Put Petrol in a Diesel Car in Thurmaston?
If you have not fired up the engine yet, do not. A fuel drain and nothing else is nearly always what a motor requires while the fuel is still sitting in your tank and the engine has not yet turned over, which is why it's the next few minutes that matter, not how much was put in. Petrol in Diesel goes to your car wherever it has ended up in Thurmaston or the rest of Leicestershire, on the forecourt, at the roadside or on a private drive, and drains and cleans it there. Call us before anything else begins, and you'll see what happens after that.
Petrol in a diesel: what to try next
- Do not crank it. Fired up regardless? Then don't trust it. Diesel in a petrol car usually will not run, and so the person stops and the harm ends with them. Petrol in a diesel? It starts. It idles. It pulls away fine, for a couple of miles. People get that muddled. It is not okay — the fuel system is grinding every mile you cover.
- Leave the car's ignition be too. Diesel does two jobs: it burns, and before it ignites it protects that injection pump and those injectors. Petrol manages the first but not the second. Flicking the car's ignition on is usually all it takes to prime that system, which carries that petrol out of your tank and into exactly those components.
- Never tip diesel on top to dilute it. A diesel fuel system does not tolerate petrol by percentage in the way that guidance suggests, and topping up removes nothing — it simply leaves you a bigger tank of the same mix. The type makes no difference either: super unleaded is just petrol.
- A motor that has not moved is the easiest one to handle, and so stay where you are if you safely can. Pulled up on the verge on Forest Avenue? Hazards on, then leave the vehicle there. An awkward location works for us better than a started engine.
- Before you phone, work out your whereabouts. Anything nearest to you with a name on it, plus a postcode starting LE4 8 — that's what decides whether the van arrives or circles.
- Dial 0333 366 0103. Say what got in, approximately how much, and also whether the car has started. These three facts determine your whole call-out.
Quarter past eight, a rushed fill on the trip in, and you realise close to eleven — by that point the diesel Volkswagen Golf has been sitting outside Syston for three hours. Call us then keep it exactly where it sits. The journey in is the part that is key here, because diesel does two tasks on its way through the engine: it ignites, and before it burns it protects the high-pressure fuel pump and the injectors. Petrol manages the first and not the second. So those couple of miles were driven with your pump labouring on a fuel that had given up much of the protection it is designed around — which is why the question our engineers ask is how far you went, not how long the motor has been stood.
A diesel pump meters fuel to demand, and a rushed morning dash asks for plenty — so three miles in your Audi A4 seems like nothing and is not. Twenty to nine by Church Hill Infant School, already late, the receipt in your hand showing unleaded: hazards on, motor off, call us.
None of that is your engine failing. That is the bit worth hearing, and it is why the usual Thurmaston Doorstep Green call ends better than it sounds: a diesel Peugeot 3008 drives out there without complaint, comes back with the power gone, your idle rough and maybe a little smoke, and the cause is the fuel no longer behaving like diesel. Diesel has to be viscous enough to seal the tightly fitted components it runs through; petrol dilutes it; and a diesel injection system is hydraulic as much as chemical, needing the fuel to hold pressure instead of only to burn. So pressure that should build then stay built leaks past tolerances, delivery arrives weaker and later and less even than built, and all of that stops once your fuel is put right.
Clattering, a lumpy idle, white smoke, a throttle gone dead. That's a misfilled diesel Ford Kuga telling you what is wrong. Turn off where you have stopped, near Elizabeth Park Sports Centre or anywhere else, and don't restart it to find a better location.
A person certain will tell you to drain the car then put fresh diesel in. Half right, that. Try it on a diesel Volvo XC60 by Thurmaston Cemetery Chapel and the motor will start — which is exactly why it sounds like sense. Here's the catch: there is petrol left in the fuel filter and the feed lines, and the first thing the engine does is pull it back through the pump a second time. Draining a tank achieves nothing about fuel that already left that tank. Ring us. The circuit gets rinsed, the filter comes off where there is one worth removing, and that's what separates a repaired motor from one that only starts.
Clearing petrol from your diesel at a forecourt
Pumps are where this work mostly kicks off, and where a big part of it closes. If you are still on the forecourt at Asda, that is usually where this drain happens — our technicians work on garage forecourts routinely, with the station's consent.
Before your motor has started — a forecourt is the only place it is caught. The few seconds between checking the receipt and going for the key decide how much requires cleaning. Everywhere other than the forecourt — a car park, a drive, a lay-by — the vehicle was fired up and moved to get there, so fuel was pulled from your tank, through the filter then into the high-pressure pump. That means your lines and your filter need rinsing as well as the tank. It is not a disaster, and we can still put it right where the vehicle is.
Out from the pump, the next driver can get past — so yes, let the attendants help you roll it. Well worth doing. Moving it four lengths doesn't justify cranking the engine.
Will our engineers reach your end of Thurmaston?
Birstall, Wanlip, Rushey Mead, Barkby Thorpe, Barkby — all of those on our journeys that take us over to Thurmaston as well, a village.
Not on the list? That tells you nothing. The names above are only the nearest few, and most places in Leicestershire have a page of their own somewhere on the site. Close to a border, or somewhere the satnav can't find? Contact us to enquire instead of guessing.
