Sod it...

[thermidorthelobster]

Driving home and needed some fuel...  Nice and early so looking forward to a relaxing evening.  Pulled in to the Texaco station I don't normally use.  Grab the blue handle, start to fill up, looking around...  Get to 70l and notice the pump is Super Unleaded.

Oh !EXPLETIVE DELETED!.

The garage doesn't have the facilities to do anything so I called the AA.  They told me to sit tight for 2 hours, then they would take me to a garage which has the facilities to drain my tank (yeah right, at this time of night.)  Of course, I'll have to pay for the privilege of having the tank drained of the fuel I've just paid for, before I have to pay to have it filled up again with diesel.

Great...  Just popped home for a coffee as the AA said they'd be anything up to 2 hours.

Contemplated draining it myself, but I don't have enough jerry can space to cope with the best part of 70l, and besides, it's not really feasible to use my battery-drill-powered pump to pump out unleaded petrol on the forecourt of a filling station.

Wouldn't it be nice if Texaco coloured their PETROL pumps something other than navy blue?  I can't believe I'm the first idiot to do this.  I'm a little colourblind when it comes to navy blue & black, so I'm even more likely to do it in the dark.

Grumpy Dave

[strapping young lad]

nah you aint the first to do it

dont morrisons colour their pumps similar too?

[muddyweb]

oops...

At least you noticed *before* you started the engine

[Xtremeteam]

to start with i thought u were complainin bout fillin ur motor up wi super,but then i realised it was a diesel  :shock:

[Andy.]

Oops, so did the AA arrive then or is the motor still stranded at the petrol station  :?:

They should make the filling holes and pumps different shapes. Bit like those early learning toys where you have to put the correct shaped item into the correct hole, that way unless you have the correct shaped pump you won't fill up wrong  

[Andy.]

nah you aint the first to do it

dont morrisons colour their pumps similar too?

Morrisons Diesel pumps are black but I still always check the label, but we all do it so often sometimes we just pull up and fill.

[strapping young lad]

may be worth knowing fellow mud members in your area who could come out and be of some help?

tow you someowhere so u can do the emptying?

sell the fuel too?

god forbid you selling below the market price though    :P

[Andy.]

Can you not take the 101 out for the recovery, looks as though you've plenty of jerry cans attached to that  :?:

[Xtremeteam]

dont even go there bout sellin the fuel,got 120 litres of mix that i watered down 50/50 with new unleaded & fed it to the racer,bout a mile up the road it died n wouldnt go worth a f***,drained it & put some new fuel back in & went fine,put bout 2 gallon init to go to an event & on the mway it was fine but as soon as you slowed down around town it was the same ,just died,

[thermidorthelobster]

At time of writing the Disco is still at the garage and the AA are somewhere en route, apparently.  The 101 is currently in Devon unfortunately as that would have sorted a number of issues - tow vehicle, fuel storage, spare car!

There are a few mud-clubbers round here, but even if I got a tow, there's still the issue of getting the fuel out, and finding somewhere to put it, so I think I'll just have to pay to have it done...  I'm busy tomorrow and need the Disco the day after, so don't even have the time to mess around, unfortunately.  If I'd noticed at 40l it would have been more manageable, but together with the diesel mixed in there is probably about 85 litres of the stuff in the tank, which is more than I can really cope with.

[NiceBlueWellies]

They should make the filling holes and pumps different shapes. Bit like those early learning toys where you have to put the correct shaped item into the correct hole, that way unless you have the correct shaped pump you won't fill up wrong  

What a good idea :D  

[muddyweb]

Or maybe they should just decide on a colour scheme and stick with it  :shock:

[thermidorthelobster]

Or maybe they should just decide on a colour scheme and stick with it  :shock:

YES!  Absolutely!

Latest update is the local AA contractor (Ravenscroft) have picked it up and are relaying it to their depot in Fleet to sort it out.  They'll call me when it's done and I'll go down and pick it up.  Glad it'll be done tonight, saves hassle tomorrow!

I think I'm due for a Ravenscroft loyalty card, they were a familiar face when I had the P38a.

[beast5680]

my mates brother did that but his excuse was even better- the tanker driver had filled the unleaded tank in the station with diesel :shock:  after about 25 cars had filled up and stopped shortly after around the town they began to suspect something was up

[Porny]

I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that 120,000 people a year put the wrong fuel in there car!!! :oops:

So you're not alone!!!

