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Old 13th November 2009, 22:25   #1
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unbelievable gaffe at Petrol pump ruins my day!

-- warning! do not repeat my mistake!
-- pay attention while refuelling!
ok so as some of you are aware I am on my way to delhi in Yossarian (my gypsy) touching some small forests on the way as is my usual habit. Was planning to do a long haul today, crossing 700kms to "Jamwa Ramgarh", a small forest near Dausa in Rajasthan and then drive down to Delhi on Sat noon. Fate however had other things planned out.

I pulled into a petrol pump to refuel and after telling the attendant to "tank full karna" stepped aside to attend a phone call from the pesky range officer of the forest i had just left. While I was attending the call, the attendant, after trying in vain to attract my attention for some time, decided to shift my car to the diesel section and pumped in 30 litres of diesel! IN A GYPSY! I dont know this ofcourse! YET!

Phone call over, fuel bill settled, i tried cranking the car. It seemed to start but refused to rev. Baffled i opened the bonnet to see a weird oily residue all over the engine, like someone had sprayed petrol liberally inside the engine bay. I can see the alternator spinning but the engine refuses to rev! I am totally lost and just about to call Singh saheb (my mech back in pune) when the the attendant sheepishly asks me "Gypsy mein diesel dalte hain na?". Needless to say, i just BLOW UP!

I call up my mech and fellow bhp-bros rahul and dwaraka who do their bit to calm my nerves! after an hour of exploring various options of drainin out the fuel, my friend the
forest officer( the same guy I was bullying around that morning) pulls into the pump with a gypsy expert mechanic who manages to get the car going after 2 hours of gadha-majoori.

The tank IS removed from the body and completely emptied out. After the tank was emptied, the mech decided to go ahead and do a small time cleaning.
Man! the amount of dirt that lies in our tanks! If this is the amount of dirt in a 3 year old car, i dread to think what the situation will be on my poor old 800?

Postscript: Yossi was just not his usual peppy stuff after this point and struggled past 80kph. Beyond that it sounded like a rally gypsy with free-flow with a loud buzzing sound
from the engine! freaked me out man! So i kept within 70kph and virtually limped into Banesar. After refuelling once more, things improved but it is still not as comfortable as before.

I am writing this from my hotel room in Chittorgarh, and the plan for tomorrow is to limp to Delhi where i will get Yossi checked thoroughly. Unrelated: but for the last 30
or so kms the steering felt weird. So looks like the Sitabani plan will have to be canned! :(

anyways, talk to u guys tomorrow. hope to meet some of the dilliwallahs tom...

Last edited by COUGAR : 13th November 2009 at 22:40.
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Old 13th November 2009, 22:55   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by COUGAR View Post
after telling the attendant to "tank full karna" stepped aside to attend a phone call from the pesky range officer of the forest i had just left. While I was attending the call, the attendant, after trying in vain to attract my attention for some time,
Well, you can't really blame the attendent, he did try to ask you.

I am always careful with my GV because most people assume every SUV to be a diesel one. I always say petrol and watch what they do.
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Old 13th November 2009, 23:31   #3
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1) IMHO, its your mistake in the first place. I think we are not allowed to attend phone calls at a fuel station ( correct me if I am wrong ). First you did that. Next, the pump attendant tried to ask you, but you were busy. So he poured in diesel.

2) From my experience, most of the times the attendants are not very qualified ( I am talking about educational qualification ). In rare cases, even those who manage to read ( and write ) local language are attendants. So there are full chances of errors taking place.

3) Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't in inappropriate to pick up calls at fuel station ? I think its fine is the car has all its windows rolled up and someone is talking inside, but its not allowed when you are in open.
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Old 13th November 2009, 23:41   #4
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Originally Posted by aaggoswami View Post
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't in inappropriate to pick up calls at fuel station ? I think its fine is the car has all its windows rolled up and someone is talking inside, but its not allowed when you are in open.
I am not sure if this is from an ethical point of view or something else. There is a popular myth that the radio signals from a mobile phone can make the fuel fumes catch fire. I remember watching an episode of MythBusters, where they put this to the test and the myth was busted.

However, pulling into a fuel station and stepping away leaving your vehicle in the hands on the attendant is certainly not a good idea - be it to take a call or for anything else.

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Old 13th November 2009, 23:49   #5
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One is not supposed to use the phone in a fuel pump. Error 1.

Next, you ignored his call out for attention. Error 2.

You leave the keys in the vehicle even when you are moving away from it. Error 2a. ( )

And, lastly, you just ignored it when the attendant went about moving your vehicle. Huge Error 3.

All this even after every other post on the thread about fuel pumps and tactics mentioning that one has to pay complete attention when re-fueling. Guess you are not bothered about the tricks and short charge these pumps do, but now on I guess you have something more serious that needs your complete attention when re-fueling.

Good to know the vehicle is running and getting back to normal. Couple of full tanks should sort it out, I hope.

