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Three Reasons Why You Need to Drain Your Fuel Tank

When it comes to your car, there are numerous things that you have to keep in mind to keep it running correctly. One of the things that you have to do is ensure that you keep the fuel tank full. However, there are also times when you want to drain your fuel tank. There are several reasons you would like to empty your fuel tank; we will be looking at some of those reasons now.

Wrong or Poor-Quality Fuel

It can be frustrating to realise we have put the wrong fuel in our car. Whether it is because we have grabbed the bad pump at the gas station or because we have been using poor-quality fuel, it is always a bad feeling.

But are you aware that one of the reasons you should drain your fuel tank is because of the possibility of having wrong or poor-quality fuel? If you have the wrong fuel in your car, it can cause many problems. Your vehicle may run less efficiently, or it may not run at all. And if you are using poor-quality fuel, it can damage your car’s engine and other parts.

If you think you have the wrong fuel in your car or are using poor-quality fuel, drain your fuel tank. It may save you a lot of headaches (and money) down the road. If you accidentally get contaminated fuel, it is necessary to drain your tank immediately.

Need to Share Gas

If you plan to share your fuel with someone, you might need to siphon some of it first. Here is why:

When fuel is stored in a container, the heavier molecules settle to the bottom while the lighter molecules float to the top. This process is called stratification. Over time, the fuel in the container will become stratified, with the heavier molecules at the bottom and the lighter molecules at the top. If you pour this fuel into another container, the heavier molecules would be left behind, leaving behind a weaker, less potent fuel.

To avoid this, you can siphon the fuel from the container and get all of the fuel. It will ensure that you are sharing as potent a fuel as possible. In this situation, you only need to take a small amount. Because most gas stations are only a few miles apart, the recipient will not need a full tank to reach the next one.

Clean the Tank

Like most people, you probably do not think much about your vehicle’s fuel tank. But if you want to clean it, drain the fuel tank first.

Here is why: when fuel is stored in a tank, it breaks down and produces sediment and sludge. It can clog your fuel lines and prevent your engine from running correctly. Draining the fuel will remove all of this build-up and leave your tank clean and ready for a fresh start. The process is pretty simple:

Find the drain valve on your fuel tank. It is usually located near the bottom of the tank.
Open the valve and allow the fuel to drain into a container.
Once the fuel has finished draining, close the valve and dispose of the fuel properly.

Conclusion

There are a few reasons why draining your fuel tank can be beneficial. For one, it can help to prevent fuel contamination and to clog. Additionally, it can help to keep your engine running smoothly and efficiently. Overall, draining your fuel tank can be a brilliant way to maintain your vehicle.

If you are uncertain how to drain the fuel tank, ask for help from Petrol in Diesel UK. We have been in this business for over a decade, so we can guarantee that we know what we are doing. So, drive by our shop now!

Car Care: Things to Do If You Put the Wrong Fuel in Your Car

A car is a valuable investment because it can help you get around and go to places faster without dealing with commuting issues. For this reason, all car owners go above and beyond to ensure their cars are taken care of. Of course, a car needs fuel to work, either diesel or petrol.

Petrol, more commonly known as gasoline, is a liquid petroleum product used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists primarily of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with various additives. On the other hand, diesel is made for diesel engines. It’s made from crude oil and is a mixture of hydrocarbons. While understanding them seems straightforward enough, many car owners still make the mistake of putting the wrong fuel in their cars. For this reason, we’ll discuss what can happen and what you can do to prevent this.

Why Putting the Right Fuel Matters

The fuel you put in your car is a significant factor in how it will run. The wrong fuel can cause major issues in your car’s performance and damage the engine. Depending on the severity of the problems, you may even have to replace the engine. Knowing the difference between petrol and diesel is good, so you don’t make a mistake.

For one, petrol is a lot more volatile than diesel. This means that it can easily catch fire and explode. On the other hand, Diesel is much more stable and won’t catch fire as easily. Another difference is that petrol engines are typically more potent than diesel engines. This is because petrol burns hotter than diesel, so that it can create more power. However, this also means that petrol engines use more fuel than diesel engines.

Generally, the damage when either way is done is engine damage and potential fire. Of course, other things can happen.

What Happens When You Put Petrol in a Diesel Car?

When you put petrol in a diesel car, you may run into the following issues:

Fuel Pump Issues

Diesel cars have a fuel pump that’s specifically designed for diesel. This means that when you put petrol in a diesel car, the fuel pump will have problems. This is because petrol is thinner than diesel and won’t be able to lubricate the diesel pump properly. This can damage the fuel pump and cause it to fail.

