Today when I was at the petrol station I undid the fuel cap and tried to put the petrol pump fuel nozzle into the hole that has a flap on it. For some reason the nozzle wouldn't fit into the hole, as though the hole is too small, yet the nozzle has fitted into the hole in the past. So I had to put the nozzle against the hole it to fill the petrol tank up, there were bubbles when trying to get the fuel in, which I think put air into the fuel lines, because when driving away my car would lose power sometimes and sounded like it was going to stall.

I don't think the flap on the hole was stuck (at least it's not stuck now anyway).

What on Earth is going on?

 

Definitely sure it was a petrol pump?  The diesel nozzle is larger and won't fit into a petrol hole...and that could also explain the dodgy running afterwards.

I was just going to post, that I think I used a diesel pump by accident.

I could've swore that the pump said fuelsave petrol, but I guess not.

5 minutes ago, Ross3452 said:

I was just going to post, that I think I used a diesel pump by accident.

I could've swore that the pump said fuelsave petrol, but I guess not.

Whoops...   As long as you didn't put much in it'll probably be fine.  Just top it up with petrol asap. 

If you've got a receipt that should confirm whether it was petrol or diesel.

I've been to to this petrol station 100's of times before and never made this mistake.

When I drove to the first set of pumps, the petrol one had an out of order sign on it. I had to reverse and go to another set of pumps. When I saw the next set of pumps the petrol one had an out of order sign on it too.

So I went to the set of pumps after that, saw that one of the pumps had an out of order sign on it and thought not again, but then thought I had made a mistake and was looking at the wrong pump, and it's the first one that I always use, and that didn't have an out of order sign on it.

It's this which caused the confusion.

I'm sure I've always used the first pump at a set of pumps to fill up with fuelsave petrol at this petrol station. Maybe they've changed? I don't know.

 

11 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Whoops...   As long as you didn't put much in it'll probably be fine.  Just top it up with petrol asap. 

If you've got a receipt that should confirm whether it was petrol or diesel.

I didn't get a receipt.

The petrol tank had less than a quarter of petrol in it, and I filled it up with £10 worth of I guess diesel. Will things be fine or should I ring a mechanic?

Did the level in the tank actually go up? Usually if you can't get the nozzle into the fuel filler most of the fuel ends up on the floor under the car.

Yes, the tank is a bit over a quarter full now.

Before I filled it up, the needle was around half way between empty and a quarter full, after putting in the diesel the needle is now a bit past the quarter mark.

So there's maybe a bit more of diesel than petrol in my car.

I received the following advice in similar circumstances. Fill up asap with petrol.  If you reduce the diesel to a small percentage, it will just act like UCL.  Good luck.

What does UCL mean?

UCL Upper Cylinder Lubricant.

A very long time ago I put some diesel in my car by accident, not a lot as the garage person said over the speaker did I know it was diesel pump, I ran that car for a few years without ever doing anything about, just make sure you don't let the tank get to low.

£10 worth of diesel is only a gallon and a bit.

Some idiots think its fun to move the hoses about after filling up, so what you thought was petrol was actaully a deisel hose. Did it not smell funny ?

1 hour ago, Ross3452 said:

Yes, the tank is a bit over a quarter full now.

Before I filled it up, the needle was around half way between empty and a quarter full, after putting in the diesel the needle is now a bit past the quarter mark.

So there's maybe a bit more of diesel than petrol in my car.

Honestly it's difficult to say with a ~50/50 mix.  

If it was mine I'd stick about the same again of petrol in to get below 75/25.  But I take no responsibility if it breaks in a week's time.

I would fill it to the brim with petrol to get the highest ratio of petrol to diesel possible. 

I agree with @isetta. I made this mistake some years ago with a Vauxhall Carlton and as soon as I realised I was using the wrong pump I stopped, brimmed it with petrol and crossed my fingers. It did run a bit lumpy until I'd used enough to fill up again after which it was fine.

