Misfuelling a costly mistake

And car companies and service stations are refusing to accept responsibility and blaming each other for what could be a growing and expensive mechanical problem.

RACQ technical services manager Steve Spalding said they did not keep figures on misfuelling, but pointed out that in the UK last year there were 150,000 incidences. He said misfuelling must be on the increase here as our diesel market had increased markedly in the past few years.

Private and non-private diesel cars, SUVs and light commercials now comprise 22.8 per cent of the market, up from just 11.2 per cent in 2005. So far this year 120,988 diesel vehicles have been sold, which is 10,000 more than in the whole of 2005. The biggest increase has been in passenger vehicles, up almost 300 per cent from 7071 in 2005 to 20,579 last year.

"Misfuelling usually doesn't occur on the first refill but about the third or fourth refill when the owner goes back to their old habits," he said. Because petrol is a solvent and doesn't contain any lubricants, it can cause major metal-to-metal damage in a diesel engine.

Spalding said misfuelling a petrol car with diesel would not cause as much damage and was more difficult to do as diesel nozzles were usually bigger than the filler neck on a petrol car.

He said the best advice to motorists who have misfuelled a diesel car with petrol is to not start the car. "Even turning on the ignition can cause expensive damage," he said.

He warned that motorists are not covered for misfuelling under their car warranty or most insurance policies. "The RACQ would like to see more differentiation between of pumps at service station and a standardisation of colours to signify diesel," he said. The RACQ is also considering endorsing a product which can be inserted in the filler neck of your vehicle to prevent anything but a diesel nozzle being inserted.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries claim it is not the responsibility of the manufacturer to fit such devices as standard and points out that new cars have stickers inside the petrol filler flap that showed what fuel should be used.

FCAI boss Andrew McKellar said service stations needed to respond to the growth in diesel passenger cars and "provide diesel customers with the same level of service as they do for those who drive petrol vehicles. Diesel customers should expect to have more than one bowser at a service station and that it will be clean, well-lit and under cover."

Motor Trades Association of Queensland spokesman Richard Payne said a simpler and cheaper solution would be for car companies to fit a valve that would prevent a smaller petrol nozzle going into the diesel filler neck. "I wouldn't think they would be expensive especially on a volume basis, so I would like to see something like that," he said.

He pointed out that a diesel nozzle was too big for a petrol neck and misfuelling didn't cause much damage, yet a petrol nozzle could easily fit into a wider diesel neck and cause extensive damage. "Whereas some of the old diesels were a bit tolerant of having some petrol in them, the modern common-rail types are intolerant to any mixture whatsoever," he said.

"Our members tell us it is a reasonably common occurrence to misfuel diesel vehicles and it's mainly because the motorists have other things on their mind. They've been used to putting petrol in their cars all their lives and all of a sudden they have their first diesel car. Diesel cars are a relatively small volume at the moment, but it is on the increase as people look for cleaner emissions and better economy."