ARE you one of the motorists who has put the wrong type of fuel in their car?
Years ago I did it! By accident, and because I had something pressing on my mind, I put diesel in my petrol engined car.
Mind you, I soon knew about it - a couple of minutes after I had driven out of the petrol station, I noticed a horrible smell and stopped the car with clouds of black smoke billowing out of it.
Thank goodness I could ring my breakdown recovery service and a very kind gentleman towed me into a local garage where the engine was drained.
According to one local petrol station, this happens to someone at least once a week. A motorist who isn’t concentrating puts diesel into a petrol engine or petrol into a diesel engine on a regular basis.
The only answer to this situation is to drain the engine before the wrong fuel does any damage.
According to motoring experts putting the wrong fuel into your car can be disastrous, particularly petrol put into a modern diesel vehicle.
Let’s look at what is likely to happen and why it is imperative to concentrate at the petrol station.
Put diesel into a petrol car and the vehicle will quickly grind to a halt. The only solution is to drain and flush the fuel system completely and it might be necessary to change the oil. After putting fresh petrol into the car, the engine needs to be run to ensure all contamination is removed. This should hopefully solve the problem and most motorists `get away with it’.
However, putting petrol into a diesel engine can have more serious consequences. Particularly with modern cars, the diesel injection system is so sophisticated that there is a very low tolerance to the wrong fuel. In the words of one local motor dealer, this `can be disastrous’ and can damage the engine and internal workings of the vehicle to the tune of up to £5,000.
Today most modern petrol powered cars have a fuel nozzle with a smaller diameter to that of a diesel pump, meaning it is practically quite difficult to fill up with diesel.
However diesel cars have a wider nozzle so it is quite easy to fill up with petrol.
So beware!
