The Next Steps, in Order: Petrol in a Diesel Car in Par
Whatever you do, never switch the engine on, even briefly, to move the car. Stop; leave it off. Hasn't been run? Then petrol in a diesel tends to be a simple drain-and-flush job wherever your vehicle has stopped — and nothing settles that as much as the next few minutes do. Wherever you happen to be in Par, this is the order things run from here.
Petrol in a diesel, engine off — the first minute
In this sequence, all before everything else:
- Pull your keys out. Even the ignition by itself can prime your fuel system, drawing petrol out of your tank to exactly the parts it damages, so keep the vehicle off completely.
- A fuller tank of the same mixture is all adding diesel gives you, because it removes nothing. So no extra diesel.
- Visibility comes first near moving traffic: put your hazards on, and only then think about everything else.
- By hand, never under your engine: that is how it comes off the pump. Ask the forecourt staff to help you roll, however short the mileage.
- Keep your receipt: the grade and the rough amount are written on it, and they're what our technicians ask for first.
Still on the move when you realised? Come off the M5 at the next exit if that's where you are, over 50 miles from Par, and stop somewhere safe rather than pressing on to the services. Then begin at stage one.
Has it run yet? The fork in each Par fuel drain
What happens after this rests on one answer, and just one.
Engine never run at all?
- No place but that tank: that is where the petrol yet is.
- Where the car sits is usually 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 your motor has run, even briefly:
- From that tank, past the fuel filter, into your lines: that is how far that petrol has got.
- Run it farther and that petrol reaches the fuel injectors, having gone through the pump first.
- The further it went, the larger this job — the fuel lines, the fuel filter, and now and then more besides.
The reason the line falls there: diesel lubricates your high-pressure pump and the injectors as it flows through them, and petrol doesn't. In your tank, sitting still, petrol harms nothing. Once it is pumped, petrol begins wearing down whatever moves it.
What to have prepared when you call about petrol in a diesel from Par
Get ready a little, and the technician finds you rather than circling.
- Your whereabouts: a postcode starting PL24 2 works best.
- The street or the car park. A road name helps — Polmear Road, or wherever you have pulled up.
- Name a car park by what it serves — the one at Co-op Food, for instance — and it is much easier to find.
- Make and model of the vehicle, and the fact it is a diesel.
- What went in. Petrol, or AdBlue. AdBlue is a different job with its own page for Par, so tell us which.
- How long the nozzle was in, or the litres on your receipt — either tells us how much.
- If it's run, how far and how heavily — and if it has run at all.
- Hire or company car? Some agreements want the owner's go-ahead for the work, and sorting it before our technicians arrive is faster than afterwards.
Call 0333 366 0103 once you have got that ready — or, if the vehicle is at home, going nowhere, use .
Whilst you wait for a fuel drain around Par
During the wait, the harm comes from kindly meant help — so these count.
- Your safety comes before your car. Somewhere exposed? Get clear of the traffic then wait away from it. Fine where it sits? Wait with it.
- Not to roll it a couple of yards, not to check it is all right, not as a passer-by's kindness: no one starts it.
- Something from your boot, oil meant for two-strokes or injector cleaner: no additive removes the petrol.
- A home-made drain misses your fuel already gone beyond the tank, and siphoning petrol by the road is dangerous besides.
- Not for the radio, not for your windows: the ignition stays off.
When our van gets there: the fuel drain, step by step
- First, three questions: which fuel was put in, the amount, and has it run? Those answers decide this job, so the quote follows them.
- Out of the tank comes the polluted blend: that tank is cleared.
- Petrol that has moved beyond your tank travels in your lines if it ran, and the fuel lines are rinsed to shift it.
- Then the filter: swapped where there's a serviceable one, cleared where there is not.
- The fuel system is primed on clean diesel.
- First start on clean diesel. When priming is finished, the motor is fired up and we make sure that it runs smoothly.
Till it runs on new diesel, we stay with it. Lasting damage is very unusual if it has been noticed early, so the car can go right back to normal use.
Back on the road around Par after your fuel drain
- Nothing special is needed after a start with fresh diesel — ordinary driving will do.
- Pull over and ring us back if anything looks wrong early on — a light on your dash, smoke from the exhaust, an idle that runs rough, or a throttle with a dead spot.
- The documents covers the query a rental company, fleet manager or insurer may ask: what work was carried out. Keep it.
- Next time, go by the petrol pump's label rather than the colour of its handle.
About Par itself
Par is a small coastal village in Cornwall, situated near the towns of Tywardreath and Polmear. Par sits at a low elevation of around 6 metres, close to the sea and within commuting distance of Truro. Par has a mix of housing types, but detached homes are particularly common in the area. Par is located near the village of Kilhallon, and is around 214 miles from London.
Fuel drains around Par and the locations nearby
Most of Cornwall has the same teams as Par for petrol in diesel call-outs, Polmear, Tywardreath and Kilhallon among them. Guessing doesn't help near a boundary or somewhere hard to explain; a quick ring and a question will.
Ring, and leave the car off — petrol in a diesel in Cornwall
Keys out, engine off, the till receipt in your pocket: that's step one done. The remainder is for Petrol in Diesel, wherever the vehicle is — forecourt, roadside or drive.