Sorry community, just have to have a rant!!

I just went to put fuel in my car, but put petrol in it instead of diesel! Now I have to have my tank drained and cleaned!

Stupid mistake I know, but when the RAC guy came and picked up my car, he said to me: 'This happens about three times a week, and always at BP stations'. You know why? because they mix the diesel pumps in with the petrol pumps. I was in a rush, that's why I made the mistake.

Hate to moan about Perth again, but everywhere I have ever travelled, they have always had diesel pumps well seperate from the petrol pumps (usually to give trucks space to fill up).

Why does this place have to be different FFS? I've got no idea how much this drain and clean will cost me. As well as that the colours that define each fuel type are not much different. I've taken some digital shots of this, and emailed a complaint to BP. Wonder if they will do anything about it?

Rant over.

Andrew.

Over here the pumps have always been all mixed together, sorry to hear about your bad day though.

One day, when we have all gone electric, such confusion will be a thing of the past. Like fuel pump queues.

Unlucky Fish I once put diesel in my petrol, about twenty litres before i realised. Just drained it and filled it full of petrol and swapped out the fuel filter a few times over the next few days, old skool car so it was all good. Hope you dont get stung too much for the fix.

I thought the fuel companies recently changed the pump nozzles so they were different sizes for each type of fuel to stop this sort of thing happening. I did this very thing a few years ago, well the missus did but, luckily it was diesel in a petrol car so I just filled her up with unleaded and ran her rough for a while till she cleaned up. I know its worse the other way (petrol in a diesel car).

I feel for you mate. Its a right pain in the Arse.

SD

I sure hope they don't put the coin-operated vacuum machines too close to the fuel pumps in Australia.

We've actually had someone put diesel in his petrol car and then try to get it out with the coin-operated vacuum cleaners...

Well, what followed was an explosion, police, fire trucks etc.

Unfortunately I wasn't there when it happened and only heard about it later.

Here's a video in german: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNDqRaQXi_o

And yes, we also have all the fuels next to eachother, only the two types of gas you can get are obviously hard to confuse for something else, even though some people don't know there are two types of gas.

Same here.

In this state, diesel nozzles on the pumps have larger spouts so you can`t fit into a gas tank.
Now it is possible to put gas in a diesel tank by mistake.

Where I buy diesel fuel for my tractor the pumps are separate from the gas. In fact, just about
all the stations I have been to in this state, they are separated and have their own pumps.

That sucks Andy.

We have separate diesel pumps for tax free diesel intended for farm use only. You're fined if you use this in a car. The auto diesel pumps are right beside the auto gas pumps.

Don't forget to give your mechanic a large jerrycan to put that expensive fuel in. Maybe you have another car, or know someone who can use it. If you want to fix it yourself, it's not all that hard if you're mechanically inclined (and remember safety comes first). Basically, you want to loosen the fuel supply line at the fuel rail, connect it to an extension or hose to a jerrycan. Jumper the fuel pump fuse or relay to keep the pump running until the tank is almost empty. Re-connect the fuel supply line to the rail. Put some diesel in the tank and jumper the pump again to get the pressure back up and remove any air. That should do it, though it might run a bit rough at first.

It could be worse...over here they dumped billions of gallons of oil in our waters, covered up any kind of environmental damage and destroyed what little bit was left of the tourism economy here.

Yeah, I hate BP too.

I once put 2 stroke gas in my car by accident.

THAT ran rough.

:p

And for some reason that car would never go past 4k rpm ever again. As soon as it hit 4k, the gas would stop, and keep going once the needle was under again.

Had that happen to me a few years ago. They put Diesel in the Super Unleaded tank.
They paid for everything, including changing plugs and filters. Was a blessing, actually.

And I would bet, the tanker driver who put it in the wrong tank is out of work to.

Over here costumers don't refuel by themselves. There are gas station's employees do that for you. Tell them how much you want in, pay them, and off you go. So, if something like this happens, you can be sure you're not the one paying for repairs.
This system is necessary over here, I think. Too many idiots with enough money to buy cars.

hah.

There are certain U.S states where that is law. New Jersey comes to mind.

2 stroke gas?

Used to put the extra boat gas (gas+oil) into the tank after a race. Never had a problem.

Aren't the pump handles different colors? In California at least unleaded is black and diesel is green.

I worked at a gas station where some farm workers came in with a big truck with two fuel tanks and filled up with diesel by accident. Not only did they want help but they're money back for the gas! Was like $150 in gas in 1999 lol, I do remember having to remind them DON'T START THE ENGINE!!!!!!

