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Whether you are a naive driver or an experienced one, you are prone to make mistakes. Sometimes we often make silly mistakes like forgetting our keys inside the car, leaving the lights on, forgetting to turn the windows up or anything else for that matter. However, filling a petrol car with diesel could be a catastrophic mistake and it would cost you a fortune. So, what to do in such instances? Let’s know what to do if you put diesel in a petrol car.  Petrol in diesel car – BIG MISTAKE?Operations – Diesel & Petrol engine

The working of a petrol engine is fairly similar to a diesel engine but there are some changes. A petrol engine uses spark plugs that ignite the mixture of petrol and air. As petrol is a thin fuel and highly flammable than diesel, it does not require high-pressure injectors for increasing the fuel temperature by compression. Whereas, diesel is injected into the cylinder at a high compressed pressure which auto-ignites the mixture, thus eliminating the requirement for spark plugs. One thing to note is that petrol is more volatile than diesel, which also supports the fact that diesel particles are more closely packed. This makes it a denser fuel than petrol.Should your next car be petrol or diesel? Know here!What happens when we put diesel in a petrol engine?

A petrol engine is curated for its designated fuel only. Its fuel supply system is directed for pumping petrol only. So, when you put diesel in a petrol car, the car’s fuel supply system cannot take its dense nature resulting in clogging of the fuel pump and injector. As the fuel supply is eventually shut, the engine is likely to misfire and cause problems in starting.  Solution

If you instantly realize your mistake, the first thing you can do is add petrol to the tank to dilute the diesel. This solution can only work if diesel has not reached further fuel supply components of the car. However, if you are late to identify the problem, tow your car to the service centre and do the needful. The fuel tank should be drained out completely. Again petrol should be filled and drained out for cleaning the tank thoroughly. There are chances that there might be some diesel residue left which would then be cleaned out. You might need to repeat this process a number of times until the complete diesel residue is out. 

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