Fuel Injector Damage

The fuel injector is a component in the engine that injects fuel into the cylinders. This is where the combustion process takes place. When you put petrol in a diesel car, the petrol can damage the fuel injectors. This is because petrol is thinner than diesel and can’t lubricate the injectors. This can cause the injectors to fail and cause engine damage.

What Happens When You Put Diesel in a Petrol Car?

When you put diesel in a petrol car, the following issues can happen:

Stalling

A car stalls when the engine stops running. When you put diesel in a petrol car, it can clog up the fuel line and prevent the petrol from getting to the engine, causing it to stall.

Engine Misfire

An engine misfire is when the engine doesn’t fire on all cylinders. When you put diesel in a petrol car, it can prevent the petrol from getting to the engine, causing it to misfire. When this happens, the vehicle will blow out a lot of smoke.

What to Do If You Put the Wrong Fuel

When you put the wrong fuel in your car, there are several steps you can take. First and foremost, you must stop refuelling and turn off the engine. You should also remove the key from the ignition. If you’re lucky, the wrong fuel will be in the fuel tank. However, if it has already entered the engine, then you’ll need to have it flushed out.

You should never attempt to start the car if the wrong fuel has entered the engine because this will only make the problem worse. Instead, call the wrong fuel recovery company. They can drain the fuel tank and flush the engine, eliminating all the wrong fuel.

Conclusion

Putting the wrong fuel in your car can cause severe damage, but you shouldn’t worry. As long as you act fast, you can remove the wrong fuel to mitigate the possible damages. When you do, your car will work as usual.

If you need help with wrong fuel assistance, Petrol in Diesel UK can help you! The wrong type of fuel can damage your car, so we’re here to help by draining the fuel tank to ensure it doesn’t happen. Call 0800 084 5187 today and allow us to help you!

Petrol In a Diesel Car: What’s So Bad About It?

You would not be the first or last person to accidentally fire up the wrong fuel pump and start feeding petrol into your diesel engine. If you have ever been in this situation, the chances are you vowed never to make the same mistake again.

It’s a well-documented “no-no”, but what exactly is it that makes mixing up engine juice so bad?

What’s the Difference Between a Petrol and Diesel Engine?

Diesel engines have grown extremely popular across Europe and Australia for their reduced CO2 emissions and improved driving performance. Diesel engines are more powerful and get better mileage from a full tank, compensating for the higher initial cost. In America, diesel engines haven’t taken off in quite the same way because of the comparably low cost of petrol, but the appeal of a smoother, more efficient drive is slowly tempting more buyers.

The mechanisms and technology behind the two types of engines are also different. Petrol engines ignite via a spark and the pressure from the gas gets the machine going, whereas diesel engines compress air, raising the temperature until it ignites spontaneously.

Why Is It So Important to Use the Correct Fuel?

Because of the contrasting chemical make-up of petrol and fuel, they do completely different things when pumped into your car. Diesel is designed to act as a lubricant for the modern technology built into these new and proved engines to keep emissions low and power high, but the metallic elements of petrol do the opposite. As petrol runs through the pipes it creates friction and puts serious strain on the inner workings of the machine.

Think of an engine as your car’s heart. If diesel is the blood you need, injecting petrol is like injecting oil into your veins. Friction and blockage are two things you certainly don’t want in your vehicle’s cardiac system.

What Can Go Wrong?

When petrol enters a diesel car, various things can go wrong depending on how quickly you realize the error. The damage can range from simply ruining your day and wasting your time, to an eyewatering mechanic’s bill worth more than the car itself.

The best-case scenario is that you realize very quickly after filling less than 5% of your engine, in which case you call your mechanic or recovery service who can drain the engine with little harm done. If you have filled substantially more but catch the mistake before you switch on the engine, you could still get away relatively lightly, but with a slightly higher bill.

The real trouble begins as soon as you start your car. DO NOT start your car if you notice the error on time. As the engine runs, the offending petrol coats the pipes and gets sucked into all the places it doesn’t belong. The more you drive, the worse the friction becomes, the more the petrol clogs your engine, and the more irreparable the damage becomes. Your car eventually goes into vehicular cardiac arrest.

When this happens, the bill could be astronomical, with several specialty parts likely to need replacing.

The moral of the story is, double and triple check the label on the pump before filling up your diesel engine; those few extra seconds you spend could wind up saving you thousands of dollars.

Tyres

I have a good friend, well its myself actually who has just opened a part worn tyre shop in east grinstead. We sell part worn tyres for all makes models and sizes of cars in east grinstead and we fit and balance them

Our prices contain no hidden extra’s either, we put new valves on every car and balance front wheels as standard, we can balance back wheels if requested but we do charge extra for this.

