The Next Steps, in Order: Petrol in a Diesel Car in Totnes
Whatever you do, never switch the motor on, even briefly, to move the vehicle. Stop; leave the car off. Cleared then rinsed, just where it is: that's usually all an unrun diesel with petrol in it needs. Whether it remains that simple depends on the minutes to come far more than on everything else. Anywhere you happen to be around Totnes, this is the order things run from now.
Engine off: minute one with petrol in a diesel
Go through these in order, first.
- The keys out of the ignition. Turning your ignition on can be enough to prime your fuel system, while priming pulls petrol out of your tank toward the components it damages. Leave the car off completely.
- Topping up with diesel seems like it dilutes the issue. It doesn't: nothing comes out, and the tank just carries more of the same.
- Visibility comes before the rest near moving traffic: put the hazards on, and only then think about everything else.
- Off the petrol pump by hand. At a forecourt, ask the staff to help you push it away from the petrol pump. Do not fire it up to move it, however short the distance.
- Keep your receipt: the grade and the rough amount are written on it, and they're what our engineers ask for first.
On the M5, under 25 miles from Totnes, the next exit is the location to come off; elsewhere, the first safe spot to stop. Do not push on to the services. Then go back to step one.
Totnes fuel drain: has the motor run yet, or not?
What happens next turns on one answer, and only one.
Engine not run at all?
- Nowhere but the tank: that is where that petrol still is.
- Usually it is emptied and cleaned right where your car is.
- No position is better, and it's why the first stage counts so much.
Run at all, even for a second:
- Petrol has been pulled out of the tank, through the fuel filter and into your lines.
- On a longer run it has reached the high-pressure fuel pump as well as the injectors.
- The further it went, the larger the job — the fuel lines, your filter, and now and then more besides.
Why the line falls there: diesel lubricates the high-pressure pump as well as the fuel injectors as it passes through them, and petrol does not. In that tank, left alone, petrol does no harm. Pump that petrol, though, and it wears the very parts that move it.
Totnes, petrol in a diesel: have these ready before you call
Whether the technician goes round or finds you depends on a little preparation.
- Where you have stopped. A postcode beginning TQ9 5 is the best place to start.
- A road name helps: High Street, say, or whichever street you've stopped in. A car park works too.
- Or the landmark. A car park is quicker to find by what it serves, like the one outside Happy Apple.
- That it's a diesel, along with the make and model of your car.
- Petrol or AdBlue? Say which. They are separate jobs, and AdBlue has its own Totnes page.
- How much. Litres from the receipt, or how long the nozzle was in.
- Whether it has run. Then if it has, how far and how hard.
- Settle who has the vehicle before our engineers get there: some hire or company contracts want the owner to authorise the work, and that is faster beforehand.
Then phone 0333 366 0103. If it can wait — the car is at home with going nowhere — does the trick too.
Totnes fuel drain on its way? While you wait
Stick to these: well-intended help does the damage during the wait.
- Where the car has stopped decides where you wait. Exposed: away from it, away from the traffic. Sensible: with it. Either way, safety ahead of the vehicle.
- Nobody — however helpful — starts it, whether to see if it runs or to move the car a short way.
- Additives stay in your boot. Injector cleaner and two-stroke oil draw none of the petrol out again.
- Emptying it yourself is not the answer: a can of siphoned petrol on a verge is a danger, and your fuel beyond that tank remains where it is all the same.
- Not for the radio, not for the windows: the ignition stays off.
Step by step: the fuel drain when the van gets there
- Fuel, amount, whether it has run: the replies set the job, and that is why you get a price after them instead of before.
- That tank is drained. The tainted mix comes out of your tank.
- The lines are rinsed. If it ran, the petrol has shifted beyond the tank, and the fuel lines are holding it.
- Where the car has a serviceable filter, it's changed; otherwise, cleared.
- Clean diesel goes in, and your system is primed.
- Our engineers start the car only after clean diesel has gone in and primed the fuel system, then confirm that it's running correctly.
Your car has new diesel running through it before our engineers leave. Permanent damage is very rare if it has been spotted quickly, so your car can go straight back to normal driving.
After your fuel drain: back on the road around Totnes
- Drive normally. There's nothing unusual to do after it's been started on clean fuel.
- Pull over and ring us back if anything seems wrong early on — a light on your dash, smoke from your exhaust, an idle that runs rough, or a throttle with a dead spot.
- Hold on to the paperwork. 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 the handle.
About Totnes, for a moment
Totnes is a historic town in Devon, situated on the River Dart and surrounded by rolling hills. Totnes has a long history of settlement and sits at an elevation of 22 metres, with the town centre featuring a mix of old and new buildings, including many terraced houses. Totnes is located near several smaller communities, including Bridgetown and Swallowfields, and is approximately 20 miles from Plymouth. Totnes remains a popular residential location, with a population of around 8223 people.
Fuel drains around Totnes and beyond
Most of Devon gets the same vans as Totnes for petrol in diesel calls, Bridgetown, Swallowfields and Longcause included. Ring and ask rather than assuming if you're somewhere hard to describe or close to a boundary.
Leave it off and ring: petrol in a diesel in Devon
Step one is all of it: engine off, keys out, receipt in your pocket. From there Petrol in Diesel carries on, at the forecourt, by the roadside or on your drive.