Put Petrol in a Diesel Car in Stoneybank? Don't Start It
With your tank still carrying the fuel and your engine not yet turned over, nearly every job takes only a drain, so leave your engine off. That result is decided in the minutes right after filling up, and not by the amount that was put in. Across Stoneybank and the remainder of East Lothian, Petrol in Diesel drains your car and flushes it where it is, whether at a roadside, on a private drive or at a forecourt. Contact us and then we can tell you what happens from here before you do much else.
Petrol in a diesel: what to do now
- Never fire it up. Turned on all the same? Then do not believe it. Diesel in a petrol car typically won't run, so the motorist stops and the harm stops with them. Petrol in a diesel? It starts. It idles. It moves off happily, for a few miles. Drivers get that confused. It isn't fine — that fuel system is wearing every mile you drive.
- Diesel combusts, and before it ignites it greases — that high-pressure pump, the injectors. Petrol manages only the burning. So leave the ignition be also: flicking it on is usually sufficient to prime your system, and priming carries petrol from that tank into precisely those parts.
- That guidance supposes a diesel fuel system tolerates petrol by percentage. It does not. Add diesel on top and nothing at all is removed; what you have is a bigger tank of the same mix. And no, the grade makes no difference — super unleaded is just petrol.
- Remain where you are if you safely can. A motor that has not shifted is the easiest one to handle, and we'd much rather drive to an awkward location than have it started. If you are stopped on the verge on Monktonhall Terrace, put those hazards on and leave it there.
- Before you phone, get your whereabouts. Anything nearest to you with a name on it, plus a postcode that starts EH21 6 — that's what settles whether our van turns up or circles.
- Three facts settle your whole call-out: the fuel you poured in, the ballpark volume involved, plus if anything has been running since. The line is 0333 366 0103.
Forecourt draining for petrol in a diesel
The work begins at a forecourt, mostly. Frequently the job ends on site as well. The drain normally happens right there. Still on the forecourt at BP? Given the station's agreement, that's a spot our technicians work, and regularly.
At a forecourt, it is caught with your engine never fired, and no place else does that. Everywhere else — a car park, a driveway, a lay-by — the vehicle was switched on and driven to get there, which means fuel was drawn from the tank, through the fuel filter and into your high-pressure pump. That is not a disaster, and we can still sort it out where it stands. It does mean the fuel lines and the fuel filter need flushing as well as your tank, and that's decided by the few seconds between reading the receipt and reaching for your key.
Roll the vehicle out of the way if the attendants offer, and they normally will. The next driver gets past the pump, and that is worth doing. Rolling the car four lengths does not justify starting the motor.
We are in car parks like the one at Tesco Extra a lot, and it is hardly ever your fuel that complicates them. It's that bay. Motors both sides. Trolleys stacked up behind. At times a height bar at the entrance, which settles if a technician gets to you at all. So tell us how penned in you are when you phone, and which way the vehicle is pointing. If there is no clearance to work next to that Renault Clio, our technicians move it without the motor. That's not fussiness over a few seconds: starts prime things, mixture comes out of the tank on to the pump, and a car shifted twice for a roomier bay is silently a harder job than one nobody touched.
Shift it out of the gateway and fix it later — that is what someone will say, and it is wrong. Stopped on the zig-zags by the local primary school, a misfilled diesel BMW 3 Series is an inconvenience and nothing worse. Fired up three more times for good manners, it is no longer a tank fault but a fuel system one, as priming happens with every start and more petrol goes past the filter towards the pump. Let them moan. Give us a call.
Stop somewhere sensible, turn off then ring us. Happy on the way out to Haugh Park, flat on the way back? Then look at the tank. Petrol thins diesel; weaker fuel leaks past the tightly fitted components that build injection pressure; and the further the diesel Audi A3 drove, the less of that pressure it held.
Hire car or company car? Phone them before you phone us — some contracts want the hire firm to approve the work, and sorting that out first is a great deal quicker than sorting it later on. Then phone us about the Citroen C3 near St Michael's Kirk Inveresk, and don't worry that you can't say how full the tank was. Almost nobody can, in a vehicle they picked up two days ago, and our engineers work it out on site. The reason our engineers ask is that petrol in a diesel does its harm as a ratio: the same few litres in an almost empty tank is a far stronger mixture than in a full one. Petrol is rated on how well it withstands igniting under pressure, which is the opposite of what a diesel needs — so the stronger the blend, the more it knocks, smokes and goes flat.
A couple of streets, then it stopped. Throttle soft, idle uneven, and the diesel Ford Fiesta is parked up close to Stoneyfarm Community Centre. The engine is not failing — that softness is fuel that won't build pressure. There is no light on the dash for it, so cars like yours generally get driven again before somebody picks up the phone. Do not. Off, and call us.
Service near Stoneybank
Being a residential suburb, Stoneybank sees a frequent visit, whilst its neighbours round about go along on the same run: Monktonhall and Whitehill, Stoneyhill Steading and Stoneyhill, Inveresk.
Our engineers do come. Those names above are only the immediate neighbours, and a page exists for nearly all places around East Lothian, and so an absence from the list isn't an absence from our coverage. Call us to ask instead of presuming, particularly if you are on the boundary or anywhere the satnav struggles with.