Our old tyres are sent for recycling and collected by a licensed waste collector, they will be used for energy recovery (burning to you and me) for industrial processes such as making cement or generating power.

So if you are about east grinstead or not to far away and need tyres for your car, please come on down!

How Do the Arabian Cars Get to Knightsbridge

Imagine you have a bucket of money and no pesky 9 to 5 that wants attended, you also have a super car at your disposal and an Antonov cargo plane ready to whisk you and your car anywhere in the world to race around to your hearts content on the open road without fear of policemen, speedbumps, cameras or traffic.

I close my eyes sometimes and dream it all out, and no matter how much I think it through I still havent figured out why the fuck anyone would want to drive a supercar around London, not least central London, and certainly not in summer, especially not now that the Daily Mail is on the case following every supercar clamping and non insurance seizure, setting the comments section alight with the politeness racism and envy that only a british tabloid can pull off.

There was one theory doing the rounds in the media last year that suggested if the Arabian jetset drove around the middle east in the same manner it would only further the cause of the arab spring, I agree, if you can find an arrogant young man flaunting unearned wealth who’s only achievement in life was by accident of birth born into a nepotistic dictators family, well they are an easy bunch to dislike thats for sure

How do they get here? on commercial flights & cargo flights, the cost of flying a car between heathrow and the middle east would be I guess something in the region of £5 to 10K each way, not that I have ever sent a car anywhere on a plane I assume there is a hefty chunk of insurance required to load a car onto and off a plane – exactly the sort of caper that could have a high cost warner brothers meep meep style ending.

And whats it got to do with me?

The companies that load cars onto planes empty the fuel tanks of the cars before loading, thats where the fuel drainers come in, we empty out perfectly good fuel from perfectly good cars and send them on their way, this is more common towards the end of summer when the spectacle comes to an end and the good residents of kensington can relax.

If you ever find yourself needing to send your supercar somewhere – give this bunch a shout.

https://www.chilternairfreight.co.uk/car-shipping-air-freight.php

And, if your car is still loaded with fuel and you cant be botherd to let it idle until it runs out of fuel, give me a call

For a small extra fee I could also drain the tank by making high speed trips up and down the runway.

Alternatively, if you dont want to take your car with you on a plane, you could go and see this lot https://www.secretairportcarparks.co.uk/ they do all kinds of amazing parking deals for long stay parking at airports up and down the country

Wrong Fuel in Boats & Planes

Well, today would be a good day for it, last Friday in the month. (28th June)

Lots of people getting paid, lots of people filling up, lots of people taking weekend summer trips, festivals, road trips, relatives.

Misfuelling is surprisingly easy to do, some people do it in a car they have owned for 10 years at a petrol station they have been using weekly for 20 years others do it when they are under stress, driving unfamiliar cars in unfamiliar locations, workmen at 5.30 am, or cross channel couriers on the M20 at 4am, taxi drivers who have been filling up at gatwick and heathrow after long trips, people coming back from holiday and taking cars out of long term parking, all sorts of folks, but more often than not its ordinary people on ordinary errands making a very simple mistake.

If it makes you feel any better the maritime and aviation equivalent of misfuelling makes your problems seem trivial, back before ports had standardised fittings for refuelling boats with diesel and fresh drinking water it could occur that diesel was pumped into the fresh drinking water system on the boat, if this was left long enough for someone to catch a mouthful of diesel it would necessitate the complete removal and replacement of all drinking water plumbing from head to toe, a very costly business indeed which could be the end of life for the boat

It is a common held myth that jet fuel has some sort of super powers and is highly volatile, in fact jet fuel is stable, and is closely related to diesel, and in some cases is used as diesel (illegal). the opportunity for mix up at an airport is to put piston engine fuel (petrol) into a jet aircraft, or jet fuel into a piston aircraft, either which way can, (and has) ended very badly if the plane ever makes it off the runway.

Contaminated fuel in aircraft isn’t likely to end well either, take British Airway flight 38 which was the first Boeing 777-200ER ever to be written off as a total hull loss, a few hundred mill of wrecked plane all because some some water in the tanks turned to ice blocking the fuel supply in a most inconvenient manner – just as the pilot was powering up at the end of a glide towards the runway for the final approach.

Whether the cause was contaminated fuel, or condensation from high altitude flying over the Arctic with dozens of cubic metres of empty fuel tank condensing air into water the result was an ugly crash, in which luckily no one croaked.

And your worried about a few litres of petrol in your diesel car?

Put the Wrong Fuel in My Car

I PUT THE WRONG FUEL IN MY CAR

Hello, and welcome to fuel expert.

If you are here because you have put the wrong fuel in your car then we can help.

