What Happens Now: Petrol in a Diesel Car in Ruxley
Not for a moment, and not to move it: the engine stays off. Pause there. Cleared and purged, right where it is: that's generally all an unrun diesel with petrol in it needs. Whether it remains that simple depends on the minutes to come more than on everything else. Anywhere you happen to be in Ruxley, this is how things go from here.
Minute one: petrol in a diesel, motor off
In this order, all before everything else:
- Priming your fuel system pulls petrol from the tank towards the parts it harms, and turning the ignition on can be all it takes to do that. So your keys get taken out, and your ignition remains off completely.
- A bigger tank of the same mix is all adding diesel leaves you, because it removes nothing. So no extra diesel.
- Near moving traffic? Then the hazards come on before anything else, so the car is simple to spot.
- However short the way, starting it to move it is the mistake. At a forecourt, roll the car away from the pump by hand instead, then ask the attendants to lend a hand.
- The first question we will ask is which fuel went in and about how much — and your receipt shows both. Keep it.
Still on the move when you noticed? Come off the M20 at the next exit if that is where you are, under 3 miles from Ruxley, and stop somewhere safe instead of pressing on to the services. Then begin at step one.
Ruxley fuel drain: has the motor run yet, or not?
From this stage on, everything comes down to a single answer.
Not run, not even briefly:
- Just that tank has petrol in it so far.
- Usually it is drained and cleaned right where your car is.
- This, here, is the best spot to be in, and the whole reason stage one counts.
If the engine has been run, even for a moment:
- Some petrol has left the tank by now, gone through your filter, and got into your lines.
- Run it further and the petrol reaches your injectors, having passed through your pump first.
- Flushing your lines, the filter dealt with, and sometimes more: this job expands as the mileage does.
Why the line falls there: diesel protects the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors as it passes through them, and petrol does not. Nothing is harmed by petrol that's just waiting in a tank. Petrol being pumped is wearing the components that shift it.
Ruxley, petrol in a diesel: have these ready before you call
Whether the van goes round or finds you comes down to a little preparation.
- DA14 5 and the remainder of the postcode makes the best way to start telling us where you are.
- Wherever you have parked, the road's name is useful — whether that is Sandy Lane or somewhere else — and so does the name of a car park.
- What a car park serves is the easiest way to find it, and so mention the landmark — like the one outside Tesco.
- The vehicle. Make, model, and that it is a diesel.
- Petrol or AdBlue? Say which. They are different jobs, and AdBlue has a separate Ruxley page.
- How long the nozzle was in, or the litres from the receipt — whichever gives us how much.
- Has it run? If so, say how far it got, and how it was driven.
- Settle who has the vehicle before our engineers arrive: some hire or company agreements want the owner to approve the work, and doing it faster beforehand.
Call 0333 366 0103 next. Email works as well if it can wait, with your car left at home, going nowhere.
Ruxley fuel drain on its way? Whilst you wait
The wait is where well-meant help does the harm. Hold to these.
- Where your car has stopped decides where you wait. Somewhere exposed: away from it, away from the traffic. Sensible: with it. Either way, safety ahead of your car.
- No one starts it. Not a passer-by being helpful, not to check it is all right, not to roll the car a few yards.
- None of that takes that petrol back out — not two-stroke oil, not injector cleaner, not anything from the boot. So no additives.
- Draining it yourself is not the answer: a can of siphoned petrol on a verge is a danger, and your fuel beyond the tank remains where it is regardless.
- Ignition stays off. Even for your radio or your windows.
The fuel drain, step by step, once our van gets there
- Fuel, quantity, whether it has run: those answers decide the job, and that is why you get a quote after them instead of before.
- Out of the tank comes the contaminated mixture: the tank is emptied.
- The lines are purged. If it ran, that petrol has moved beyond the tank, and the fuel lines are carrying it.
- Cleaned, or changed if the car has a serviceable one: your filter is seen to next.
- Your system is primed with fresh diesel.
- The first start on new diesel. When priming is complete, the motor is started and we check that it runs properly.
The vehicle has new diesel running through it before we leave. It is very uncommon for a vehicle spotted quickly to be left with permanent damage, and normal driving resumes right away.
After your fuel drain: back on the road around Ruxley
- After it has been started on clean fuel, there is nothing unusual to do: drive normally.
- Pull over and ring us back if anything looks wrong early on — a light on the dash, smoke from the exhaust, an idle that runs rough, or a throttle with a dead spot.
- Hold on to your documents. A hire company, a fleet manager or an insurer may ask what was done.
- Read the label on the petrol pump next time, not the colour of its handle.
About Ruxley and where it is
Ruxley is a village in south-east Greater London, situated on the shores of the River Cray and several lakes. Ruxley sits at an elevation of around 40 metres, with its semi-detached housing stock reflecting the area's interwar and post-war development. Ruxley is located near the villages of Foots Cray, Upper Ruxley, and St Pauls Cray, and is around 12 miles from central London.
Fuel drains round Ruxley and beyond
The same teams that answer petrol in diesel calls in Ruxley cover Foots Cray, Upper Ruxley and St Pauls Cray, and most of Greater London beyond them. Somewhere tricky to explain, or close to a boundary? Asking is better than assuming — ring.
Petrol in a diesel anywhere in Greater London? Off, then ring
Keys out, motor off, the receipt in your pocket: that's step one done. The rest is for Petrol in Diesel, wherever the car is — forecourt, kerbside or driveway.