Lizard: Petrol in a Diesel Car? Here Is What Happens
Stop. Motor off. Leave the vehicle that way — no moment on, no shifting it anywhere. Emptied then purged, just where it is: that's usually all an unrun diesel with petrol in it needs. Whether it remains that simple rests on the minutes to come far more than on everything else. Wherever you are around Lizard, this is the order things go from here.
Minute one: petrol in a diesel, motor off
Go through these in sequence, before you do anything else.
- Take your keys out. Even your ignition on its own can prime the fuel system, drawing petrol out of the tank to exactly the components it harms, so keep the car alone completely.
- A bigger tank of the same mixture is all topping up gives you, because it removes nothing. So no more diesel.
- Being seen comes first beside moving traffic: put the hazard lights on, and only then think about anything else.
- By hand, not under the engine: that is how it leaves the petrol pump. Get the forecourt attendants to help you roll, whatever the mileage.
- Keep the till receipt: the grade and roughly how much are written on it, and they are what we ask for first.
On the M5, over 50 miles from Lizard, the next exit is the location to leave it; elsewhere, the first sensible place to stop. Do not press on to the services. Then go back to stage one.
Lizard fuel drain: has the motor run yet, or not?
Everything after this stage rests on one answer.
If the motor hasn't run at all:
- All the petrol sits in that tank, and just there.
- Where the vehicle sits is normally where this work is done: a drain, then a flush.
- Being here is the best case — which is the whole point of step one.
If it's been started, even for a moment:
- From the tank, through the filter, into the fuel lines: that is how far the petrol has travelled.
- Your high-pressure pump as well as your injectors get it on a bigger run.
- Distance is what makes it a larger job: flushed lines, a filter seen to, and at times further work.
Diesel keeps the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors lubricated as it runs through them. Petrol offers them nothing, and that is why the line is drawn there. Nothing is damaged by petrol that is only waiting in a tank. Pump that petrol, though, and it grinds down the very parts doing the moving.
Before you call about petrol in a diesel in Lizard: what our technicians need
Get ready a little, and the technician finds you instead of circling.
- TR12 7 and the rest of the postcode is the ideal way to begin telling us where you are.
- A road name is a help: A3083, say, or whatever street you've stopped in. A car park does the trick too.
- What a car park serves is the quickest way to find it, so mention the landmark — such as the one at Co-op Food.
- Say what your vehicle is — make, model — and check it is diesel.
- Petrol or AdBlue? Tell us which. They are separate jobs, and AdBlue has its own Lizard page.
- The amount: the receipt's litres, or otherwise how long you held the nozzle in.
- The miles it did, and how heavily, if it ran at all.
- Hire or company car? Some contracts need the owner's authorisation for the work, and sorting it before we get there is quicker than afterwards.
Then call 0333 366 0103. If it can wait — your car is at home and going nowhere — works as well.
Lizard fuel drain on its way? Whilst you wait
The wait is where well-meant help does the damage. Stick to these.
- Wait with the car if it is safe where it is — but if it has stopped somewhere unsafe, you come first: away from the traffic, waiting apart from it.
- A kind passer-by doesn't crank it. Nor does anybody checking it still works, or moving it a couple of yards.
- Anything from the boot, oil made for two-strokes or injector cleaner: no additive removes that petrol.
- A home-made drain misses the fuel that has already gone beyond your tank, and siphoning petrol by the road is hazardous too.
- Keep your ignition off — the windows and the radio included.
Van arrived? Your fuel drain, one step at a time
- First, three queries: which fuel went in, the quantity, and has it run? Those answers shape the job, and so the price follows them.
- Then your tank is emptied, and the contaminated fuel comes out.
- Purging the lines comes next, because a car that ran has petrol past the tank, inside your lines themselves.
- The filter is sorted. Cleared, or swapped where the vehicle has a usable one.
- Fresh diesel goes in, then the system is primed.
- Starting up. After the system is primed with fresh diesel, our technicians fire it up and confirm it runs smoothly.
Till it runs on new diesel, our engineers remain with it. It is very unusual for a vehicle caught soon to be left with permanent damage, and normal use resumes right away.
Lizard, after your fuel drain: back on the road
- Drive normally. There is nothing special to do after it's been started on clean fuel.
- Watch the first miles. A warning light, smoke, a lumpy idle or a flat spot under the throttle means pull over and ring us back.
- Hold on to the paperwork. A hire company, a fleet manager or an insurer may ask what was carried out.
- Next time, check the pump. The label, not the colour of the handle.
About Lizard and where it is
Lizard is a small coastal village in Cornwall, situated on the Lizard Peninsula at an elevation of around 75 metres. Lizard sits near several scenic coves, including Housel Bay and Church Cove, and is surrounded by a rugged coastline. Lizard is a popular destination for those seeking a tranquil atmosphere, with many detached homes and a strong sense of community. Lizard is located approximately 21 miles from Truro, the nearest city.
Fuel drains in Lizard and the spots nearby
Housel Bay, Church Cove and Grade are covered by the same vans that take petrol in diesel calls in Lizard — and so is most of Cornwall beyond. Somewhere tricky to explain, or close to a border? Asking beats assuming — ring.
Leave it off and ring: petrol in a diesel around Cornwall
Motor off. Keys out. Receipt in your pocket. That's the whole of stage one, and Petrol in Diesel takes it from there — at the roadside, on the forecourt or on your driveway.