The area the page covers is on this map. All of that is territory our engineers cover: a roadside, a forecourt, a private drive, a car park. You do not move your car anywhere.
Roadside breakdowns across Stoneybank
Not everyone gets a chance to pull in anywhere sensible. If you noticed after setting off and ended up along the verge beside Loretto Court, or at a lay-by somewhere with the hazard lights going, that is a common call for us and not a rare one.
Out of the car while it is not safe to sit there, with it if it is. It will often oblige. A diesel running on petrol limps along quite willingly, and that is the catch: fire it up to reach somewhere handier and that mixture goes further into the system with every mile driven. Driving on causes the vehicle far more harm than a technician driving out to an inconvenient spot, and that is no problem for us.
Some miles on petrol in a diesel: what next?
This is where the M8 comes into it — under 10 miles from Stoneybank. A drop in power, a rough idle, some smoke: those are the symptoms when they come, rather than a neat stop — and a misfuelled diesel will usually take you onto it and some distance along before anything feels wrong at all.
Take the next exit that's safe, stop there, and do not start the vehicle to move it. Long drive? Anything near the under 10 miles to the nearest city and you should presume the lot — filter, pump, injectors, all of that reached by the contamination. Say that on the call, as it changes what goes in our van.
Stoneybank itself
Stoneybank is a coastal suburban area in East Lothian, situated near Edinburgh and characterised by semi-detached housing. Stoneybank sits at a low elevation of around 18 metres, with views out to the Firth of Forth. Stoneybank is part of the wider Edinburgh urban area, with nearby places including Monktonhall and Whitehill. Stoneybank has a population of approximately 4274 residents.
Our job around Stoneybank, step by step
- Our technicians establish what got in, how much, and whether the motor has run. The answers change the work, which is why our technicians ask before pricing.
- The tainted fuel is pulled out of the tank.
- What is remaining in the fuel system should not be what caused the issue, and so your fuel lines get flushed and the filter cleared.
- The fuel system gets primed, on clean diesel.
- When it is started, our engineers confirm it runs smoothly on new diesel.
From that point, you're ready to pull away. We do everything wherever the car has ended up, which means it never has to go to a workshop, and if it has been noticed soon, it is very rare for there to be long-term damage.
AdBlue in a diesel tank around Stoneybank is a different job
The issue is not the same, though the first step is — never start it — if what was put in was AdBlue rather than petrol. Weakened diesel, and no protection left for the fuel system that depends on it. That is petrol. AdBlue? Urea dissolved in water. Put that in with the diesel and you get rust instead, plus build-up.
Both are ours. There's a separate Stoneybank page for AdBlue removal, with the details on it — including the reasons it often turns out to be the worse of the two.
Paying for a petrol-in-diesel drain in Stoneybank
Our technicians cannot put one number on this page honestly, as the job isn't one job. What changes it:
- This is the big one: whether your motor has been run, or driven.
- How much of the wrong fuel went in, weighed against how much your tank takes.
- AdBlue or unleaded, whichever was put in.
- Access: the car's position, and if working on it there is sensible for a technician.
Tell us what the vehicle is, how much went in, and if the motor has run. A firm answer comes back, not a range. For your car at home that's going nowhere and is not pressing, is fine too.
Things our engineers hear about petrol in diesel in Stoneybank
I am on a forecourt in Stoneybank. Can you drain the car here?
Yes, and it's where a fair portion of this work gets done. Routinely, provided the site consents: Tesco, plus every other forecourt nearby. Say on the phone where exactly you have stopped. Whether our technicians can work in that spot is something we answer on the spot.
How much petrol is too much for a diesel?
It hinges on the proportion rather than the litres, and a lot more on whether the engine has run. Five litres into an almost dry tank isn't five into a full one, no. But both land on the same query in the end: has that mixture been pulled right through, or has it not?
I put petrol in my diesel and drove the car. Now what?
Somewhere safe, then stop, then turn off and keep it off. Not restarting it is the single most valuable thing available to you now. Driving does shift the problem out of your tank then into your pump and injectors, yes, and it remains salvageable far more regularly than people assume.
Fuel drains and manufacturer warranties
It isn't a modification, and so a drain and flush carried out correctly doesn't invalidate a manufacturer's warranty. Running a diesel on petrol is the thing more likely to cause a disagreement with one, which is another reason to leave the vehicle switched off.
Two-stroke oil in that tank, and then home?
What petrol has thinned is not restored by two-stroke oil, which is an old workaround for a separate fault. So no. Petrol remains in that tank afterwards, whatever else goes in, and the pump gets no break from it.
A main dealer for petrol in a diesel — necessary?
You don't need one. Your car is drained and cleaned wherever it is, with no need to bring it to a dealership.
You, and your vehicle, still together?
Keep the car shut off.
Turn it off somewhere sensible then leave it off, if you have already driven it. This is recoverable from a lot more frequently than motorists fear, and a stationary, cold motor is the best position to be in.
Clearing misfuelled cars, Stoneybank and the rest of East Lothian, wherever they are. Roadside. Forecourt. Home.