Last edited by HappyWheels : 13th November 2009 at 23:50.
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Old 13th November 2009, 23:50   #6
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Sad to hear that. And all other members who state it's cougar's mistake, request to give cougar a break. Poor guy's car is messed up. He did start his post with the words - -- warning! do not repeat my mistake!
No point in pointing out again what he's already realised and telling us to avoid!
Anyway, I don't budge from the place when my car's refuelled just to avoid being cheated at the pump.
Hope your gypsy gets better after a complete service.
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Old 13th November 2009, 23:58   #7
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It happens to the best of us so no point pointing a finger at any one. THis petrol in diesel and diesel in petrol car is very common situation people can get in. You gypsy will be fine by the time you refill her the next time, to be extra careful replace the fuel filter and the spark plugs. You are lucky that its not petrol in a diesel car or else you would have been in for a major journey. Putting diesel in a petrol car has nothing to do with your steering, so relax.


Pramod
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Old 14th November 2009, 00:03   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MX6 View Post
Sad to hear that. And all other members who state it's cougar's mistake, request to give cougar a break. Poor guy's car is messed up. He did start his post with the words - -- warning! do not repeat my mistake!
No point in pointing out again what he's already realised and telling us to avoid!
Anyway, I don't budge from the place when my car's refuelled just to avoid being cheated at the pump.
Hope your gypsy gets better after a complete service.
I was about to post something similar!

Poor guy has gone through a bad experience. No point in rubbing it in!
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Old 14th November 2009, 00:15   #9
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Ouch dude!

I would've stayed back in udaipur orwherever and gotten it sorted out ther eonly. Don't come here - stay in jaipur!
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Old 14th November 2009, 00:41   #10
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Tough luck, Cougar. Can happen to anyone, specially with a petrol Gypsy, or a petrol indica, or a petrol linea, or a petrol almost any other car whose diesel variant sells more.

And the rule about not using cellphones at petrol pumps is absolute rubbish. Total hogwah. Giant dose of excreta. You get my point, right?
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Old 14th November 2009, 00:52   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pramodkumar View Post
You are lucky that its not petrol in a diesel car or else you would have been in for a major journey.
Just curious. Why is petrol in a diesel car worse than diesel in a petrol car?
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Old 14th November 2009, 00:57   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gilead View Post
Just curious. Why is petrol in a diesel car worse than diesel in a petrol car?
Related thread -> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...etrol-car.html

How does the wrong fuel type affect engines?

Petrol in a diesel engine

Breakdown organisations put the figure of petrol misfuelling at around 150,000 cars a year, with repair bills totalling hundreds of millions of pounds.

Petrol will strip your diesel engine of the lubricant used to keep it ticking over and cause metal components to grate against each other and disintegrate.

This runs the risk of damaging the fuel pump and fuel-injection systems, or wrecking an engine completely if used for a significant amount of time.

To make matters worse pre-ignition systems start fuel pumps in new diesel models when car doors are unlocked. This cuts out the time it takes for new diesel engines to warm up, but means that diesel engines can be ruined by petrol by simply unlocking doors.

The fuel pump and injection systems and filters will likely need to be replaced on new models, while an entire engine could be wrecked beyond repair if it has been run for long enough. Regardless of the extent of the damage, the repair bill could potentially run into thousands of pounds.

Avoiding turning the engine over or stopping as soon as possible is vital to prevent more damage to the engine in these circumstances. A fuel-tank drain could be sufficient in such cases to prevent damage.

Diesel in a petrol engine

Theoretically it should be hard to fill a petrol tank with diesel, as diesel nozzles are too wide to fit into the tank. However using diesel in a petrol engine may destroy the engine´s catalytic converter, necessitating a costly replacement.

source: 'Help, I´ve put petrol in a diesel engine' - Frequently Asked Questions

Its easier to google than type, hence a copy paste job.

But things change depending on the quantity of correct fuel already in the tank.
If the tank was more than half full with diesel, simply draining the tank and maybe replacing the fuel filters may be adequate.

Last edited by bblost : 14th November 2009 at 01:03.
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Old 14th November 2009, 08:22   #13
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I didnt mean to blame the attendant or anyone else. Sorry if it came out sounding like that! I should have finished with the refuelling and then pow-wowed telephonically with the forest officer. Lesson learnt boss and I would urge all BHP-ians to do the same! Anyway, irrespective of the way he handled his professional work, he did step in to help when i needed it like a good human being!

i am on my way to delhi now, stopped over for bfast as i type!

Yossi seems to be back in business now after the latest refuelling: no more knocking, revvin is also freer and no weird sounds. Will know details once I get him checked up in Delhi.

The steering problem (unrelated as i mentioned earlier) however seems to be there still. The steering feels kinda "springy".

CIAO in Delhi...

@hitanshu: LET THE AIR PASS!
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Old 14th November 2009, 08:46   #14
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Putting diesel/petrol stickers on the fuel lid makes sense.

Would insurance cover damages in these instances ?
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Old 14th November 2009, 08:58   #15
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abe cougar - i meant - get it sorted out to perfection than be a hero and drive risking any imperceptible damage!

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