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What To Do If You Have Put Petrol in A Diesel, or Vice Versa? Oops!

Don't start you engine!! Just to make this crystal clear before you start reading, you should never start the engine if you put the wrong fuel in your car as this will start to pump the wrong fuel around the car and cause extensive damage. It is estimated by the AA that around 150,000 drivers a year put the wrong fuel in their car, this amounts to one person every three and a half minutes!

It's becoming harder and harder to tell what sort of fuel a car takes just by driving it as diesel engines are becoming quieter in the newer cars. As a new driver you won't be able to tell the difference between a petrol and a diesel at all, however with experience of driving older cars of both sorts it becomes very obvious.

If you have put the wrong type of fuel in your car the golden rule is to not start your engine as this will start to pump the wrong fuel around your leading to more damage and more cost than if the fuel is pumped from your fuel tank by a company. Don't think it will just burn itself out, as it won't! Again don't start your engine.

Get the car into a safe place, whether this be at the fuel station or by roadside. You then need to call a reputable company who will pump the fuel out of your car and replace it at pump prices. If you have roadside assistance this may be a good place to start. Give them a call and see if your roadside assistance covers putting the wrong fuel in your vehicle as most now have special engineers for this type of problem. 

If you don't have roadside assistance then you may have to call out a specialist company, or you can call the companies that offer roadside assistance, however they will usually charge you a lot more if you aren't a member. Whoever you choose to drain your tank make sure they are a reputable company and are fully qualified to do the job correctly.

I’m sure at one point on your driving lessons Leeds your instructor has mentioned whether the car is a petrol or diesel, if not then you can ask. This way you can see how the car runs and associate it with the fuel type the car is.

Driving lessons in Leeds aren't just for learning how to drive, you can ask your instructor anything about the road or their car. Most cars usually give a indication as to the fuel they take around the fuel cap, you can ask your instructor to have a look at the car's fuel cap to discover how to identify what fuel a car takes. This way you will be sure never to put the wrong fuel in due to not knowing what type engine the car is!

Most ‘misfuel’ due to carelessness and not because they don't know what the engine takes. Although there are no questions in the driving theory test, or the show me tell me questions referring to the fuelling of a car it doesn't hurt to do your own research to gain a greater understanding of the engine of a car to make sure you don’t put the wrong fuel in your car.

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