How Worried Should You Be? Petrol in a Diesel Car in Westdene
Unstarted? Then less worried than you probably are. Everyone in Westdene begins with "have I ruined it?", and the honest answer is usually no: petrol left inside your tank of a diesel stays harmless till priming, cranking or driving draws it into the system. To keep the car that way, phone Petrol in Diesel and leave your motor switched off. The remainder of this page covers what petrol really does to a diesel, how to tell how far it has got, and how to make sure it doesn't happen to you again.
What petrol in a diesel does to the engine
Diesel does two jobs on its way through a motor. It ignites, and before it burns it protects. The high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors are designed to very fine gaps, and your diesel passing through them is what stops those surfaces from wearing down against one another.
Petrol does the first task poorly and the second not at all. A pump working on a petrol mixture is wearing itself out, since petrol is thinner than diesel and strips out the protection your fuel system relies on. Petrol is also made to resist igniting under compression — the reverse of what a diesel wants from its fuel — and that is where the clattering comes.
Combined, those leave the shape of the issue plain. The damage is done by movement, not by contact. All a tank with petrol in it amounts to is a fuel problem. Whatever a worn pump sheds travels on, borne by your fuel, into the injectors further along, which is why a pump that has been working on that petrol is where a mechanical fault starts.
Westdene, petrol in a diesel: four situations, from mild to serious
Fuelled but never started — the best it gets. Only your tank has petrol in it, so the job is clearing that tank and cleaning the system where the car stands. This scenario can only really take place on a forecourt: anywhere else, the car got there by being driven.
A brief spell of running, or merely the ignition on. Petrol has left that tank and reached your filter and the fuel lines, since your system has been bled. Drain, flush, see to the filter: still usually simple.
Some miles driven, and the pump has spent every one of them working on weakened fuel. Mileage is only half of that; how hard it was driven matters equally. Either way the work runs to that tank, your lines, your filter and clean fuel through the whole system. The school run to Westdene Primary School is one matter. Getting as far as Brighton and Hove, under 3 miles away, makes a very different task — as does any miles on the M23, under 25 miles from Westdene, with the motor labouring hard the whole time.
Driven till it complained. Rattling, a lumpy idle, smoke, a throttle that has gone soft. The fuel is not behaving like diesel any more, and your engine is saying so. Pull up wherever you are — the verge on Valley Drive, a lay-by, a side street — then leave the vehicle where it is. What comes first is still the drain and flush-through, and that takes care of it, with permanent damage very rare when a vehicle is stopped early.
Petrol in a diesel myths Westdene drivers hear
False: topping up to full with diesel makes it fine. It does not. Topping up removes nothing; it gives you a fuller tank of the same mix. That advice supposes a diesel fuel system tolerates petrol by percentage. It does not.
Not so: a modern diesel copes with a bit of petrol. Rather, the opposite. A newer diesel sends its fuel through smaller parts at higher pressure, which makes the protection matter more, not less.
One myth that catches motorists off guard: if it starts and drives, it must be unharmed. Any petrol motor fed diesel normally will not run, and so the driver stops and the damage stops with them. While the pump wears, a diesel fed petrol usually starts, idles and drives away as if nothing has happened. A running engine does not mean fine.
Myth: "Add some two-stroke oil and drive the vehicle home." It is an outdated fix for a different issue. What petrol has weakened remains diluted, and the petrol remains in your tank anyway.
Once your engine has been run, part of the petrol sits in the filter and the fuel lines, not the tank — and the next start pulls it straight back through your pump. So the myth "drain the tank yourself and you are sorted" does not stand up. Emptying petrol into a can by the kerbside is also truly dangerous.
How petrol ends up: petrol in a diesel
No one does it on purpose, and it's rarely carelessness. One way only, because of the nozzles: the narrower petrol one slips inside a diesel filler with almost no resistance, whereas the diesel one generally will not fit a petrol car. That's how the forecourt makes it simple.
The moment routine stops matching the car is the moment it takes place. Hire cars, courtesy cars, and motors that are new to you. Two motors on one drive, one petrol, one diesel. A forecourt you know, only with its pumps laid out differently. Fuelling up in a hurry en route to Preston Park, with a train to catch. A new-to-you diesel Renault Megane, its first fuelling, and a driver accustomed to petrol: exactly when it occurs. Add a back seat full of children, a phone call or rain, and the hand takes over.
Avoiding petrol in a diesel next time you fill up in Westdene
- The label is what matters, so read the petrol pump instead of the colour: in the UK unleaded handles are normally green and diesel black, but not on each forecourt.
- Plenty of motors state the fuel inside the filler flap or on the cap, so check it on your first fill in any motor you don't know.
- Mark the key. In a household with one of each, a coloured fob or a sticker on the diesel's key does more than any amount of intending to remember.
- "Diesel", out loud, before you lift the nozzle — each time a new or hired car needs its first tank. It seems daft. It works.
- Thinking about something else is when this becomes an easy mistake to make, and so put your phone away and keep your mind on the pump.
- Add-on devices are available for vehicles without one, and some diesels come with a filler that won't take a petrol nozzle. Helpful — but a backstop at best, never a reason to stop checking the label.
- Stop the moment you realise. Less petrol inside your tank makes a thinner mix. It does not change what to do next, which is still not to crank it.
Put petrol in a diesel in Westdene already?
Short and simple, then, is the order of things. Do not turn the ignition on, and don't start it. If you are still at the forecourt — Esso or anywhere else — ask the attendants to help you roll the car clear of the pump. Next, 0333 366 0103. We'll ask what got in, about how much, and if it has been run.
AdBlue, not petrol? Then say so. Corrosion and deposits, not lost lubrication, make it a separate issue — Westdene has a page just for it.
One petrol in a diesel job around Westdene costs more than another. Why?
There is no honest single quote for this, because the four scenarios above are four different jobs. Mostly, your cost moves with which situation you're in. The proportion matters next, meaning how much of the tank is petrol, and then the position of the vehicle and whether reaching it is safe for our van.
Ahead of any quote, not after, we ask three questions: the fuel that got in, its volume, and whether it's run. That is why. The replies turn a range into a straight figure.
About Westdene
Westdene is a suburban area situated on the outskirts of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, with Westdene being close to the South Downs and approximately 110 metres above sea level. Westdene is characterised by its predominantly detached housing stock and is located near other suburban areas such as Withdean and West Blatchington. Westdene has a population of around 3942 residents and is about 2.5 miles from the city centre of Brighton and Hove. Westdene is also relatively close to London, being around 45.1 miles away.
Fuel drain cover across East Sussex, Westdene included
Our vans answering petrol in diesel calls around Westdene, in the BN postcode area, also work the places near it, Withdean, West Blatchington and Waterhall included. A forecourt, a supermarket car park, a lay-by or your own drive are all spots our technicians work, and the vehicle does not need to move to us.
Westdene: still at the petrol pump?
The best place there is, then — that's where you are. Keep it off. Phone.