Hundreds risk car damage due to misfuelling every day
Draining a tank and refilling with correct fuel is recommended
Author: Robin Brown
Published: 08 February 2008
Over 130 RAC members filled up their car with the wrong fuel every day during 2007.
The figures suggest that across the country several hundred motorists a day are accidentally misfuelling their car, potentially causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
RAC Rescue had nearly 50,000 call outs for misfuelling in 2007, an increase of more than 15% compared to 2006 and 385% higher than 1998. The peak time for misfuelling is between 8am and 11am on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays with 20% more instances occurring in July, August and September.
Elvin Ravenscroft, RAC´s technical development manager says: "Drivers need to make a conscious effort to check what fuel they are about to put in their vehicle to avoid an unnecessary and potentially costly mistake.
"Once you realise that you have put the wrong fuel in your car, don´t unlock the car or even put the key in the ignition (some cars now incorporate ‘easy start systems´ which begin to pump fuel around the engine as soon as the door is unlocked) and under no circumstances should you start the engine. You could get away with a repair cost of around £200 to have the fuel tank drained.
"However, if you do run the engine it can cause devastating and expensive damage. The cost could vary between £3,000 to £6,000, or more, to repair a sophisticated engine."
On most cars it is virtually impossible to put diesel in a petrol car, but although manufacturers such as Ford are making it impossible to use the wrong nozzle, there are thought to be hundreds of cases of motorists using petrol in a diesel engine every day.
MotorTorque has developed an FAQ on what to do if you use the wrong type of fuel in your engine. Click here for help and advice.
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i have seen a device on the net which shows a video clip of stopping misfueling. tullmaninnovations.com .it looks quite interesting and i have e mailed them.