Put Petrol in a Diesel Car in Lewisvale? Don't Start It
Petrol in Diesel drains and cleans misfuelled vehicles where they stand, on the forecourt, at the roadside or on a private drive, across Lewisvale and the remainder of East Lothian. The very first thing to do is not to fire up your engine. While the motor has not yet turned over and the fuel is still inside the tank, a drain is nearly always all it needs, and the coming few minutes determine that, not how much was put in. We shall tell you what the next stage is. Phone — that comes before all else.
Your first five minutes: petrol in a diesel
- Don't crank it — and never believe it when it runs. This is the thing people get wrong about petrol in a diesel in particular. A petrol motor filled with diesel typically just will not run, and so the motorist stops and the damage halts with them. A diesel fed petrol normally starts, ticks over and drives off without complaint for several miles. It's not fine. It is wearing out that fuel system while you drive.
- Diesel combusts, and before it ignites it lubricates — that high-pressure pump, its injectors. Petrol manages only the burning. So leave the car's ignition off also: flicking it on is usually enough to prime that system, and priming moves petrol from your tank into just those components.
- Do not weaken it. Diesel tipped on top gets rid of nothing, so all you have is more of what was already there, because percentage is not how a diesel fuel system copes with petrol. Super unleaded? Just petrol. The type makes no difference.
- Sit tight if it is wise to. Hazards on, motor off, leave it. Wherever you have stopped — the verge on Park Lane, anywhere — an odd place for us trumps a started engine, and nothing is quicker for us to sort than a motor that never moved.
- Before you dial, have your location. Anything next to you with a name on it, plus a postcode beginning EH21 7 — that is what settles whether our van turns up or circles.
- Call 0333 366 0103. Tell us what got in, roughly how much, plus whether the engine has fired. These three details shape the whole job.
Quarter past eight, a quick top-up on the drive in, and the penny drops somewhere around eleven — by which time the diesel Nissan Qashqai has been standing at Wallyford for three hours. Ring us and leave the car precisely where it is. The trip in is the thing that is key here, as diesel performs two jobs on its way through the engine: it burns, and before it combusts it greases that injection pump and those injectors. Petrol manages the first and not the second. So those few miles were covered with the pump running on a fluid that had given up a lot of the protection it is built around — which is why the thing our engineers ask is how far you drove, not how long the car has been standing.
If you've put petrol in your diesel Audi A4 in Lewisvale and you are now stuck at Premier with a boot full of shopping, ring us. Do not start the car a second time to exit that space. We will head your way, drain that tank, rinse the fuel lines and put new diesel in so you can get home. A mile or so at light throttle pulls very little diesel, so such jobs are usually the straightforward cases.
What our technicians will want to know is whether the trip there was brief and chilly, since that is where petrol is least likely to burn fully — and anything that doesn't burn can slip past the rings and into the engine oil. Right up to the moment somebody drives it home, a diesel Dacia Duster parked in the car park outside The Horseshoe Inn carrying a tank of petrol in it is a straightforward job. Nothing worsens while it stands, so park the vehicle there overnight and phone us first thing.
Pull in somewhere sensible, turn off then call us. Happy on the way out to Pinkie Playing Fields, flat on the way back? Then look at that tank. Petrol thins diesel; runnier fuel leaks past the tightly fitted components that build injection pressure; and the further the diesel BMW 1 Series went, the less of that pressure it held.
Petrol in a diesel does its damage as a share, which is the reason our technicians ask at all: the same few litres sitting in a nearly empty tank make a far stronger mixture than they would in a full one. And petrol is rated on how well it resists igniting under pressure — the opposite of what a diesel needs — so a stronger mixture knocks more, smokes more, goes flatter. None of which means you need an answer ready. Nearly no one knows how full that tank was in a vehicle picked up two days ago, and we work that out there. Do call the hire or company firm first, though: some contracts want them to approve the work, and that's far quicker settled before than after. Then call us about the Peugeot 208 close to St Peter's Episcopal Church.
At the forecourt: clearing petrol from a diesel
Much of the job begins at the pump, which means a big portion of it gets finished at one. Our technicians work on garage forecourts all the time, with the station's agreement, and so if you are still at Tesco that is generally where the drain gets done.
A forecourt is the only spot this gets caught before your motor has fired. The few seconds between seeing your receipt and reaching for your key decide how much needs flushing. Anywhere other than the forecourt — a car park, a drive, a lay-by — the car was switched on and driven to get there, so fuel was drawn from the tank, through the filter and into the high-pressure pump. That means the lines and the filter need cleaning as well as that tank. It is not a disaster, and our technicians can still sort it out where the car is.
Roll the car out of the way if the staff offer, and they normally will. The next motorist gets past the pump, and that is worth doing. Cranking the car to roll four vehicle lengths isn't.
Lewisvale and the places beside it
Being a residential suburb, Lewisvale gets a regular visit, and the places nearby go with it on that same trip: Pinkie and Musselburgh, Goose Green and Inveresk, Levenhall.