Diesel handles in Texas are green as well.

And, like JimK said, the diesel nozzles are bigger than the unleaded nozzles so they won't fit in a gasoline tank.
At least not anything made after the late 70's. UNLESS a repairman puts the wrong style of nozzle on a diesel dispenser.
But then you could make the station owner liable for damages.

In SC as well.

Oh but lets just bash BP anyway!

Around here the diesel pumps are separate from the gasoline pumps, but usually colocated with them - 2 of the islands will have gasoline AND diesel pumps. I don't like this arrangement, because it seems whenever I need to get fuel for my diesel pickup the only 2 cars at the gas station will be parked at the islands with diesel pumps.

The biggest problem we have here in the midwest US is people putting in E85 on accident. Luckily it's not as harmful as diesel is (in a gas engine). I saw this probably 3 times a month and the customer would pay me about $100 to drain their tank and refill it with a few gallons of unleaded (petrol). I would then use the E85 in my '95 escort.. about a 50% mix with unleaded LOL. It seemed to like the stuff as long as I diluted it a bit. FREE GAS!

I had a woman once tow in her Honda because it wouldn't start. I did all the usual checks and everything seemed fine. I had spark, I had injector pulse, I had fuel pressure. Then I pulled a spark plug and it was all wet with fuel. I cleaned the plugs and it almost started and then they flooded out again.

I decided this was the time to ask some more questions so I called her up and this is the explanation I got:

"My husband had some old gasoline in the garage and he didn't know if it was any good so he put it in the lawn mower but then the lawn mower wouldn't start so he went ahead and put it in the car anyway."

Then I asked how much fuel he put in the van...

"About 10 gallons!"

Then I proceeded to tell her that I was going to have to drain the tank, flush the lines, flush the fuel rail, clean the injectors, replace the spark plugs and THEN hope that no other damage has been done - warning her about possible problems with the fuel pump and injectors (to cover my rear). I then gave her a minimum estimate of $400... I know it's a little high but I was pretty irked about no one telling me this in the first place!

I then proceeded to siphon fuel out of the tank from the fuel pump access hole (at least I didn't have to drop the tank!) and the nastiest, foulest smelling, black crud came out. My guess was several year old two-cycle fuel with oil mixed in. It was pretty disgusting! The fuel rail was easy enough to get to so I took it off and flushed out the lines and sprayed the injectors down with some cleaner. Then I put everything back together along with some new spark plugs and it started right up!

I ended up cutting her a break because it went so smoothly.. I think I charged her $250 plus gas and she was happy about the deal but sheesh! Talk about not using your head!

Well, like I said, I am not saying that BP is 100% at fault here, BUT, the fact that the RAC mechanic said to me that it happens to at least three vehicles per week - AND only at BP stations, I think they can at least pay for my tank flush and clean, and making some changes to their pumps.

Oh, forgot to add......

When I realised my mistake, I did not start the engine at all. So I doubt any petrol has gone through any of the lines.....and I was about 1/8th full of diesel, so chances are there is still diesel in the lines, and I will only need a tank flush.

Same here good way to do it really.

Except for my usually having to wait for 2 people getting gasoline to clear out from the islands with the diesel pumps, while the other 10 "gasoline only" islands are empty. That's why I prefer separate diesel islands.

Well Fish old mate, my Hilux runs diesel and the pumps are mixed in here in NSW too, but nary a confusion. You even have to lift a specific gate guard to access the diesel, plus the nozzel is extra large.

I suppose you could put petrol in if you really wanted, but I never have.

Once did the opposite in Rhodesia as it then was....filled a petrol Landrover with diesel. What a bloody disaster that was.

The attachment point for a diesel fuel nozzle (where it meets the fuel line) is also a different shape from that of a non-diesel pump.

Ha! - Here in Belgium it is just the other way round. Unleaded is green, diesel is black. Go figure.

Until someone fills their AC tank w/ DC

strange. I would have thought that it smoked for a week and then returned to normal.

Regarding the Deepwater Horizon spill, BP is no more evil than any other oil company. It could just as easily have been Exxon or one of the other leading companies. I think BP was demonized in part because it was easy to get public opinion against a company that wasn't founded in the US. The media certainly took advantage of that.

Fish_Taco, sorry to hear about your problem. I can see how it could happen. One thing is for sure though, you won't ever do that again .

LOL

I have no less love for BP than I have for any other big company. They all suck. That's because they're run by people, of course, and people suck. QED.



The Jedi Master