I also made the mistake of putting petrol in our old 1.8TDCi Mk1.5 Focus which, because of the nozzle sizes, is easy to do. This is more serious because the high-pressure pumps in the diesels have very fine clearances and rely on the fuel for lubrication. I managed to drive it to the nearest garage in our village so they could drain the tank, flush the lines and change the filter. Some time later my wife made the same mistake with the same car when she was a long way from home and had to find somewhere to get it done again.

Even a very small amount of diesel will make the car run badly and worse it will smoke like hell. 

2 hours ago, isetta said:

I would fill it to the brim with petrol to get the highest ratio of petrol to diesel possible.

That would be best, but not necessarily affordable at the moment.

It may even be cheaper to have the misfuel drained than brim the tank at today's prices.

I don't feel confident with driving the car until I get it filled with more petrol.

So I was thinking of making several trips to the petrol station on foot with a petrol can. After filling up the petrol can, is it okay to bring it in with me when I pay, or should it be left outside? I'm not really sure exactly how I'm supposed to go about it. I'm just worried about making a fool out of myself again.

On your model of car is it possible for you to just syphon the tank at home to get most of it out.

19 hours ago, Ross3452 said:

The petrol tank had less than a quarter of petrol in it, and I filled it up with £10 worth of I guess diesel. Will things be fine or should I ring a mechanic?

Luckily, 'filling up' with £10 of ANY fuel isn't much these days LOL As already stated, proper full up (!) brim it, to dilute the diesel as much as possible, you'll be fine...

8 hours ago, Ross3452 said:

I don't feel confident with driving the car until I get it filled with more petrol.

So I was thinking of making several trips to the petrol station on foot with a petrol can. After filling up the petrol can, is it okay to bring it in with me when I pay, or should it be left outside? I'm not really sure exactly how I'm supposed to go about it. I'm just worried about making a fool out of myself again.

I don't know if they allow full fuel cans inside.  But I did learn that you can buy both diesel and petrol at the same pump in the same transaction...  So if another car pulls up while you're waiting in the queue, they could add to your fuel bill if there's no physical indication of someone already there.  It only gets reset once you've paid.

I'd want to leave the fuel can by the pump until it's paid for myself.  But then there's a risk of theft.  Could you take another person to stand with it while you pay?

39 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

On your model of car is it possible for you to just syphon the tank at home to get most of it out.

Petrol lift pump should be able to quickly drain most of it with ignition on.  Just pop a fuel pipe off of the filter if there is one, or off of the fuel rail if there isn't.  (Not sure if Mk1's have an inline filter by the tank?)

Petrol will eat through plastic containers though, so only syphon it if you've got a suitable container.  Spare fuel can would be ideal...but marked correctly until disposed of.  I left both a petrol & diesel can in the garage when I moved out, unmarked...that ended with diesel being put in the lawnmower... 🤦‍♂️

6 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I don't know if they allow full fuel cans inside.  But I did learn that you can buy both diesel and petrol at the same pump in the same transaction...  So if another car pulls up while you're waiting in the queue, they could add to your fuel bill if there's no physical indication of someone already there.  It only gets reset once you've paid.

I'd want to leave the fuel can by the pump until it's paid for myself.  But then there's a risk of theft.  Could you take another person to stand with it while you pay?

Must admit I've never been a fuel can 'walk in', though I regularly use them (lawnmowers etc), but once filled, simply put them in the boot of the car. Personally, I would bring it in with me as today with £10 fuel, and maybe £5 plastic can, I wouldn't leave £15 worth outside at pump in the hope it was still there when I got back!  

1 minute ago, StephenFord said:

Must admit I've never been a fuel can 'walk in', though I regularly use them (lawnmowers etc), but once filled, simply put them in the boot of the car.

I've only ever put them in the car myself too.  Can only dream of the luxury of a filling station in walking distance!