What an evening I had last night...

Left Romford for the 125 mile trip home and decided to stop on the A127 to top up with fuel, went into a BP station topped up with Ultimate and got my double points!

2.5 miles down the road the car splutters a bit, pulled up to the roundabout at J29of the M25 and it dies. Still totally unaware of what I had done I tried starting it several times. Then it clicked, checked my receipt and it stated Ultimate UL.

I pushed the car to one side, called the AA who were with me in 10 minutes although the 1st gut could take me as the sport bumper is to low at the front to load onto one of the contraptions that come out of the back of the vans, had to wait another hour for a truck with a lift mechanisum to get to me. Was then towed to JCB Skoda at Basildon, then had to wait for the AA to take me to Stanstead to pick up the free hire car provided by Skoda Assistance.

I feel such a fool, I have driven a diesel car for 4 years and covered over 120k. I am awaiting a report on the damage to the car, praying it's only a drain but not convinced. I've then got the journey back up to collect it when complete.

When I go back up I will be popping back to the BP garage, not to refuel! but to take photos of pump 8, I am certain it was not labbeled clearly and I am also certain in normal circumstances at a BP garage the pump layout frpm right to left is UNLEADED/ULTIMATE UNLEADED/DIESEL or of their is Ultimate Diesel it is UNLEADED/DIESEL/ULTIMATE DIESEL. I am also certain that the hose colour was black which again does not sem right for Unleaded.

At the end of the day it is my responsibility to ensure I put the right fuel in the car ......

IIRC BP were slated for their colouring/presentation of diesel pumps compared to petrol pumps, My local BP has huge springy signs on the diesel pump now after several people did the same as you.

You should also be aware that Skoda will now have logged the fact into the system against your car so that any future warranty claims will be scrutinised.

Pity you couldn't get it somewhere more independant Steve.

You should also be aware that Skoda will now have logged the fact into the system against your car so that any future warranty claims will be scrutinised.

Pity you couldn't get it somewhere more independant Steve.

Skoda assist would not take it anywhere else :(

It's done now but perhaps something for other owners to bear in mind.

From what I have read the PD engines are normally ok with a flush through so lets hope your's is ok.

It's done now but perhaps something for other owners to bear in mind.

From what I have read the PD engines are normally ok with a flush through so lets hope your's is ok.

When others have done it at work usually the breakdown company does the work etc, however from talking to the guy who towed me last night many are now refusing toi do the work due to the warranty implications....

Yeah, I may or may not have seen a bulletin about it

I did the same (Poxy BP) but fortunately noticed half way through and so finished the top up with diesel, did not run that great and was a pig to re-start from hot but kept topping up each day with diesel and was soon all OK.

John

I did the same (Poxy BP) but fortunately noticed half way through and so finished the top up with diesel' date=' did not run that great and was a pig to re-start from hot but kept topping up each day with diesel and was soon all OK.

John[/quote']

I understood this to potentially deadly long term to the engine....

Almost did this myself, but realised just in time. Not going near another BP place in a hurry.

Hope your engine's OK.

Yeah I had a close call with BP once as well and nearly put diesel in the TVR.

Did you go back and check the pumps then?

I did, the pump layout was as described above, all hoses were black but it did say unleaded on the nozzle so it was my fault :(

My understanding is that the long term implications are not good when this happens to a PD engine (or most modern diesel engines). You'll probably find the initial bill will not be too bad as they'll just flush the petrol through. However I would bet that the fuel pump will now fail early. If I were you I'd seriously consider changing the car and let someone else pay for future failures.

It will be fine i'd bet. Happens loads and ive not seen a PD fail as yet due to the wrong fuel going in. Older diesel yes as it used to knacker the injection pump as diesel oil lubricates the inner mechanics of the pump and the petrol strips this all out.

It will be fine i'd bet. Happens loads and ive not seen a PD fail as yet due to the wrong fuel going in. Older diesel yes as it used to knacker the injection pump as diesel oil lubricates the inner mechanics of the pump and the petrol strips this all out.

I thought it was the opposite! My understanding is that this is less of a problem with older engines, and more of a problem with newer engines. Although it's not the actual engines that you need to worry about, it's the fuel pumps.

A friend of mine had a Bora 130 PD, which he filled with petrol. VW charged close to

I wouldn't call a fuel pump breaking 2 years later much of a coincidence?

In also nearly filled up with petrol at my local BP station.:eek: .4 bay layout..4 pumps at each bay....Only 3 black diesel pumps and another black pump/hose...SUPER UNLEADED......Went inside to pay and told the guy what had happened, he replied......yep.......loads of people do that.......:( .....To$$er

I wouldn't call a fuel pump breaking 2 years later much of a coincidence?

Are you kidding? I would expect a fuel pump to last a lot longer than 28 months! He'd also only covered around 30,000 miles.

I wouldn't 'expect' all the things that have gone wrong with my car to have gone wrong in only 3 years and 110k.

Didn't stop it happening though, you cant really blame a faulty part on something that happened 2 years ago.

Maybe a call to BP Customer Services would be in order?

From Honestjohn:

"In April, having taken your advice to use BP Ultimate diesel for my Jaguar S-type 2.7 V6 diesel, I mistakenly topped it up with BP Ultimate unleaded. Apparently, 120,000 drivers do this annually and BP generously agreed to refund the costs of cleaning out the tank and fuel lines. The car has just completed a return trip to Cheshire and seems none the worse for wear. The nice BP customer service team turned out to be another sound reason for brand loyalty.

J.L., via e-mail"

"As we reported on August 27, more than 150,000 people a year put the wrong fuel in their vehicles. BP has been putting its hand up and compensating drivers for what has been a serious marketing error, but the company has now clarified which is which by using colour-coded filler pipes and putting notices on the pumps. Ford is developing a device that consists of a sealed filler pipe insert and a fuel nozzle locator that guides the nozzle to the tank opening. The insert contains an automatic diameter detector that only allows the larger diesel fuel nozzles to be inserted into the filler pipe and locks out the thinner petrol nozzles. It expects to fit it to production cars within two years. "

I think confirms what a read somewhere that because of the simillarity of the earlier Petrol & Diesel Ultimate pumps BP would cover misfueling costs on the Ultimate range. Just can't remeber where..

It used to be standard practise to put a quarter of a tank on petrol into a tank of diesel for very cold winters

Why not stick a small RFID in the car and a reader in the pump. That way if the car is saying derv and the pump is petrol it flashes wrong fuel and requires an over ride. That way no problem for older cars as the pump could be over ridden or just behave as a boring old pump should the car not return the rfid signal.