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Motorists caught in fuel mix-up
mangogrooveworkshop - 19/8/05 at 03:44 PM

Motorists caught in fuel mix-up

Diesel was put into the cars instead of petrol
Hundreds of drivers are thought to have been affected by a fuel mix-up which resulted in diesel instead of petrol being added to their tanks in Fife.
The Asda supermarket in Halbeath Road, Dunfermline, has been trying to find out how the mix-up occurred.

Nobody realised the error until cars began to break down later on Monday.

Incorrect fuel would cause the engine to stop at any moment and would cost hundreds of pounds to have the diesel cleaned from the tank.

The store, which has CCTV footage of every vehicle affected, has apologised to drivers and urged them to contact their local customer service desk for compensation.

An outside contractor was thought to have mistakenly filled a petrol tank with diesel by and three pumps were affected.

Hellfire - 19/8/05 at 03:47 PM

Oops - I feel a small claim being issued by the respective drivers...

Bob C - 19/8/05 at 04:49 PM

not as expensive as putting petrol into a diesel engine...
Bob

big_wasa - 19/8/05 at 07:21 PM

He He ..The father-inlaw (also known as the out-laws ) put petrol in his diesel van yesterday..

There was a garage next door who charged him £20 for the use of his lift ,he still had to do the job himself.....ha.ha..

He realised the mistake before starting the van so no real harm other than looking a prat..Thing is he pumped it straight in to the wifes car and she is now upset it runs lumpy on warm up... I reckon its about a 25:1 mix .I didnt know as I was at work ,the wifes car(m reg escort cvh) should be ok ,shouldnt it...?

britishtrident - 19/8/05 at 08:09 PM

I better hit this one the head

A diesel will run quite with small ammounts (say up to 5% ) of petrol in the DERV -- in fact poring 500 ml of petrol or kerosene into a derv tank is a useful way of preventing fuel wax blocking fillters in artic temperatures. Petrol won't lubricate the injector pump and put enough in and the engine simply won't run


Although a petrol engine will run with some diesel in the tank even small ammounts of diesel/gas oil in a petrol engine fuel wll cause LONG TERM damage, the damage usually dosen't appear immediately it takes a few months but usual result is burn't pistons or rings.

Apart from the above a major danger is vapour in the fuel tank
--- in a petrol tank the vapour-air mixture in the air space in the tank is way too rich to explode.
--- in a diesel tank the vapour-air mixture in the tank is way too lean to explode.

Now mix the two fuels and the vapour level particularly when filling the tank could fall with in the the exposive band --- one tiny spark and you have a fuel-air explosive bomb.

David Jenkins - 19/8/05 at 09:13 PM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Now mix the two fuels and the vapour level particularly when filling the tank could fall with in the the exposive band --- one tiny spark and you have a fuel-air explosive bomb.


There's a book around telling people how to make a DIY jet engine for model aircraft - not easy, but can be done. Trouble is, it uses a mixture of diesel and petrol to run - warnings have been posted since publication of the design! This mixture is very dangerous, as mentioned above.

rgds,
David

big_wasa - 19/8/05 at 09:21 PM

So your telling me the wifes car is down hill from here-on-in......

Thats all I soddin need..

britishtrident at what sort of ratio is likley to do damage.....?

He said the fuel light had been on for a few miles(merc) and he put 45-50 litres in.There wasnt much in the wifes car to dilute it...

She has done about 50 miles in it .Should I drain the rest or has the damage been done.. 40 litres is not going to be easy to dump

mangogrooveworkshop - 19/8/05 at 09:32 PM

The last time I cross fueled the van the pump got nacked and cost 800 quid to put right. The coatings get attacked by the petrol as there is no lube. It was a warning letter and slapped hands.