[thermidorthelobster]

the tanker driver had filled the unleaded tank in the station with diesel

Funnily enough I was chatting to the tanker driver whilst I was waiting. He said the drivers monitor the AA callout channel sometimes and when they get a sudden batch of motorists with the wrong fuel they know that one of them has messed up  :x

[wing nut]

iv,e ran on petrol/diesel mix and was lucky really i just pinked a lot and blew out large clouds of blue smoke ,but mine is a petrol and does that most of the time anyway lol :lol:

[Nugget 4x4]

I did the same with our very new family car , thought I was driving the V8 Range Rover because it was so smooth but alas it was the Chrysler which runs on Diesel.  This cost me £230 at the main dealer to sort out (only because it is still under warranty and I was running a Green Lane Clearing Day on the Ridgeway when Becky My wife discovered the problem) Some of us now put this episode down to experience others are loosing favour :)  :)  :)
I even had to fight to get my Petrol back which powered my Range Rover to Langdale Quest although fellow Club members said that I looked like a Rogue RED ARROW going up the M1

[thermidorthelobster]

I've heard colloquially that you can run about 25% diesel in a petrol engine, and up to 50% petrol in a diesel (in some cold climates they have to do this anyway to stop the diesel waxing), but this doesn't sound like it would do things much good.  Mine would have been at least 80% petrol so it was a complete no-go.  Should be ready in about 5 mins for me to pick up...  Can't wait to see the invoice  :x

[Jake]

Hmm... i bet!!
 :oops:  :roll:

[robbie]

Unleaded fuel fillers are narrower than the diesel nozzles so you cant get diesel into an unleaded car. Even imported Paj's have to have the filler made smaller as a matter of course to comply with regulations.....

Not that it matters at all when the unleaded nozzle is smaller than the diesel, it fits anyway . . . . .

[muky-kid.]

Personnelly if it was me ide sue the garrage and company that runs the garrage for compansation. Its about time they got this sorted out as more and more people are getting caught out with the colour changes etc. And as your slightly colour blind you could have a good case against them.  Or is this wishfull thinking..  :(
You have my deepest sympathy, not nice at all.  

[thermidorthelobster]

£170 for draining the tank, plus £70 for the abandoned tank of fuel.  Not a cheap evening.  On the bright side, I presume it would have been more expensive if I'd not noticed and run it.

[muddyweb]

Not a cheap evening.  On the bright side, I presume it would have been more expensive if I'd not noticed and run it.

Oh yes !

[Pumairl]

Anyone see that in the US, the colour coded pumps are the "opposite" to us, Green is diesel and black is unleaded. Nearly did that in a petrol station in florida. #-o

[thermidorthelobster]

Yeah, but if it's a hire car it doesn't count!  

[Vam]

I did that with BP - went for the 'Ultimate' thinking it was diesel to find 7 miles down the road that that particular garage had 'ultimate unleaded' wereas mine had 'ultimate diesel'

Up side was I'd broken down out side a pub and with the very nice man from the brakedown peeps was able to drain tank in oil vat from said pub and fill up.
(I only ever put about £20 )

BP official line is that whislt there 'ultimate' range is clearly labeled  so many people get it wrong (they reckon 100,000) they compensate.

I wrote them a letter saying what had happened and was then asked to send the reciepts for the petrol and got a cheque back for the full amount a month later. (about £40 as I'd told the brakedown guys I thought it was a blokage in fuel pipes ((which I did)) so I didn't get charged)

This even extends to having car towed and injecters cleaned BP will recompensate you what ever it cost you

Try it with Total Thermidor, It's worth a try

and on the plus side - you'll never make that mistake again!

[hobbit]

Did that with the disco, it was the fourth vehicle I'd filled up that day, whacked about 5 gallons of petrol in it. Realised what I did, and just drove off the pumps, out of the way and rang up my mate to tow me home, 1/2 a mile away.

Got back, syphoned off as much as poss from the fuel sender on the tank. Disconnected the feed before the fuel filter, and used the engine to empty the rest of the fuel out, was surprised the clean diesel in the fuel filter ran for a good 20 mins on high tickover while it pumped out of the tank. Then finished it off with an electric pump

Slung 10gals of diesel in, and ran down to the petrol station and filled right up, no probs, just cost me a fuel filter change.

But it is so easy to do, especially when you are swapping vehicles

[JD LWB]

Very nearly did it with the BP Ultimate, I got the nozzel in the filler pipe and was about to pull the trigger when I noticed.

[landyman Ash]

Our local Total garage is infamous for putting the wrong fuel in their underground tanks.  A few of the guys got Diesel from the petrol pump!

Total offered them £700 compensation!!  :shock:

Wish I had bought fuel now.......