Petrol in a Diesel Car in St Ruan: What Happens Now
Not for a second, and not to move it: the motor stays off. Stop there. Cleared and flushed, just where it sits: that's usually all an unrun diesel with petrol in it takes. Whether it remains that simple rests on the minutes ahead more than on anything else. Anywhere you are in St Ruan, here is the order things run from here.
Motor off: minute one with petrol in a diesel
In this sequence, and before anything else:
- Pull your keys out. Even the ignition by itself can prime the fuel system, pulling petrol out of the tank to precisely the parts it damages, so keep the car alone entirely.
- A bigger tank of the same mix is all topping up leaves you, because it takes out nothing. So no extra diesel.
- Hazard lights on. If you are anywhere near moving traffic, make the vehicle easy to see before you do anything else.
- Off the pump by hand. On a forecourt, ask the attendants to help you roll the car clear of the pump. Don't crank it to move it, however short the distance.
- The first thing we will ask is which fuel you put in and roughly how much — and your receipt says both. Keep it.
Realised on the move? Get off at the next junction if you're on the M5, over 50 miles from St Ruan, and stop somewhere safe — not at the services farther on. Stage one comes after that.
The fork in each St Ruan fuel drain: has it run yet?
What comes next rests on one answer, and just one.
Not run, not even briefly:
- No place but your tank: that is where that petrol yet is.
- Usually it's emptied and rinsed right where your car is.
- This is the best spot to be in, and the whole reason stage one counts.
Run at all, even for a second:
- The fuel lines and the fuel filter now hold petrol pulled from that tank.
- Run it further and the petrol reaches the injectors, having passed through the fuel pump first.
- Miles is what makes it a bigger job: flushed lines, a filter seen to, and at times further work.
That line falls there because diesel protects your high-pressure pump and the injectors on its way through them — and petrol doesn't. In your tank, sitting still, petrol harms nothing. Once it is pumped, petrol starts grinding whatever moves it.
St Ruan, petrol in a diesel: have these ready before you call
Whether the van goes round or finds you comes down to a little preparation.
- TR12 7 plus the remainder of the postcode makes the best way to begin telling us where you are.
- The street or the car park. A road name is a help — New Road, or wherever you have pulled up.
- Describe a car park by what it serves — the one at Co-op Food, for example — and it is much quicker to find.
- The make and model of your vehicle, and the fact it is a diesel.
- Which got in counts: AdBlue is a separate job from petrol, and St Ruan has a page just for that. So tell us.
- How long the nozzle was in, or the litres from your receipt — whichever gives us how much.
- Has it run? If so, say how far it went, and how it was driven.
- Sort who owns the vehicle before we arrive: some hire or company contracts want the owner to approve the work, and doing it quicker beforehand.
Phone 0333 366 0103 then. Email works as well if it can wait, with the car left at home, going nowhere.
While you wait for a fuel drain in St Ruan
In the wait, the damage comes from well-intended help — which is why these count.
- Safety before the car. If it has stopped somewhere unsafe, get yourself away from the traffic then wait away from it. If it's safe where it is, 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: nobody starts it.
- Something from the boot, oil made for two-strokes or injector cleaner: no additive lifts the petrol.
- A DIY drain misses the fuel already gone beyond that tank, and siphoning petrol by the road is dangerous besides.
- Not for your radio, not for your windows: the ignition stays off.
Van arrived? The fuel drain, one step at a time
- Three questions. What went in, how much, and whether it's run. Those answers decide the job, which is why the price comes after them but not before.
- Your tank is cleared. The tainted blend comes from that tank.
- Petrol that has shifted beyond that tank travels in your lines if it ran, and your lines are rinsed to shift it.
- Then your filter: replaced where there's a serviceable one, cleared where there's not.
- The system is primed with fresh diesel.
- The start-up. With new diesel in and the fuel system primed, it's started and checked to make sure it runs smoothly.
Till it runs on clean diesel, our engineers stay with it. Lasting damage is very uncommon when it has been caught quickly, so your car can go right back to normal use.
Once your fuel drain is done: driving around St Ruan again
- 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 the dash, smoke from your 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. File it.
- Read the label on the pump next time, not the colour of the handle.
About St Ruan and where it is
St Ruan is a small coastal hamlet in Cornwall, situated near the Lizard Peninsula and close to the villages of Ruan Minor and Grade. St Ruan sits at an elevation of 43 metres, overlooking the surrounding coastline and within a short distance of the nearby fishing village of Cadgwith. St Ruan has a population of around 546 people, predominantly living in detached houses.
Fuel drains about St Ruan and beyond
Most of Cornwall gets the same teams as St Ruan for petrol in diesel call-outs, Ruan Minor, Grade and Cadgwith included. Assuming 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 across Cornwall
Petrol in Diesel carries on from there — on your drive, at the roadside, on the forecourt — once you have done step one: keys out, engine off, receipt in your pocket.