Put petrol in a diesel car but not started, what does this mean

If you realised you have misfuelled before starting your car, that’s great news as this can be easily rectified without any long term damage to your diesel engine or fuel system. If you have put in 5 litres of petrol or less (10% or less of your tank’s capacity) you can generally fill up the rest of the tank with diesel (FULL) and continue to start your car and be on your way. If you have put more than 5 litres of fuel, give Auto Fuel Fix a call and we can drain your fuel tank, where the misfuelling has occurred. For more information check out this petrol in a diesel guide, that gives you a full breakdown of what can happen at different stages of realising you have put petrol in a diesel.

Petrol in a diesel car – a common mistake

January turned out to be a busy month for Auto Fuel Fix, with a number of customers misfuelling by putting petrol in a diesel car or van.
We attended a number of call-outs where the client had put petrol in diesel but realised before starting their vehicle, this resulted in a call out by us and the removal of the contaminated diesel from their tank, after this, they were safe to fill up their tank with diesel and continue their journey. Below are some of the cases we attended in January 2014:

NW2 6LD – a Megane Dynamic at the Shell Garage in Edgware road, NE29 9AE – a Citreon Picasso at Tesco, North Sheild, a BMW X5 at a petrol station in Hatfield, a Jeep Cherokee in Leigh Delamere, OX14 4AX Nissan Qashqai Sutton Courteney, a Jaguar XF in Winchester services, MK9 3DA a Peugeot 5008 in Milton Keynes, GU34 1LH a Renault Traffic at a BP service station, an Audi A3 at Esso Reading, a BMW 320D at Shell petrol station Ruislip.