elevation of 155 metres, with its semi-detached housing stock being a predominant feature of the area. Hurst is close to several nearby places, including Hurst Knoll, Smallshaw, and Hurst Nook, and is located inland, about 160.3 miles northwest of London.
Fuel drain cover in Hurst and across Greater Manchester
Petrol in diesel calls in Hurst — part of the OL postcode area — go to teams that likewise cover the locations round it, Hurst Knoll, Smallshaw and Hurst Nook included. A forecourt, a supermarket car park, a lay-by or your own drive are all places our technicians drain, and the car does not need to move to us.
In Hurst and still at the petrol pump?
The best spot there is, then — that's where you are. Phone, and keep it turned off.