Merriott: Petrol in a Diesel Car? Here Is What Happens
Whatever you do, don't switch your engine on, even for a moment, to move the vehicle. Stop; leave it off. Cleared then rinsed, just where it sits: that's usually all an unrun diesel with petrol in it needs. Whether it stays that straightforward depends on the minutes ahead more than on anything else. Here's the order of things from now, wherever you are around Merriott.
Petrol in a diesel, motor off — the first minute
Do these before anything else, in this order.
- Take the keys out. Even your ignition by itself can prime the system, drawing petrol out of your tank to exactly the components it damages, and so keep it alone wholly.
- Topping up with diesel sounds like it dilutes the problem. It does not: nothing comes out, and that tank simply carries more of the same.
- Visibility comes before the rest near moving traffic: switch the hazard lights on, and only then deal with everything else.
- The attendants will usually help you roll it clear of the petrol pump. Let them, then roll it by hand — not under the engine, even for a few yards.
- Hold on to the till receipt: the fuel and roughly how much are written on it, and they're what our engineers ask about first.
Still on the move when you realised? Come off the M5 at the next junction if that is where you are, under 15 miles from Merriott, and pull over somewhere sensible and not pushing on to the services. Then begin at step one.
The fork in each Merriott fuel drain: has it run yet?
What comes next turns on one answer, and only one.
Motor never run at all?
- Just your tank has petrol in it so far.
- Normally it's drained and cleaned just where the vehicle is.
- This, here, is the best spot to be in, and the reason step one counts.
Run at all, even for a second:
- Some petrol has left that tank by now, gone through your filter, and reached the fuel lines.
- A bigger run takes it all the way to the high-pressure fuel pump and your injectors.
- Distance is what turns it into a bigger job: the lines flushed, a filter seen to, and at times more than that.
Petrol doesn't lubricate. Diesel does, protecting the pump and injectors as it passes through, which is why the line sits where it does. A tank of petrol, left alone, damages nothing. The parts that shift it are wearing the moment petrol is being pumped.
What to have ready when you call about petrol in a diesel from Merriott
A little planning is the difference between a van that finds you and a technician that goes round.
- Where you have stopped. A postcode starting TA16 5 is the best place to start.
- The street or the car park. A road name helps — Hitchen, or wherever you have pulled up.
- Car parks are found more easily by what they serve: tell us the one at Lidl, and it is straightforward.
- Tell us what the vehicle is — make, model — and check it is diesel.
- Which got in counts: AdBlue is a separate job from petrol, and Merriott has a page just for that. So tell us.
- How long the nozzle was in, or the litres on your receipt — whichever tells us how much.
- If it has run, how far and how heavily — as well as if it has run at all.
- Hire or company car? Some agreements want the owner's authorisation for the work, and sorting it before our technicians get there is faster than afterwards.
Ring 0333 366 0103 once you have got that ready — or, if the car is at home, going nowhere, use .
Merriott fuel drain on its way? Whilst you wait
Help, however well meant, is the thing that does the damage whilst you wait. So stick to these.
- Where the vehicle has stopped settles where you wait. Somewhere exposed: away from it, away from the traffic. Safe: with it. Either way, safety before your car.
- Not to roll it a couple of yards, not to check it is all right, not as a passer-by's kindness: nobody starts it.
- None of it takes that petrol back out — not two-stroke oil, not injector cleaner, not something from the boot. So no additives.
- A home-made drain leaves your fuel that has already gone beyond the tank, and siphoning petrol by the road is risky too.
- Not for your radio, not for the windows: your ignition remains off.
When our van gets there: your fuel drain, step by step
- First, three questions: which fuel got in, the amount, and has it run? Those replies decide this job, so the price follows them.
- Your tank is cleared. The polluted mix comes out of the tank.
- Petrol that has moved beyond that tank sits in your lines once it ran, and your lines are purged to shift it.
- Cleaned, or changed if the car has a workable one: the fuel filter is sorted next.
- The fuel system is primed on fresh diesel.
- Starting it. After your system is primed with fresh diesel, we start the car and make sure it runs correctly.
Only when it's running on new diesel do we go. It's very uncommon for a vehicle caught quickly to be left with permanent damage, and normal driving starts again at once.
Merriott, after the fuel drain: back on the road
- Started on clean diesel, it needs nothing special of you. Simply drive normally.
- Give the first miles your attention. Smoke appearing, a warning light coming on, the idle going lumpy or your throttle hesitating: pull over then ring us back.
- Hold on to your 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 Merriott
Merriott is a village in inland Somerset, situated at an elevation of 56 metres, with semi-detached housing being the predominant type of accommodation. Merriott lies approximately 21.6 miles from the city of Wells and 122.6 miles from London, making it a rural community in the South West region. Merriott is surrounded by nearby places such as Merriottsford, Townsend, and Pye Corner, and has a population of around 1743 residents. Merriott remains a quiet village with a strong sense of community.
Merriott and nearby: fuel drains across the area
Most of Somerset has the same vans as Merriott for petrol in diesel jobs, Merriottsford, Townsend and Pye Corner included. Guessing doesn't help close to a boundary or somewhere hard to describe; a quick ring and a query will.
Petrol in a diesel around Somerset? Leave it off then ring
Stage one is the whole of that: engine off, keys out, receipt in your pocket. From there Petrol in Diesel takes over, on the forecourt, by the kerbside or on your drive.