Help!
Tonight I have the feeling I may have put petrol into my diesel. I went to Tesco, where I very rarely fill up, used a black hose that I am 99% certain said City Diesel next to it. The tank was almost empty at the time (warning light was on) and I have driven about 5 miles since then. Unfortunately for me the receipt doesn't say what I bought, but it did cost 84.9p per litre. It's a month since I last put any diesel in and I can't remember how much it cost then (oops). Silly me filled it up too....
I don't know why but on the way home I suddenly started to panic that I had put unleaded in by mistake - and I am using the car to go away this weekend.
So please, if anyone uses Tesco please put my mind at rest!
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If you did put petrol in, I'm sure you would have known in those 5 miles you've driven.
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That's what I'm thinking but it's just that 1% feeling I don't like. Don't want to breakdown on the M1 on Saturday morning!
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Warning light was on? how much did you put in? I also think you really would have found out by now, but pop outside, pop open the filler cap and give it a good sniff - that will tell you.
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I put in £40! I'm sure it's diesel...and I was staring at the pump as well. I just can't get over it costing only(!) 84.9 a litre....
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Yeh. I cant get over you paying 84.9 a litre..where I am its 89.9 a litre For tesco..getting to your post.If it wasnt diesel on the amount you put in. its unlikely the engine would run.if it did it wont be for long.
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Steve
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arning light was on? how much did you put in? I also think you really would have found out by now, but pop outside, pop open the filler cap and give it a good sniff - that will tell you
im new to diesel, whats it smell like?
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im new to diesel, whats it smell like?
Like diesel. Think "not like petrol" and you can't go wrong
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Ring Tesco and ask the price of diesel and petrol at that branch.
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If the tank was nearly empty, the engine would probably shown signs of distress by now.
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Just take the cap off and sniff, if you can't smell petrol but can smell a sort of white spirit and coal tar smell, ir's diesel.
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You are not smelling for Diesel, you are smelling for petrol. That you cant mistake.
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Have got a cold so am not good at smelling anything at the moment.
The fuel display said I only had 30 miles left - in the past it's gone from 25 to 0 in a few metres, so was definitely empty... Afterwards it said I had 469 miles, so whatever I put in should have mixed with the leftover diesel.
I have though taken the fuel cap out and given it a good sniff (hope the neighbours didn't see!). Smells like diesel to me, stuck a finger as far down as I could too and again smelt like diesel. In other words - it's making me feel sick!
This is my first diesel car and I think it will be my last...I don't do many miles in it so am not really saving any money over having my old petrol tino.
I think it's because Tesco use the wording 'Ultra Low Sulphur City Diesel', whereas Sainsburys just say City Diesel, and Total just plain old, easy to understand DIESEL! Before this car was bought last April I'd had 11 years of filling up with unleaded. But HWMBO decided we should try a diesel (and he doesn't even drive).
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If HWMBO isn't similarly afflicted (by your cold), maybe he can help you out. Unless, of course, he doesn't know anything about it ...
The smell of petrol is very pungent, and at such close range would probably cause enough irritation to bring on a coughing fit, so I'd say if you can't smell it from your fuel opening then it probably isn't there. BTW, try to avoid getting diesel (or petrol) on your skin, especially your hands - it is not at all healthy. I knew a guy who got petrol on his hands when filling a jerrycan. He hadn't washed his hands, just wiped them with a rag. A while later he happened to rub at his eye. He ended up with raw and blistered skin in the corner of his eye, which was scabbed and very painful for a couple of weeks. He's probably lucky that his sight wasn't affected.
--
andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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I usually use Tesco for diesel (collect the points for airmiles). The two I usually use definately have black hoses on the city diesel... so I think you're okay.
Now 84.9p sounds a good price for diesel... lower than around my way (Stockport).
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where was this 84.9 for diesel? which tesco?
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Look, I think you should pop along to my surgery for some Diazepam because you are becoming obsessional about this to a pathological degree.
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I have to say Herr Dktr, your bedside manner sucks, I only asked once where this cheap diesel was!
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Out of interest, what are the signs of petrol in a diesel engine and vice versa? And what is the damage if you do?
I've just (Saturday) picked up my new Audi A6 TDi and it is my first diesel, so am very concerned about making the mistake when I come to my first fill up! So much so that the last fill of my old petrol A6 was nearly diesel as I was practising my "diesel diesel diesel" chant ... it was only the nozzle not fitting that stopped me! (slaps head in disgust at own stupidity!)
If I recall, diesel in a petrol oils everything up and petrol is a diesel is very bad news due to the higher volatility of petrol and higher compression of the diesel engine. Does that sound right?
