Misfueling petrol into a diesel

I recently filled the tank of my diesel Mercedes-Benz E-Class with petrol. Although there are no legal requirements, I feel Sainsbury's garage owe me some duty of care, as the pump dispensing the petrol used a black pump handle/hose arrangement that is commonly used for diesel. So, selecting the 'black' pump I filled up, paid and went on my way.

It must be reasonable to expect garages to use common standards of dispensing fuel, otherwise why use pumps of different colours at all?

Asked on 12 July 2013 by Fangio's Mount

Answered by Honest John

I still find it crass that Shell, BP and Total all name their premium petrol and diesel fuels the same and that alone is responsible for a lot of misfuels (I've done it myself).

You can usually get away with less than 10 litres in a 60 litre tank as long as you brim with high lubricity diesel and continually re-brim for about 2000 miles. Though petrol 'floats' on top of diesel it will gradually mix into the diesel. But if there is petrol in the diesel tank you must never let the level run low or you will wreck your injection pump.

Tags: misfuelling

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