The map shows the patch the page includes. Kerbside, forecourt, private drive, car park: every bit of that is ground we cover, and none of that asks your car to move to us.
Thurmaston: broken down where you pulled up
Not everyone has a sensible place to stop. A normal call for us and not a rare one: worked out after setting off, ended up by the verge beside Mill Lane or in a lay-by with the hazard lights going.
Stay by the car when it's sensible to sit inside, and out of the vehicle when it's not. Never fire it up to reach a better location. It will go — a diesel on petrol normally obliges — and each mile of obliging pulls the blend deeper into the fuel system. Pressing on does the car far more harm than our van coming out to an awkward location, and that's no problem for us.
So you've driven it? Petrol in a diesel after a few miles
Your M1 is the road which matters now, and it runs under 10 miles from Thurmaston. A misfuelled diesel will usually take you onto it and some way along before anything seems wrong, while the signs when they arrive are normally a loss of power, a lumpy idle and some smoke rather than a clean stop.
Take the first junction that is safe, pull up there, and don't start the vehicle to reposition. It affects what our technicians bring, so tell us when you call: on a longer drive — anything near the under 5 miles to the closest city — take it the petrol has been through your filter, your pump and the injectors.
A bit about Thurmaston
Thurmaston is a village in Leicestershire, situated on the outskirts of Leicester, near the lakes and waterways of the River Soar. Thurmaston has a mix of housing types, but semi-detached homes are predominant, and the village is close to nearby places like Birstall and Wanlip. Thurmaston sits at a relatively low elevation of 54 metres, and its proximity to Leicester makes it a commuter-friendly location. Thurmaston is also within easy reach of major cities, being around 90 miles from London.
What our engineers do when our engineers get to you in Thurmaston
- Our technicians find out what got in, how much, and whether the engine has run. The answers change the work, which is why we ask before giving a price.
- Our technicians clear the tank of all the contaminated mixture.
- Fuel lines are rinsed through and the filter cleared, leaving nothing in the system that created any of this.
- Fresh diesel goes in, and then the fuel system gets primed.
- Your engine is started and checked to make sure it runs correctly on clean diesel.
From that point, you're ready to pull away. We do all of it wherever the vehicle has ended up, which means it never needs to be taken to a workshop, and if it has been noticed soon, it's very uncommon for there to be long-term damage.
A distinct job: AdBlue in a diesel tank around Thurmaston
Never fire it up: that first rule stands whether what went in was AdBlue or petrol. What changes is the problem itself. The lubrication a fuel system relies on gets stripped away by petrol, which thins the diesel. Rust and residue are what a diesel tank ends up with instead, because AdBlue is urea dissolved in water.
Both are ours. There is a separate Thurmaston page for AdBlue removal, with the details on it — including the reasons it usually turns out to be the worse of the two.
How much is a petrol-in-diesel fuel drain in Thurmaston?
What shifts the price is set out below, because the job isn't one job and our technicians can't truthfully put a single figure on this page.
- Started? Driven? Either answer counts more than anything else on this list.
- Wrong fuel in, against what that tank takes — that ratio.
- The kind of liquid in the tank, unleaded or AdBlue.
- Where is it? And can our van get to it and work there safely?
The car, the quantity, whether it has run — give us those and the answer comes back firm rather than as a range. For the vehicle at home that's going nowhere and isn't pressing, is fine too.
Petrol in diesel: frequent questions in Thurmaston
At a petrol station in Thurmaston, can you do a fuel drain there?
Yes — forecourts are where a large share of this takes place. Tell us which one you are at when you phone and we will tell you whether our engineers can work there. With the site's agreement we visit Costco and the other forecourts locally routinely.
Is there a sensible quantity of petrol in a diesel?
Whether your engine has run counts far more, though the ratio matters too, rather than the litres. Five litres into a nearly dry tank is not five into a full one, no. But both land on the same question in the end: has that mix been drawn right through, or has it not?
I drove the car after putting petrol in my diesel. Now what?
Turn off somewhere safe, then keep it that way after you stop. Not restarting it is the single most valuable thing available to you now. Driving does move the trouble out of that tank and into the pump and injectors, yes, and it stays salvageable much more often than drivers fear.
My warranty — does a fuel drain void it?
It's not a modification, and so a drain then flush carried out correctly does not void a manufacturer's warranty. Running a diesel on petrol is the thing likelier to cause a dispute with one, which is another good reason to leave the car switched off.
Adding two-stroke oil, then driving home
What petrol has thinned isn't restored by two-stroke oil, which is an old remedy for a different problem. So no. Later? Still petrol in the tank, and a pump that has to live with the stuff.
Do I need a main dealer for petrol in a diesel?
There's no need to take it to a franchised dealer, as our engineers drain and clean the vehicle wherever it is.
You, and your vehicle, still together?
Turned off is how it remains.
Turn it off somewhere sensible and leave it off, if you have already driven it. Cold and still, a motor is in the best place available — and people fear this far more than the recovery rate warrants.
At the kerbside, on the forecourt or at home — call-out fuel draining in Thurmaston and across Leicestershire.