Its that time again, someone somewhere says something and before you know it the whole country is out buying fuel.

This week has been our busiest ever, lots of people filling up cars with the wrong fuel, and its not 20 quiders either – its whole tanks.

If you are looking for places that still have petrol in london or looking for petrol stations that still have fuel then I hope you find it, driving around I cover a large area across london and the southeast and the one thing I have noticed is that if there is a que for fuel then the british public can’t resist joining it, but in the countryside if there is no que – they dont que and buy as normal, herd mentality I guess

Me? I stocked up, we get very busy if there is “a fuel crisis” as misfuellings tend to peak when fuel buying peaks (paydays etc), but we will have a quiet patch after the dust settles as everyone will be running around with full tanks and not needing to top up for a while

but the way these things go is in fits and starts and for the rest of the summer we can be sure that the “fuel crisis” will be rearing its head a few more times this year.

Tanker drivers? striking on 45K a year? who do they think they are – fueldrainers?

chances are you need a fuel drain, or just had one if you are reading this.

the cost of a fuel drain from an independent fuel draining company  is between £145 & £250, the price depends on

1) distance from drainer

2) type of car (some cars require more complex drains such as volvo xc90 or twin tankd BMW’s & Mercedes, some Audi’s etc

3) whether the car has been driven on the wrong fuel and needs a fuel system flush, which is a straightforward procedure but tankes longer than just draining the tank.

the time of day or night does not really come into it, unless its a very unsocial hour, weekends, public holidays etc are all the same as a normal weekday.

a dealer may charge £4000 to £9000 for major fuel system and engine rebuilding, which in my opinion is mostly unnecessary.

The AA does do fuel drains and have a fleet of mobile fuel draining vans, they do charge members and cost about £230, they are quite often very busy and have long waiting period

The RAC have a few fuel draining vans but I havent seen many in the south east, they used to sub contract out most of their jobs to garages and fuel draining companies.

some dealerships will charge between 400 and 800 for a drain that does not involve pulling the engine to bits, but for some reason they often say they will take the tank off and swill it out.

your friendly local garage will charge the same as a fuel draining company, but you normally have to get the car to them

and of course you can do one yourself, or get a mechanically minded friend to help out.

Surely someone else has noticed the drip feeding of news stories based around freedom of information requests to various police and local authorities and how often they misfuel.

I was lost on google tonight and instead of watching the latest you tube potato cannon videos, I was researching wrong fuel (sad I know), after reading 2 or 3  ”news” articles about wrong fuel and the police/ambulance/local authorities etc, I thought there must be a bit of a pattern emerging, so I started sniffing and ended up on a “freedom of info” site and found that some guy called  ”Nick Panchaud” has made 838 Freedom of Information requests to government and local authority agencies, housing associations, fire brigades and all sorts, his modus operandi Is to send in the usual cut and paste FOI requests, and chase them up with the usual cut and paste nudges.

once he gets his FOI information back he releases a news story based around ….. some device he is selling that prevents motorist using the wrong fuel.

I can think of better ways to market a new product than asking the overstretched public sector to  trawl through years of vehicle service records, receipts, etc..

The Emergency services do a tough job, as it is, and yes they do occasionally misfuel, but no more than anyone else, the Met got a particularly hard bashing for this, but when you consider how many vehicles they have, it really is nothing to write home about.

We have attended many blue light misfuels, during the London Riots last year one of our drivers attended a Welsh police van in Croydon that had been misfueld with 10 armour suited riot police on board and a menacing crowd gathering across the road, our driver  didn’t even have the heart to charge them for a drainout, (and he didnt want to be hanging around to run a credit card either).

As for the misfuel prevention devices there are many of  them on the market and most of them work, halfords have about 4 different types in stock, the best one I know of is the annoying little robot that you stick to the fuel cap that starts yelling “diesel” “diesel” as soon as you open it.  - if you put the wrong fuel in after that you have no business leaving the house let alone driving a car.

see  http://davidcoveney.com/1928/freedom-of-information-is-abuse/#comment-1350 for further details about freedom of information abuse

The Freedom of information act is a powerful tool and used for the right reasons it is a good thing, abuses – especially commercially driven, bring a bad name to FOI, and tie up already overwhelmed public services…….. and  (time to put the boot in) as for his diesel key there are cheaper and better alternatives on the market

bit political for a fuel drainer eh?

