How can I tell whether a hire vehicle is petrol or diesel?

We hired a Ford Focus last week but were concerned when we came to refuel the car. On opening the fuel inlet there were signs for a black fuel pump, i.e. diesel, and also a green pump, saying super unleaded. We were confused as to which fuel to use. We thought it should be petrol but, having searched unsuccessfully for a handbook and checked the key fob, we were worried about putting petrol in since our copy of the agreement clearly stated “this vehicle is diesel”. We wasted a lot of time trying to sort this out, and if we had used diesel the consequences would have caused many problems and probably spoilt our holiday. We would like to receive your comments on this please.

Asked on 17 November 2012 by ED, Radstock

Answered by Honest John
You cannot misfuel a Focus because it has Ford’s Easyfuel system that prevents this. But generally if you cannot tell from the noise of the engine if a car is petrol or diesel, then the easy way to tell is to look at the rev counter. A diesel will be redlined at from 4500 - 5000rpm and the rev counter will stop at 6000rpm. A petrol engine will be redlined at 6000 - 7000rpm and the rev counter will stop at 7000 or 8000rpm.
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