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Wrong Fuel? Oh No! Or, Oh Well…

Kyle Smith By:
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 10:58 am GMT +2

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By Kyle Smith

We’ve all heard the stories via the grapevine of the typical motorist pulling up at the petrol station and the petrol attendant inadvertently putting the wrong fuel into their car. This, quite surprisingly, is quite a common mistake made in South Africa according to my local garage owner who confirmed they have had at least a dozen incidents.

Of course this mistake is easier to make when accidentally putting petrol into a diesel car. This is because the filler nozzle for petrol is small and narrow vs. a slightly thicker nozzle for diesel. As such it would be difficult to get a diesel nozzle into a petrol car whereas a petrol nozzle would fit comfortably into a diesel car’s filler spout.

The immediate reaction would be to have the car towed away into the dealer for the fuel tank to be emptied… that is to say if you actually have noticed that the wrong fuel was used in the first place. But what happens if you don’t? Would your car be irreversibly damaged resulting in a huge repair bill?

According to the 5th Gear video below it would seem that cars unfortunate enough to have been filled up with the wrong fuels don’t seem to suffer too much, except of course for the expected detonation and pinking that occurs, but it would obviously not be  advisable to try this on your own car or take it for granted should this mistake occur.

The diesel/petrol in the opposite car’s tank will eventually work its way through the system and allow the car to function as normal but what the video doesn’t highlight is the potential damage that has already been done which could affect the car in the long run. The video shows two slightly older cars and it is advised that in newer cars, with less tolerance due to technological advancements, this should NOT be attempted. Regardless of the age of your vehicle, however, catastrophic damage can occur to the engine, fuel and exhaust systems by using the wrong fuel so the best advice would be to have the fuel tank drained by your manufacturer or a trained professional.

This study is interesting for all the inquisitive petrol/diesel heads as you get to see just how these cars behave whilst attempting to run them on the opposite fuel their engines were designed for.


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PLEASE NOTE: The opinion expressed in this article is the author's own and publication does not mean it is endorsed by the CAR magazine editorial staff or RamsayMedia, publishers of CAR magazine.
  • Paul Broers

    Hey, Kyle, from a co-blogger on this site, there are also instances where you might get a dose of water. The parent company owns the undergroud tanks, and normally leases these and the actual site to the ‘owner’ who runs the service station. In such instances, the parent company bears the costs of repair.
    I can’t put it all down here, but essentially it’s an insurance and legal mess, which might make for an interesting follow up to this article of yours.

    • Kyle Smith

      Thanks for the comment, you are right there is also the chance of water contamination. My local garage owner said they have monitoring systems that alerts them to the slightest contamination. If this occurs they shut down that tank. I don’t think that happens worry where though so it is indeed likely to happen.

      Whenever there has been a mis fuel incident at my local garage they have paid for the entire exercise luckily as she would prefer to keep good customer relationships. Also in SA we have more legs to stand on citing we do not actually put the fuel in ourselves as in the UK or the US thus here we can blame the garage for not training their staff properly.

      • Paul Broers

        Yes, often the service station puts good customer relations above all else, but their insurers aren’t always so accommodating. Insurers want the full story. And it is often the case that the driver is at fault by not stipulating what fuel they want. One could argue that the attendant should be trained to ask the pertinent question, and there’s always the ‘diesel only’ , ‘unleaded only’ sticker in the fuel flap to go on. Conversely there’s a pesky insurance principle as to who has the ultimate duty for the well-being of the car. That belongs to the owner, for he/she doesn’t give over that responsibility to the attendant just by handing over the keys to or opening the flap for the attendant.

        In other words, they shouldn’t just sit in the car having given a blanket stipulation such as ‘fill her up’. And the ‘customer’s always right’ principle is so often just plain wrong. Especially when the attendant stands a good chance of losing his/her job in a ‘he said, she said’ scenario such as this.

        I have even seen A4 sized (not very prominent, thus) posters on a local station saying that the driver will be to blame for wrong fuel dispensed. That’s also wrong. You cannot contract yourself out of gross negligence. And what about water-contaminated fuel in this context?

        All in all, not a very settled situation. All made worse by the proximity of pumps to each other. My own blog, as I said, building on yours to follow.

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