Petrol in a Diesel Car in Phantassie: What Happens Now
Whatever you do, never switch your motor on, even for a moment, to shift the vehicle. Pause; leave it off. The next few minutes decide it far more than anything else: petrol in a diesel still unrun normally comes down to draining and flushing, on the spot. Below is the sequence from here, anywhere in Phantassie you are.
Petrol in a diesel? What to do in minute one
In this sequence, all before everything else:
- The ignition off, keys out. Switched on, your ignition can prime your system — and priming is what draws petrol out of your tank into the components it damages.
- A bigger tank of the same mix is all adding diesel gives you, because it takes out nothing. So no more diesel.
- Near moving traffic? Then the hazards go on before everything else, and so the vehicle is simple to spot.
- The staff will usually help you roll it away from the pump. Ask, then move it by hand — not on the motor, even for a couple of yards.
- The first thing you will be asked is which fuel went in and roughly how much — and the till receipt shows both. Keep it.
Still on the move when you noticed? Come off the M8 at the next junction if that is where you are, under 50 miles from Phantassie, and pull over somewhere safe rather than pressing on to the services. Then begin at step one.
Has it run yet? The fork in every Phantassie fuel drain
Everything after this stage depends on one answer.
Not run, not even briefly:
- That petrol is still in that tank and nowhere else.
- Draining and flushing, on the spot, is normally all of that.
- This is the best place to be in, and the whole reason step one matters.
If the engine has run, even for a moment:
- Petrol has been pulled from that tank, through the filter then into the lines.
- On a bigger run it has reached your high-pressure pump as well as the injectors.
- The job expands with the distance — lines cleaned, filter dealt with, sometimes more.
Petrol does not lubricate. Diesel does, protecting your high-pressure pump and injectors as it passes through, which is why the line sits where it does. A tank of petrol, left still, hurts nothing. Pump that petrol, though, and it grinds down the very parts that move it.
Phantassie, petrol in a diesel: have these prepared before you call
A little preparation is the difference between a van that finds you and a technician that goes round.
- The best place to start is a postcode — one beginning EH40 3 — for where you are.
- Wherever you have parked, the road's name is useful — whether that is Stories Park or somewhere else — and so does the name of a car park.
- Name a car park by what it serves — the one at Tesco, for example — and it's much easier to find.
- Tell us what the vehicle is — make, model — and check it is diesel.
- Petrol or AdBlue? Say which. They are separate jobs, and AdBlue has its own Phantassie page.
- How much. Litres from the receipt, or how long the nozzle was in the filler.
- Has it run? If so, tell us how far it went, and the way it was driven.
- The owner may have to authorise the work under some hire and company agreements — so it's quicker to settle whose vehicle it is before our engineers get there.
Phone 0333 366 0103 then. Writing to is fine as well if it can wait, with your car parked at home, going nowhere.
Phantassie fuel drain on its way? Whilst you wait
Help, however well meant, is the thing that does the harm whilst you wait. So hold to these.
- Stay with the vehicle if it's safe where it is — but if it has stopped somewhere exposed, you come first: away from the traffic, waiting apart from it.
- No one — however kind — starts it, whether to see if it runs or to shift the car a short way.
- Something from your boot, oil made for two-strokes or injector cleaner: no additive lifts that petrol.
- Emptying it yourself is out: 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 your radio or your windows.
Van arrived? The fuel drain, one step at a time
- Fuel, quantity, whether it has run: those answers set the job, and that's why you get a price after them rather than before.
- The tank is cleared. The tainted mixture comes out of your tank.
- The lines are purged. If it ran, that petrol has shifted beyond the tank, and the lines are carrying it.
- Where the vehicle has a workable filter, it is changed; otherwise, cleared.
- Fresh diesel in, and your system primed.
- The start-up. With clean diesel in and the fuel system bled, it is fired up and tested to be sure it runs smoothly.
The vehicle has clean diesel running through it before our engineers leave. Lasting damage is very uncommon if it has been spotted early, so the car can go straight back to normal use.
After the fuel drain: back on the road in Phantassie
- Started on fresh diesel, it asks nothing unusual of you. Just drive normally.
- Pull over and call us back if anything seems wrong early on — a light on the dash, smoke from the exhaust, an idle that is lumpy, or a throttle with a dead spot.
- Your documents covers the question a rental company, fleet manager or insurer may ask: what work was carried out. File it.
- Next time, go by the pump's label instead of the colour of its handle.
About Phantassie, for a moment
Phantassie is a small coastal locality in East Lothian, situated near the towns of East Linton and Preston. Phantassie lies at a low elevation of around 13 metres, close to the sea and within commuting distance of Edinburgh. Phantassie has a population of approximately 531 people, living in predominantly detached housing. Phantassie is part of the wider East Lothian area, with nearby Traprain also being a notable settlement.
Fuel drains across Phantassie and nearby
The same vans that take petrol in diesel jobs in Phantassie cover East Linton, Preston and Traprain, and most of East Lothian beyond them. Guessing does not help close to a boundary or somewhere hard to explain; a quick ring and a question does.
Petrol in a diesel around East Lothian? Leave it off and ring
Petrol in Diesel takes it from there — on your driveway, at the roadside, on the forecourt — once you have done step one: keys out, engine off, receipt in your pocket.