We work all over london and can get to most jobs within 30 minutes between our 3 mobile fuel drianing vans.

Last week a colleague of mine who shall remain nameless (Darren), decided to save himself 10 quid, and pushed a customers car 200 yards to get it out of a congestion zone before he drained it, – darrens van was on the other side of the big C.

Darrens excuse was it was downhill, but the truth is darren would still have done it if it was uphill, the best part was the customer was sitting in the car steering, – it made his day!

We normally push cars every day, mostly off of petrol station forecourts and away from the pumps so its not that unusual.

The hardest was a 7.5 ton Iveco, I did that one myself but had to summon help from some passing gents, the easiest was a fiat 500, – a “one hander push”

If you need a fuel drain we service London, Surrey, sussex & kent, we have a van at junction 10 of the m23, another in croydon, and one in west london, we can do all makes and types of cars/vans and get you back on the road in 30 minutes – even if your car has driven and broken down becuase of wrong fuel.

If you need us, call us 24 hours a day 7 days a week, even at 3am on sundays a sleepy fuel drainer will arise from a slumber to come and help you out! -

Take care

The fuelman

We have been getting a few calls from Edinburgh lately from people who have put petrol in their diesel cars, 2 last week on the city bypass alone!

If you are in Edinburgh and have put wrong fuel in your car please do not hesitate to call us, we can reach most areas of edinburgh within 1 hour and have you on your way in no time, putting petrol in your diesel car needn’t involve an expensive trip to the dealers, we can drain the vehicle down with our specialist pumping gear and flush the fuel system through with clean fuel.

Please call us on 07514409700  24 hours a day seven days a week for fuel drains in the Edinburgh Area, (we also cover fife & the M8 corridor)

Putting petrol in diesel cars is the most common mistake in misfuelling,  obviously this is because a petrol filler pistol will fit inside a diesel neck, but a diesel filler pistol is to big for a petrol neck.

In london and surrounding areas, fuelfixer can help you out with these kind of mishaps, we attend both breakdowns caused by wrong fuel and petrol stations where the deed was done.

Dont waste money calling a main dealer – call us directly and we can attend within the hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week

Attended quite a few BMW 5 series that had been misfueld this week, not sure if its a coincidence or part of a thicker plot, either way, all 3 of them were drained down in the petrol stations before they had been driven, and none got carted off to the dealers on low loaders – so nobody got rinsed.

Summer is here and we are as busy as ever,

I have neglected the site for the past few months but thought I would write a note about something that I am seing more often

As fuel prices are now the highest they have ever been, and diesel costing £1.40 a litre and up, more and more people are turning to cheaper fuel – and it doesnt always work out!, every few days we do a fuel drain on a car or van that has “something funny” in it, here are some examples;

Red diesel;  red diesel is perfectly fine for car engines, BUT it is illegal to use it on a road car, it is often sold in containers that get contaminated, mostly with water or solvents, diesel traded out of the back of vans in leftover chemical containers is not exactly high quality compared to the highly structured supply chain of petrol stations

Bio Diesel; buyer beware!, bio diesel is an excellent way to help the enviroment and reduce your motoring costs, but.. if it is not made properly and stored properly it can cuase problems – ie you will be calling us for a fuel drain. only buy from sources you trust.

Stolen diesel; a huge ammount of diesel gets stolen through fuel card abuse, the usual method is the driver will use a company fuel card to fill up a truck and also fill a container at the same time, this then gets sold on for cheap, last month some scally was running around petrol stations in north london and selling “diesel” for 90 p a litre, it turnd out to be water, needless to say we were busy. the moral is obvious.

Just a little bit about fuel drains,

Until around 1990 most cars had metal fuel tanks, these were prone to leaking, and also rusted, the rust caused a sludge – and when the tank was nearly empty the sludge got drawn into the fuel pump and damaged it – hence why most drivers over 50 are very carefull not to run around on a near empty tank….. However after around 1990  with the introduction of plastic fuel tanks, the sludge (tank rust & debris at bottom of tank) problem was no longer an issue, plastic tanks did not deterioate, nor did they leak at the seams – which was a common fualt in old metal fuel tanks, also becuase plastic can be shaped more intricatley than steel – fuel tanks got bigger – and were made into complicate shapes that hugged the bottom of the car and used every available nook and cranny.