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RP
In the old days a healthy dose of petrol in your diesel was not normaly problematic. Indeed I drove a 1995 1.7TD Cavalier on a near 50/50 mix once by mistake. It was fine.
With modern electronically controlled fanzy gismo high pressure common rail multiple pumping diesels with turbines and windmills things are different.
I dont doubt that my old 50/50 mix would not be good for one of those.
If you introduce more than 5 litres of Petrol into 60 litres of Diesel into one of those I would stop, and call the AA, and get the thing cleaned out.
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Lots of new diesel company car drivers at work now due to taxation. There have been so many diesel cars damaged by putting in diesel that the company said sometime ago they might charge drivers for the damage!
Sound paranoid? Well I know one Jag X-Type 2.0D driver who's car needed a new engine after the mix-up.... expensive!
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steady on - the words para and noid come to mind here ...
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I think you are confusing paranoia with curiosity...
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er, no - the tone's gone beyond curiousity
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Out of interest, what are the signs of petrol in a diesel engine and vice versa? And what is the damage if you do? I've just (Saturday) picked up my new Audi A6 TDi and it is my first diesel, so am very concerned about making the mistake when I come to my first fill up! So much so that the last fill of my old petrol A6 was nearly diesel as I was practising my "diesel diesel diesel" chant ... it was only the nozzle not fitting that stopped me! (slaps head in disgust at own stupidity!) If I recall, diesel in a petrol oils everything up and petrol is a diesel is very bad news due to the higher volatility of petrol and higher compression of the diesel engine. Does that sound right?
I've just got a diesel, and we also have 2 petrol cars. I've got into the habit of starting to fill up then immediately stopping and rechecking - so the other day I put 7p worth of petrol into the diesel. The only bad news is that it was at a credit card pump, which got very confused (it was using this for the first time that got me in a muddle in the first place).
I keep intending to buy some Millers Diesel Power Plus - this can be used to provide the lubrication the vehicles fuel pump needs if you do put some petrol in. Opinions vary on what you can get away with, and I'm not qualified to give an answer, but a few litres of petrol, diluted with a tank filled with diesel, wouldn't seem to be a problem.
On the last point, one thing I have heard that makes sense, is that if you put some diesel in a petrol car, don't be tempted to take for a blast down the motorway. The diesel can't burn fast enough at high revs, so tends to wash all the oil out of the engine.
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Thanks RF & BillPayer,
Sounds like a little can do not harm, but the idea of stopping and checking appeals! Silly, but I know after 17 years of stopping at the green pump it is only a matter of time before I queue up for the one available Unleaded pump, only to get there and realise I should have used one of the others!
Never had a problem in the wife's diesels, but then that was always "her" car, so everything was odd (and therefore I had to think "diesel, where is the filler cap, oops manual not auto so clutch, etc, etc"!!
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Surely calling that particular Tesco would solve the problem? I don't understand the panic. Find out what you have/haven't done then decide what to do.
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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For anyone wondering where the petrol station was....it's Tesco Extra at Seacroft, Leeds. Just dug out last month's fuel receipt and I paid 85.9...
I am no longer panicky!
Thank you everyone.
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good news, enjoy your driving
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There is one at Chapel Allerton too,don't know if prices are the same.
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I once filled a diesel car with loads of petrol and had to have it drained and cleaned etc. The other day I put about 7litres of unleaded in before I realised my mistake, topped off with diesel (about another 20 litres) and everything worked OK. I was at an unfamiliar garage and got confused with some sticker on the pump which mentioned "Ultra Low Sulphur" - I thought this was diesel and failed to check. A few weeks ago there was talk of a firm that makes those little boxes in talking greetings cards making one which would stick inside your filler flap and say Diesel Diesel Diesel to you which might help! On the prices front I went down the AI a few days ago and at the bottom of the climb up to where the A14 forks off left there is Q8 garage, which isn't even on the main road now but on the old A1 which is now a service road. Their diesel was 93.9p a litre; one wouldn't buy it at that price I think, never mind turning off the main road to do so!
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A few weeks ago there was talk of a firm that makes those little boxes in talking greetings cards making one which would stick inside your filler flap and say Diesel Diesel Diesel to you which might help!
I hate to re-open the debate about mobile phones and other electronic devices near fuel vapour but...
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Thats how it works. Diesel is not gaseous, so when your little bleeper thing goes off its safe.
If you fill up with gaseous petrol tho it expodes in your face and therefore you dont get the chance fill it up with petrol!
Foolproof!
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