Should You Worry? Petrol in a Diesel Car in Kintore
Provided it hasn't been started, worry less than you probably are. Everyone around Kintore starts with "have I ruined it?", and the fair answer is generally no: petrol resting in your tank of any diesel remains harmless till priming, cranking or driving draws it into the system. To leave the vehicle like that, call Petrol in Diesel then leave the motor switched off. What petrol actually does to a diesel, how to gauge how far it has travelled, and how to keep it from happening a second time: that is the remainder of this page.
What petrol in a diesel does to your engine
Diesel does two jobs on its way through a motor. Lubricating comes before burning; it does both. Very fine gaps are built into the fuel injectors and the high-pressure pump, and only your diesel running through stops those surfaces grinding together.
Of these two jobs, petrol manages the first badly and the second never. A pump running on a petrol mixture is wearing itself out, since petrol is runnier than diesel and strips out the lubrication your fuel system relies on. Petrol is also made to resist igniting under compression — the opposite of what a diesel needs from its fuel — and that's where any knocking starts.
Taken together, they make clear the shape the problem has. It's circulation that causes the harm, not contact. A tank with petrol in it is a fuel fault. A pump that has been running on that petrol is the beginning of a mechanical one, and whatever a worn pump sheds moves on with the fuel to the fuel injectors further on.
How bad is petrol in a diesel? Four situations our engineers see around Kintore
Fuelled, and not started: nothing beats it. At a forecourt, and truly only there, that petrol is still confined to that tank — because anywhere else the car was driven to get to it. The job is emptying and rinsing on the spot.
The ignition switched on, or a brief start. With your system primed, the fuel lines and filter now contain petrol that came from that tank. Drain, flush, see to your filter: still usually simple.
Some miles driven, and the pump has spent every one of them running on diluted fuel. Miles is only half of that; how hard it was driven matters equally. Either way the work includes your tank, your lines, your filter and fresh fuel through the whole circuit. A school run to the local primary school is one matter. Any miles on the M90, over 50 miles from Kintore, means your engine has worked hard throughout, and a run to Aberdeen, under 15 miles away, makes a very different job as well.
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 telling you. Whether it's the verge on Castle Hill, a lay-by or a side road, stop where you are and leave it. A car stopped quickly very seldom has permanent damage, because the drain and the flush-through, which still come first, sort it out.
Kintore motorists and that petrol in a diesel stories they hear
"Top it up the rest of the way with diesel and it will be fine" — a myth. It won't. Nothing is removed by topping up — you are left with a bigger tank, still the same mixture. That guidance assumes a diesel fuel system handles petrol by percentage. It doesn't.
If anything, the reverse is true. Myth: "A newer diesel can cope with a bit of petrol." Smaller components and higher pressure are the way a current diesel runs its fuel, and that makes the protection count more, not less.
One myth that catches people off guard: if it starts and drives, it must be unharmed. The motorist of a petrol engine fed diesel normally has no choice but to stop, because it will not run, and the damage stops there. Nothing looks to have happened when a diesel fed petrol fires up, ticks over and drives away, as it usually does; meanwhile your pump grinds. Being able to run is not the same as being fine.
"A drop of two-stroke oil and drive it home" — a myth, taken from a fix from years ago, for a different problem. It does not put back what petrol has diluted, and that petrol is still inside the tank after that.
Myth: "Drain that tank yourself and you are sorted." Once the motor has run, some of that petrol is no longer in that tank: it is in the fuel filter and the lines, and it goes right back through your pump at your next start. On top of that, petrol cleared into a can by the road is truly dangerous.
Why petrol in a diesel occurs at all
On purpose? Never. Through carelessness? Rarely, if ever. The forecourt makes it easy: the petrol nozzle is the narrower of the two, and it slides into a diesel filler with almost no resistance, while a diesel nozzle generally won't go into a petrol vehicle at all. So the slip runs one way.
The moment habit stops matching the car is the moment it takes place. Hire cars, courtesy cars, and motors that are new to you. Households running one of each, petrol and diesel. A forecourt you know, but with its pumps laid out differently. Rushing for a train at the nearest station and fuelling up en route. Years of petrol vehicles behind you, a diesel Renault Megane in front of you on the forecourt for its first tank — that's when. With rain, a call coming in, or children to deal with, your hand just does what it has always done.
Next time you fill up around Kintore: preventing petrol in a diesel
- A green handle for unleaded and black for diesel is normal in the UK — but not on each forecourt. Trust the label on the petrol pump, not the colour.
- In a vehicle you don't know, look inside the flap over your filler or at the cap before the first fill: many vehicles print the fuel there.
- One of each in the home? Label the key to your diesel — a bright fob, a sticker — since intending to remember is not enough.
- Say it before you lift it. On your first fill in a new or hired car, say "diesel" aloud before you lift the nozzle off the petrol pump. It sounds silly and it works.
- Tuck the phone away. This is an easy mistake to make while you're thinking about something else.
- Up to a point, a misfuel inhibitor helps: some diesels have a filler designed to reject a petrol nozzle, and add-on devices exist for the rest. Treat it as a backstop, and keep checking the petrol pump.
- Less petrol makes a weaker mix, so stop the moment you realise — though remembering that the next stage is unchanged. It is still not to start the car.
Put petrol in a diesel around Kintore already?
Then the order of things is short. Do not turn your ignition on, and don't crank it. Ask the attendants to help you push it clear of the pump if you're still on the forecourt, whether that is BP or anywhere else. Next, 0333 366 0103. We will ask what got in, about how much, and if it has been run.
AdBlue, not petrol? Then say so. Corrosion and deposits, not lost protection, make it a separate fault — Kintore has a page all for it.
Why one petrol in a diesel task around Kintore costs more than another
Four separate jobs lie behind the four scenarios above — which is why there is no honest single quote. Mostly, your cost shifts with which situation you're in. Two things follow that: the petrol that got in as a proportion of what your tank holds, then the spot your car is in and whether our van can reach it safely.
Three queries come first, before any quote, instead of after — what got in, how much, has it run — and that is the reason. A range becomes a straight figure once the replies are in.
About Kintore, for a moment
Kintore is a town situated on the banks of the River Don in Aberdeenshire, with a mix of modern and traditional housing, predominantly detached homes. Kintore sits at an elevation of 52 metres, approximately 11 miles northwest of Aberdeen, and is surrounded by smaller settlements like Clovenstone and Cottown. Kintore has a population of around 4412 residents, who enjoy the scenic riverside setting and easy access to the nearby city. Kintore is also relatively distant from major English cities, being around 406 miles from London.
Fuel drain cover across Aberdeenshire, Kintore included
Petrol in diesel call-outs around Kintore — part of the AB postcode area — go to teams that likewise cover the spots around it, Clovenstone, Cottown and Muir of Kinellar among them. You need not move your car to us. Forecourts, supermarket car parks, lay-bys and your own driveway are all locations we drain.
At the petrol pump around Kintore, right now?
Then you are in the best place there is. Call, and keep it switched off.