Putting the wrong fuel in your car is not always as bad as is first thought, and a breakdown caused by wrong fuel can be rectified in nearly all cases with a drain down and refuel (correct fuel this time!)

In days gone by a fuel drain was as simple as unscrewing the sump plug at the bottom of the fuel tank and letting gravity do what it does best, unfortunately todays cars are not as easy.

The fuel tank sump plug was a common fixture on steel fuel tanks, however most cars from 1990 onwards have plastic/composite fuel tanks, and plastic being plastic does not suite plastic/metal joints that would accommodate a plug, also, the upside is composite tanks can be made into far for elaborate designs than the traditional steel square box tank, which was either far too small, or dominated the interior design and ride height of the car.

There are 3 ways to drain most fuel tanks without removing it.

Firstly, suck the fuel out of the filler neck with special equipment

Second. suck the fuel out of the line that supplies fuel to the engine at a connection point, this is done by temporarily disconnecting the fuel line and reconnecting it to special fittings that are attached to the vacuum tank.

Third, access the fuel from the top of the tank where there is an access hatch for the fuel pump and level sender unit (usually under the seat)

Some cars need a special approach and specialist tools, some also need a unique approach, our experience in this industry means that you will always get a safe, efficient and intelligent fuel drain.

For example this Diesel powered land rover drove for 30 miles on a 70/30 mix of mixed fuel. it was loosing power and once parked up it refused to start from cold. our team had it back running again in less than 30 minutes. if you need help to rectify a misfuel, call us now.

Typically it goes like this, You pull up at the petrol station, look at the price of fuel, wince and start to fill up.

Holding the nozzle you gaze into the distance and perhaps daydream of the times when fuel was sold by the gallon and cost less than cider.

The automatic cutoff on the pump signals you are now full and a fully paid up member of the robbed blind by a petrol station club.

In a moment of clarity you see that the fuel pistol you are holding is green, the writing on the top sais “unleaded” and funnily enough you are driving a Diesel car, you double check, diesel car, petrol pump diesel car petrol pump, the cars diesel, the pump readout sais £112.00 the cars diesel, it sais unleaded, look at the readout again, look at the trigger, look at the pump.

Trust me, I know, I am not too proud to admit I have done it twice. for me, and I think I was a normal case, I was stunned for a good few minutes, punch drunk on remorse I slowly made my way to the cashier to pay for fuel I did not want in a car that does not run on it, paying for it before doing anything else is is a british trait.

Most people pay and don’t say anything, this is the dazed and confused period which occurs after a misfuel.

Then, we phone a friend, not one that will laugh at us, but one who knows a bit about cars, well more than us anyway.

The friend suggests we drain it out, syphon it perhaps, logical but impractical, syphoning is a gravity driven process and most fuel tanks are within inches of the ground to start with, a syphon requires a decent drop to flow properly, and thats before you figure out where to get a syphon kit from, how to get the car high enough to get a good “drop” or what to put the fuel in, because the BP M&S manager frowns upon fuel being pissed all over the forecourt by a frantic wannabe mechanic.

Eliminating the unfeasible, it turns out that someone once knew someone who got a company to come round and sort it out, and we hit google, surprise surprise we are now introduced to the fuel draining subculture, there are a dozen fuel draining companies advertising on google adwords, and paying a hefty fee to boot, and the garage has 4 business cards for local fuel drainers.

We hum, we haw and we think about our options, the fuel drainer wants 170 quid, the mechanic friend is offering to tow you home once he gets off shift and sort it out in your drive with some empty catering size margarine tubs.

You think about your neighbours and the wife, and what they will make of the planned shenanigans in your front drive and you opt for the fuel draining company.

You call them, it might be forecourt assist, fuelfixer, fuel-fix, greenways, doctor fuel, fuel doctor, GPS, AFS247, or any number of independent companies and offer up you debit card details.

half an hour later they turn up. orange recovery lights flashing like a school disco, the red bull ridden fuel drainer hops out and gets to work, maybe he will set up the “exclusion zone” this is a few traffic cones with no smoking signs “fuel drain in progress” all in high visibility to bring maximum embarrassment to the victim.

The suction line is put down the cars throat and the pump kicks in, 10 minutes later, you are asked to pay, yes pay to have 120 pounds of fuel taken off you.

The helpful fuel drainer pushes your car back onto the pump, and you start where you left off, albeit paying a fair bit more attention.

£290 lighter from the fuel drain & the removed fuel, you now pay again for your diesel, and wonder how you ever managed to spend 2 hours of your life and 400 quid in a petrol station.

Welcome my friend, this club is bigger than you think!

For 24 hour assistance call us now