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How to Avoid Putting the Wrong Fuel in Your Vehicle
Have you ever put the wrong fuel in your vehicle by mistake? If you have, you aren’t alone. Statistics from the AA show that an incredible 150,000 people fill up with the wrong fuel every year in the United Kingdom alone that is one every three and a half minutes. In most cases, the wrong fuel used is petrol in a diesel vehicle, as it is fairly difficult to fit a diesel nozzle into the narrow neck of a petrol fuel tank.
Despite the fact that putting the wrong fuel in your car can have serious consequences for the function of the engine, so called misfuelling seems to be a growing problem amongst UK drivers. Some specialists have surmised that there are several reasons that people seem to use the wrong fuel so frequently.
The main reason is often lack of concentration… you drive into the fuel station, and you’re thinking about what to buy for dinner, or whether you’ll get to your next appointment on time, and the next thing you know, you’ve put several gallons of petrol in your diesel tank. Another common reason for using the wrong fuel is that newer models of diesel cars are much quieter and more powerful that their predecessors. It is very easy to forget that you are not driving a petrol fuelled car, and make what could be a costly mistake. Another consideration is that sometimes fuel pumps are not clearly labelled, or a previous user has put the nozzle back in the wrong place, which means you inadvertently fill up with the petrol instead of diesel.
While one of the best ways to ensure you don’t misfuel is to stay focused on what you are doing, we all have times when we are too busy or stressed, and make mistakes. There are some great products on the market which are designed specifically to help you to avoid using the wrong fuel even when you have got one hundred other things on your mind.
Fuelsure, Solocap, Solodiesel and Fuel Angel are amongst the many misfuel prevention devices available today. These devices can be fitted to your vehicle’s fuel tank cap in minutes and make it impossible to fill up your diesel fuel tank with the wrong fuel. Misfuel prevention products offer excellent value for money and could potentially save you a healthy wad of cash, that you might have to spend in repairs if you use the wrong fuel. These fuel cap covers are a particularly good investment for vehicles which are driven/filled up by more than one driver, and have become a standard option for many fleets of business vehicles. Another idea which can work well is to apply a brightly coloured sticker to your fuel tank cap, which will act as a visual reminder to use diesel instead of petrol. This is a cheaper option than buying one of the fuel cap devices mentioned previously but obviously is not foolproof, so you still need to be wary.
If you do happen to fill up your vehicle with the wrong fuel, don’t panic. For an efficient solution, contact