All modern cars now have plastic fuel tanks.

The one downside is that metal tanks all had a “drain plug” – (much like an oil sump plug) which was a bolt at the bottom of the tank which you undid to drain the contents, this was neccasery becuase when tanks had welding to fix leaks, or needed sludge removed they would need fully drained. (and often filled with water before welding) modern tanks need neither and the car makers didn’t figure on the misfuelling problem in tank design

However if you misfuel and your car has a metal tank, chances are it will have a drain plug this makes draining very easy to do and is straightforward. The problem you have to solve is to get the car high enough so that you can get under it with containers, 25 litre drums and a funnel on top is best, but the car needs to be about metre off the ground, and also level (I put that in bold for a reason), of course an inspection pit is the best solution.

if you are going to do this yourself please heed the following

1) make sure you have suitable containers, and enough of them, 25 litre plastic drums or 20 litre jerrycans, don’t skimp on containers, have more than you need

2) petrol and petrol VAPOUR is flammable, it is heavier than air, so if you are working in a pit and spill a bit of fuel, take comfort in the fact that the little spill is now dispersing into a highly explosive gas sitting in the bottom of the inspection pit just waiting for a source of ignition, dont worry if it is all fine today – the gas will be there tomorrow, and the next day – and the next, so only work in a very well ventilated environment, and don’t spill any.

3) and very importantly, PUT THE DRAIN PLUG BACK IN WHEN YOU FINISH

4) duck ponds, children’s playgrounds, neighbours gardens, motorway hard shoulders, nature reserves, manhole covers, watercourses, street drains, sewers and swing parks are suitable places to empty a fuel tank by simply draining it onto the ground, the upside is around a years free accommodation in a very secure environment with set meal and exercise patterns and lots of “me time”  - or you could simply call your local council and find a waste oil recycling collection point, your local garage will often have a facility to dispose of misfuel, or they would know someone who would take it off your hands and put it to good use.,

No one needs told that fuel is getting pricey, my brother told me today that litre for litre supermarket ownbrand  cider was cheaper than diesel, (chances are diesel tastes better than supermarket cider)

I have seen an increase in biodiesel use, and “nuaghty” fuel use, i,e red diesel, kerosene, parafin, marine diesel, heavy oils etc, these have either been the cause of a fuel problem or been evident in the tank residue , these are all duty evasive fuels that have not had 60p fuel duty paid on them, or 25p VAT, it can seem attractive to use cheaper fuel at the current prices,   aside from the moral and legal implications I would not recommend trying to cut corners with fuel, -, modern engines have very low tolerances for fuel variation, kerosene can overheat an engine, marine diesel is too thick to pump, red diesel although having identical properties  to white diesel can incur a heavy fine,  the serious downside is  duty evaded fuels puts the user on the wrong side of the law and since duty free fuel is often sold in the black economy, the chances are it has also been stolen from someone, which makes the user party to a criminal supply chain

I have also attended a number of BIO diesel “misfuels”, this is cases where biodiesel was used but it did not agree with the car, or was low quality or contaminated with water, a full drain and flush was needed to correct the problem, I think Biodiesel is a great idea and encourage it, the use of it is covered extensively on the net, if you do want to use it, 1) check and see if your car is compatible with it – on the various biodiesel forums and 2) get biodiesel from people who know what they are doing, badly made biodiesel can be contaminated with water or solids and can cuase problems.

If you have used biodiesel and it doesn”t seem to be working for you, you could either thin it with clean diesel or depending on volume have a fuel drain, I would be happy to advise – and I won’t try and talk you into a fuel drain if you don’t need one.

If you have put petrol in your diesel car, or diesel in your petrol car -

1) do not start the ignition or put the key in, this will stop the wrong fuel being circulated

2) tell the forecourt staff what you have done, they will put a cone behind your car to stop people queing behind you

3) call us on 07514409700, 24 hour a day, 7 days a week we will come to you, and drain your car, we will flush out the filter and fuel lines if needed and get you filld up with the right fuel and put in a fuel additive to minimise damage, you will be on your way within 45 minutes with no harm done, our prices are from £140 and we are more competitive than the AA and green flag.  we can get to most jobs within the hour and have extra vehicles on standby in peak periods

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