What to Do After Putting the Wrong Fuel in Your Car

If you have pulled up at a filing station and accidentally put the wrong type of fuel in your car, do not panic! A lot of us have made this same mistake before and there are solutions to your problem out there.

It’s not as simple as unleaded and diesel labels these days, as now we are greeted with E5 and B7. But like we said, if you happen to lift the wrong pump and put petrol in your diesel engine, there is a way out of it.

What to do after putting the wrong fuel in your car?

First things first, have you turned on the ignition yet? If not, don’t! The most serious damage from misfuelling occurs after turning on the ignition, so if you haven’t started the engine yet you are in luck. Here’s what you need to do next:

1.Do not put your key in the ignition and keep the engine switched off.

2.Let the staff at the petrol station know what’s happened, they may even have a number to call someone for you if you don’t have breakdown cover.

3.Put the car in neutral and push the car to a safe distance if possible.

4.Call your breakdown cover and wait for them to arrive and flush your engine.

5.Let your insurance provider know.

I started the engine after misfuelling, what do I do?

Like we said, if you do start the engine up after misfuelling, you need to do the following to reduce the risk of serious damage:

1.Pull over to a safe place and put the vehicle in neutral.

2.Turn off your engine immediately if it is safe to do so.

3.Call your breakdown cover and wait for them to flush your engine.

4.Let your insurance provider know.

What happens when you put petrol in a diesel engine?

As well as powering the car, diesel acts as a lubrication oil that keeps the fuel pump and other components running smoothly. Adding petrol to a diesel engine is going to increase friction between parts, due to petrol acting as a solvent when mixed with diesel, having the opposite effect. This will then cause damage to fuel lines and pump.

What happens when you put diesel in a petrol engine?

Due to diesel pump nozzles being larger than most petrol pump nozzles, misfuelling in a petrol car doesn’t happen as often as misfuelling in a diesel car. The only positive is that putting diesel into a petrol engine isn’t as bad as putting petrol into a diesel engine. Diesel needs to be compressed before it’ll ignite, so you won’t even be able to start the engine.

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