If you’ve put the wrong fuel in your car, you don’t need to panic. Many people make the same mistake every single year. The good news is that there are solutions out there.
In this article, we will shed light on the different damage and the solutions that you should implement if you find yourself in any of the situations.
What Should You Do After Putting the Wrong Type of Fuel in Your Car?
If you’ve not turned on the ignition, then you shouldn’t. The worst damage usually occurs from misfuelling after you turn on the ignition.
So, if you discover that you’ve put the wrong type of fuel in your car and you’ve not turned on the ignition, you’re very lucky.
Here are the steps that you should take to correct the mistake:
- Leave the engine switched off and don’t put your key in the ignition.
- Put the car in neutral.
- Push your car to a safe place.
- Call a car breakdown cover company to help you drain and flush the fuel system.
- Call your car insurance company as soon as possible.
What Should You Do If You Start The Ignition After Misfuelling?
If you put the wrong type of fuel in your car and you’ve started the ignition, here are the things that you should do:
- Switch off the engine immediately if it’s safe. If it’s not safe, then pull over to a safe place.
- Put your car in neutral.
- Call a car breakdown cover provider to drain and flush your fuel system.
- Call your insurance company as soon as possible.
Repairing Your Car after Using the Wrong Type of Fuel
A wrong fuel recovery service will help drain the tank as well as the fuel system of contaminated fuel. The service will also provide the right amount of clean fuel that you need to get your vehicle moving again.
Here at Car Towing Melbourne, our fuel patrols are well trained and licensed to enable them to safely work on vehicles that are mis fueled. We can also tow your vehicle to where it will be recovered if the damage is very serious.
Whether you put petrol in a diesel vehicle or vice versa, this mistake is very common and usually occurs about once every year in Australia. This error usually occurs when you don’t pay full attention at the fueling pumps.
The sad truth is that this error can be very costly. This is because you may need to completely replace the fuel systems; but this is not always the case.
Signs That You Will Notice When You Put the Wrong Type of Fuel in Your Car
If you’ve put petrol in a diesel car, here are signs that you might notice:
- A loud knocking sound from the engine while accelerating
- Huge smoke coming from the exhaust
- Engine stopping
- Vehicle slower than normal acceleration
- Engine displaying warning light
- Car struggling to restart
If you’ve put diesel in a petrol car, here are signs that you might notice:
- The engine misfiring
- Huge smoke coming from the exhaust
- Engine fails to restart
- The engine cutting out
What Happens When You Fuel Your Car with The Wrong Type of Fuel?
Using petrol in a diesel vehicle is more dangerous than using diesel in a car that uses petrol.
However, you can reduce the damage to your engine by not switching on the engine and keeping your cars away from the ignition.
Highlighted below are the different options of misfuelling damage:
- Putting petrol in a diesel car
Diesel vehicles make use of lubrication oil thereby ensuring that the engine parts run smoothly. This helps to prevent wear and tear of the engine. When you put petrol into the fuel system, the mixture will act like a solvent and will dissolve the lubricant. The mixture will circulate when you turn on your ignition and this will increase friction between the components; thereby damaging your fuel lines, pump and other parts of the fuel system.
Repairs are usually costly since you may need to replace the entire fuel system.
- Putting diesel in a petrol car
Using diesel in a petrol car is not as dangerous as using petrol in a diesel car. After you start your engine, the spark plugs and fuel system will be coated by the diesel. This usually leads to misfiring thereby making the engine to release smoke, cut out or not starting at all.
Conclusion
The technicians at Car Towing Melbourne are fully adept at recovering wrongly fueled cars; so they will ensure that your car is up and running in no time. Irrespective of the type of misfueling that your car is suffering from, Car Towing Melbourne is always on ground to help.
Now Car Towing Melbourne is available in Balwyn Victoria 3103, Australia.
Contact Us
Car Towing Melbourne
(03) 7037 7625