Put Petrol in a Diesel Smart Forfour?
We'd ask you to keep your motor off when you have put petrol in a diesel Smart Forfour and not run it yet, and that counts for moving it off the forecourt too. With your engine left off, the petrol stays put inside your tank, and in the majority of cases a drain is all the Forfour needs.
We go to wrongly fuelled vehicles rather than the other way round, so with Petrol in Diesel your Smart Forfour stays on the forecourt or wherever it ended up. We will go through it with you on the phone, so call us before attempting anything yourself.
Your first steps after petrol in a diesel Forfour
- Do not start your motor, even though a diesel Forfour will usually run with petrol inside the tank. It can feel normal for a while, and that is how drivers commonly drive away without noticing anything is wrong.
- Switching your ignition on is enough, on plenty of diesels, to set the fuel pump priming and pull fuel from the tank towards your injectors, so leave that off as well.
- Don't fill the rest of your tank with diesel to weaken it. The Forfour takes up to 47 litres, and filling it up only leaves more tainted fuel to drain. Super unleaded is petrol here too.
- When your vehicle is in the way of a pump, put it in neutral and push the car out of the way. Forecourt staff are generally glad to lend a hand.
- Once you ring 0333 366 0103, we need to know which Forfour you drive, where it is, how much petrol you think was put in and whether your motor has been started. The precise variant is useful as well when it is on the badging, for example the Smart Forfour cdi.
Running on wrong fuel in your Smart Forfour
While it stays inside your tank, wrong fuel in your Smart Forfour doesn't affect the motor. That only starts once it is drawn out, which is what happens when the engine is started. Your high-pressure pump and your injectors on a diesel motor are lubricated by the fuel passing through them. Petrol thins your diesel and takes that protection away, which is why it's driving for any distance on the mix that can do harm.
Where you have already driven the Forfour, stop somewhere safe then turn off. We empty the tank, then clean the lines and filter through till no contaminated fuel is left, so it can still be put right. As long as it is cleaned out properly after being caught early, it very seldom leaves permanent damage.
Smart Forfour fuel tank capacity
If you fuelled up while your tank was nearly empty, the same few litres make up more of the fuel in it, and the risk depends on that proportion, which means the size of your tank counts.
The tank holds 47 litres on each diesel Smart Forfour we have data for, so that calculation is the same whatever variant you have.
Which diesel variant of the Forfour is yours?
More often than not the variant is badged on the boot lid, and it is useful for us to know when you phone.
On a diesel Forfour you can find CDI on the badging.
If there is AdBlue in a diesel Smart Forfour
Some diesel cars hold a blend of water and urea, known as AdBlue, in a tank of its own with a dedicated filler, and use it to treat their exhaust. Pouring AdBlue in the wrong filler gives you AdBlue in a diesel Smart Forfour, so do not touch your key, not even to move it.
AdBlue settles to the bottom of your tank, where the pump pulls its fuel from, because it won't blend with diesel. Being mostly water, it can't burn and leaves the fuel pump without protection, and the diesel in a tank of up to 47 litres doesn't weaken it as it would petrol.
However modest the amount, some of it gets drawn into the line. Deposits of urea form in the fuel filter, your injectors and the remainder of the fuel system once the water evaporates, and they attack the metal they sit against.
On many motors the AdBlue filler sits alongside your diesel filler under the same flap, and where the Forfour has one, it may well be there as well. The nozzle for AdBlue is far narrower than the diesel one, and the cap is normally blue.
The fuel drain on your Smart Forfour, step by step
Every fuel drain on your Smart Forfour is done at your car, so it never needs to be taken to a garage. We start by finding out what went in and whether your motor has run, then drain your tank, which on the Forfour holds up to 47 litres. Then we clean your fuel pipes and the filter and refill with clean diesel, and your system is primed before we fire it up.
Fresh diesel is what the Forfour runs on by the time we have finished, and you can drive it away.
How we handle AdBlue removal from a diesel Smart Forfour
AdBlue removal from a diesel Smart Forfour takes the same stages as a petrol drain. Because AdBlue does not blend in but gathers at the bottom of the tank, running the Forfour on it may form crystals in the lines. Those get cleared through as well, and the filter is swapped if it needs it.
On this page, AdBlue removal means getting AdBlue back out of a diesel tank it was put into through the incorrect filler. Switching off or removing the AdBlue system on a car isn't what it means.
What sets the cost of a fuel drain on the Smart Forfour
The work differs from one job to the next, so we do not publish a fixed quote. The biggest factors that affect it are these:
- starting or driving the Forfour, which makes more difference than anything else
- a tank's size next to the volume that went in
- whether it was petrol or AdBlue
- where the Forfour has stopped, and whether we can bring our van to it safely
We can let you know what this work will probably need once you ring and give us those details.
Your queries on petrol in a diesel Smart Forfour
What's the fuel tank capacity of the Smart Forfour?
All the variants we have figures for hold 47 litres.
Can I fill up with diesel if I only put a little petrol in my Forfour?
Filling up just cuts the share of petrol. None of that is taken out, so it's all still there when you drive off, which is why we wouldn't advise it. A fuel drain takes all of it out, and with a modest quantity that's normally all your Forfour requires.
Is a trip to the Smart dealer necessary for my Forfour?
No, we travel to it. Your Forfour is drained and cleaned where it has stopped, by an independent firm with no link to Smart or any dealer.
Will my policy pay for wrong fuel in my Smart Forfour?
Misfuelling cover comes with some policies and not others, so look at yours. We will come out to drain it for you whether it does or not.
The diesel went into the AdBlue filler on my Forfour. What now?
In this case, too, the right thing is to leave the ignition alone. The AdBlue system will need emptying, and if the car is driven that way, it will most likely give an alert and go into limp mode. Which tank the diesel went into is worth telling us when you phone.
I drove my Forfour before I noticed. What should I do?
Till we reach you, your engine should stay off, so pull over where it's safe and switch it off. Wherever you have stopped, the system is drained and cleaned on the spot, and caught soon like this, it very seldom leaves permanent harm.