The Next Steps, in Order: Petrol in a Diesel Car in Mousehole
Not for a second, and not to move it: your engine stays off. Stop there. Cleared and cleaned, just where it is: that's normally all an unrun diesel with petrol in it takes. Whether it stays that simple depends on the minutes ahead far more than on everything else. What follows is the order from here, wherever around Mousehole you are.
Engine off: minute one with petrol in a diesel
Do the following first, in this order.
- Pull the keys out. Even your ignition by itself can prime the fuel system, pulling petrol out of the tank to precisely the parts it harms, and so leave the vehicle off entirely.
- Topping up with diesel sounds like it thins the problem. It does not: nothing gets out, and your tank simply carries more of the same.
- Visibility comes first beside moving traffic: put your hazards on, and only then think about everything else.
- Off the pump by hand. At a forecourt, ask the staff to help you roll it clear of the petrol pump. Do not start it to move it, however short the distance.
- Keep the receipt. It says which fuel went in and about how much, which is the first thing we'll ask.
Realised on the move? Get off at the next junction if you are on the M5, over 50 miles from Mousehole, and pull over somewhere sensible — not at the services further on. Stage one starts after that.
Has it run yet? The fork in each Mousehole fuel drain
Everything after this stage depends on one answer.
If it has never been started:
- All the petrol remains inside that tank, and just there.
- Where the vehicle stands is usually where this work is done: a drain, then a flush.
- Step one matters for precisely this reason: it's the best place to be in.
If it's been started, even for a moment:
- The lines and the filter already hold petrol pulled from that tank.
- Run it further and that petrol gets to the fuel injectors, having gone through the pump first.
- The farther it went, the bigger this job — the fuel lines, the filter, and now and then more besides.
That line falls there since diesel protects the high-pressure pump and your injectors on its way through them — and petrol doesn't. A tank of petrol, left alone, hurts nothing. The components that move it are grinding the moment petrol is being pumped.
Mousehole, petrol in a diesel: have these ready before you call
Whether the technician circles or finds you comes down to a little preparation.
- Where you have stopped. A postcode starting TR19 6 is the best place to start.
- Give the street — Portland Place or wherever you have pulled up — or the car park.
- Or the landmark. A car park is easier to find by what it serves, such as the one outside The Co-operative Food.
- The make and model of your car, and the fact it is a diesel.
- Say which was put in — petrol or AdBlue — because AdBlue is a separate job, with a page of its own for Mousehole.
- The quantity: the receipt's litres, or otherwise how long you held the nozzle in.
- If it's run, how far and how heavily — as well as whether 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 turn up is quicker than afterwards.
Next, 0333 366 0103. Not pressing, your car parked at home with nowhere to be? Then works too.
The wait for a Mousehole fuel drain, and what to do in it
Help, however well meant, is what does the harm whilst you wait. So stick to these.
- Safety before your car. If it has stopped somewhere exposed, get yourself away from the traffic and wait away from it. If it is safe where it is, stay with it.
- Nobody — however helpful — starts it, whether to see if it runs or to shift your car a short way.
- Anything from the boot, oil meant for two-strokes or injector cleaner: no additive lifts that petrol.
- Emptying it yourself is not the answer: a can of siphoned petrol on a verge is a danger, and your fuel beyond that tank stays where it is anyway.
- The ignition remains off. Even for the radio or your windows.
When the van gets there: the fuel drain, step by step
- Our price comes after three questions, not before them — what went in, how much, and if it has run — because those answers set the job.
- Out of that tank comes the contaminated blend: the tank is cleared.
- Petrol that has moved beyond the tank sits in your lines if it ran, and the fuel lines are purged to shift it.
- Then the filter: swapped where there is a serviceable one, cleared where there's not.
- Clean diesel goes in, then the system is primed.
- The first start on clean diesel. Once bleeding is done, your engine is fired up and our technicians make sure that it runs correctly.
The car has fresh diesel running through it before our technicians go. Permanent damage is very unusual if it has been noticed early, so the car can go right back to normal driving.
Once the fuel drain is done: driving in Mousehole again
- After it has been started on fresh fuel, there is nothing special to do: drive normally.
- Watch the first miles. A warning light, smoke, a lumpy idle or a flat spot under your throttle means pull over and ring us back.
- Keep the documents. A hire company, a fleet manager or an insurer may ask what was carried out.
- Next time, check the petrol pump. The label, not the colour of its handle.
About Mousehole and where it is
Mousehole is a small coastal village in Cornwall, situated on the southern coast of the peninsula, with a population of around 545 people. Mousehole sits at a low elevation of 14 metres, looking out over the sea, and is characterized by its predominantly detached housing stock. Mousehole is located near several other small settlements, including Trevithal, Raginnis, and Paul, and is about 25 miles from the city of Truro. Mousehole remains a quiet and secluded community, despite being within a day's travel of London, 256 miles to the east.
Fuel drains around Mousehole and beyond
Trevithal, Raginnis and Paul are covered by the same vans that answer petrol in diesel calls in Mousehole — and so is most of Cornwall beyond. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're somewhere hard to describe or close to a border.
Petrol in a diesel in Cornwall? Leave it off and ring
Petrol in Diesel carries on from there — on your driveway, by the roadside, at the forecourt — once you've done step one: keys out, motor off, receipt in your pocket.