We do come. The names above are just the nearest neighbours, and a page exists for most places around East Lothian, so an absence from the list isn't an absence from the coverage. Guessing is the thing to resist, particularly on a boundary or anywhere the satnav fails. Ring us to check.
The map marks the ground this page includes. We work roadside, at forecourts, on driveways and at car parks across all of it, and your car doesn't need to come to us.
Lewisvale: broken down where you stopped
A chance to pull in anywhere sensible doesn't fall to everybody. If you worked it out after setting off and landed by the verge beside Park Grove Terrace, or in a lay-by somewhere with the hazards on, that is a common call for us rather than an odd one.
Fine where you are? Remain with it. Not safe? Climb out and clear of it. Never start it up to reach a nicer spot. It will go — a diesel on petrol usually obliges — and each mile of obliging drags the mix deeper into the fuel system. However difficult the place, it is no bother for us to come to it, and that is much better for the car than driving on.
A couple of miles on petrol in a diesel: what now?
Here is where your M8 counts, under 15 miles from Lewisvale. A misfuelled diesel will frequently get you onto it and some distance along before anything seems wrong, and the symptoms when they arrive are typically a drop in power, an uneven idle and some smoke instead of a clean stop.
Don't restart it to move it. Come off at the next sensible exit then turn off. It affects what our technicians bring, and so mention it when you phone: on a longer drive — anything near the under 10 miles to the nearest city — take it the contamination has been through your filter, the pump and the fuel injectors.
A bit about Lewisvale
Lewisvale is a coastal suburban area in East Lothian, situated near the city of Edinburgh and close to the communities of Pinkie, Musselburgh, and Goose Green. Lewisvale lies at a low elevation of around 9 metres, reflecting its position near the sea. Lewisvale has a relatively small population of approximately 5886 residents, who predominantly live in flats.
What comes next when our technicians arrive with you around Lewisvale
- Our technicians check what went in, how much, and if the motor has run. The replies alter the work, which is why we ask before pricing.
- Away goes the polluted mixture.
- Our technicians flush your fuel lines and clear the fuel filter, and so what is left in the fuel system isn't what started the trouble.
- Our technicians put new diesel in and prime your system.
- When it is fired up, our engineers check it runs correctly on clean diesel.
That has the car ready to set off. Permanent damage is very rare when it has been noticed early, and as all of this is done where the car is, it never has to go to a workshop.
Lewisvale AdBlue removal is a different problem
If what was put in was AdBlue instead of petrol, the first step is unchanged — never crank it — yet the issue isn't. The protection a fuel system relies on is taken away by petrol, which dilutes the diesel. Urea in water, AdBlue, and in a diesel tank that causes corrosion and deposits.
Frequently the more significant of the two, AdBlue — and the detail sits on its own Lewisvale page. Both are ours to deal with.
Lewisvale costs for a petrol-in-diesel drain
One number would not be fair here, since this is not one job. These are the things that change it:
- Started? Driven? Either answer counts more than anything else on this list.
- The tank's capacity, set against how much of the wrong fuel went into it.
- The type of liquid in the tank, unleaded or AdBlue.
- Access: the vehicle's position, and if working on it there's safe for our van.
Tell us what the car is, how much got in, and whether the engine has run. A clear answer comes back, not a range. If it is not urgent — your car is at home and going nowhere — works too.
Petrol in diesel: frequent questions around Lewisvale
At a petrol station in Lewisvale, can you do a fuel drain there?
A fair portion of this work takes place there, so yes. Often, provided the site consents: Shell, plus every other forecourt nearby. Say on the phone where exactly you have stopped. Whether our technicians can work in that place is something our engineers answer there and then.
How much petrol is too much for a diesel?
Whether your engine has run counts far more, though the proportion counts too, rather than the litres. Five litres into a nearly dry tank isn't five into a full one, no. But both land on the same question in the end: has that blend been drawn right through, or has it not?
I drove the vehicle after putting petrol in my diesel. What next?
Somewhere safe, then stop, then switch off and keep it off. Not restarting it is the single most useful thing available to you now. Driving does shift the issue out of that tank then into the pump and injectors, yes, and it remains recoverable much more often than motorists fear.
Is a fuel drain going to void my warranty?
No. Carried out properly, clearing and purging is no alteration at all, and the warranty from your manufacturer is untouched by it. Running a diesel on petrol is the thing likelier to cause an argument with one, which is another reason to leave the vehicle switched off.
Two-stroke oil in your tank, and then home?
No. Two-stroke oil is an old workaround for a distinct fault and it doesn't restore what petrol has thinned. Your tank still has petrol in it afterwards, and the pump still has to live with it.
Do I need a main dealer for petrol in a diesel?
Not at all. Our engineers drain and flush the car wherever it is, so there is no need to take it to a dealership.
Waiting next to it?
Keep the engine switched off.
Already driven it? Then stop somewhere safe, switch off, and let it remain that way. Cold and parked, a motor is in the best place available — and motorists fear this a lot more than the recovery rate warrants.
Draining misfilled cars, Lewisvale and the rest of East Lothian, wherever they are. Kerbside. Forecourt. Home.