BP Ultimate Diesel

**dave45040** · 21st August 2007, 21:59

Hi all,

Travelling back from Birmingham today I needed some diesel so stopped at Hilton services. Parked up just too far away from the normal diesel pump so thought I would try the Ultimate diesel as it was closer to the car.

Unfortunately I picked up the Unleaded Ultimate nozel and put £20 worth of petrol in before realising my error. Saving grace was I didn't try to start the motor at any stage.

Called VX assistance who kindly told me that wrong fuel not covered by the breakdown or warranty on Network Q, but they arranged for AA to come out to me at a cost of £99.00, adding that if there wasn't an available garage for them to get the car to (it was 3:30pm and they anticipated the AA man wouldnt be there for about 2 hours) I would probably have to pay more money for the car to be recovered to my house (about 120 miles away).

Fortunately the AA guy turned up about 20 mins later, called a local garage to check they could sort for me while I waited and took me there. Although no further AA charge, the drain at the garage cost me another £172.00 (including £20 worth of diesel) and then another £40 to top the diesel up!

All in all the full tank of diesel cost me £331.00 - an expensive lesson learnt!!!!

Aside from this, the garage then kindly told me that the tyres on the front of my motor (18" Bridgestones) were directional tyres and they have been put on the wrong way round, so they are always running 'backwards'. As they are original tyres I presume that this was done incorrectly at manufacture.

Would this have a detremental effect on the life of the tyres? I would like to know this before going to my local dealers to sort out. Also would this result in more than usual road noise - I know there are various threads out there regarding the Bridgestones but I would like to now think that some of my noise can be attributed to the tyres being incorrect.

Happily I am now sitting at home with a beer or 2, a bit lighter in my wallet but hopefully no lasting damage done (car seemed to run OK on way home)

**MAF 3.2 V6 GSi** · 21st August 2007, 22:09

Sorry to hear that mate , all that money for a min of madness .

**dave45040** · 21st August 2007, 22:20

Yep, I know.

AA guy said it is a fairly common occurence - and 9 times out of 10 it seems to be with BP / Ultimate.

Looking at the 2 Ultimate hoses and nozzles after I had done it I can see how it could be an easy (but costly) mistake to make - they are not too dissimilar in looks. I had to keep checking myself, as I could not believe what I had done!

Other thing was that the 4 nozzles were - from left to right as I remember - standard diesel, ultimate petrol, ultimate diesel and then standard unleaded.
Must have taken somone with brains to split them like that - surely the 'sensible' thing to do would be to have them diesel, ultimate diesel, standard unleaded and lastly ultimate unleaded.

**Higgins** · 21st August 2007, 22:22

I think that tyres on the wrong way is a MOT failure. The direction of the tyres helps tyre wear and grip. Id think that the correct direction is important for water dispersal in wet conditions. Sorry to hear about exensive fill up mate. Cars ok though, all ended well

**MAF 3.2 V6 GSi** · 21st August 2007, 22:26

Originally Posted by dave45040

Yep, I know.

AA guy said it is a fairly common occurence - and 9 times out of 10 it seems to be with BP / Ultimate.

Looking at the 2 Ultimate hoses and nozzles after I had done it I can see how it could be an easy (but costly) mistake to make - they are not too dissimilar in looks. I had to keep checking myself, as I could not believe what I had done!

Other thing was that the 4 nozzles were - from left to right as I remember - standard diesel, ultimate petrol, ultimate diesel and then standard unleaded.
Must have taken somone with brains to split them like that - surely the 'sensible' thing to do would be to have them diesel, ultimate diesel, standard unleaded and lastly ultimate unleaded.

yeah a couple of people i know have done it and your right you d think that they would position them differently as they are , its so easy to do especially if you have other things on your mind . enjoy your beer mate .

**Hideous** · 21st August 2007, 22:30

Unlucky, don't they make the nozzles for petrol and diesel different size so it's hard to fit the wrong one into the filler? They should do!
I normally focus on the hose colour "black" these days, but you still have to be carefull. Can happen to anyone.

**AndrewTi** · 21st August 2007, 22:34

I did it.

Ultimate unleaded in the tank. Luckily it was a Sprinter van. Topped up with diesel and drove it like I stole it. Worked fine afterwards.

Made me very carefull since about what I'm putting into the car.

**jonesy_ni** · 21st August 2007, 22:37

Bad luck mate!

At least you found out before starting her and driving off

**dave45040** · 21st August 2007, 22:49

Originally Posted by Hideous

Unlucky, don't they make the nozzles for petrol and diesel different size so it's hard to fit the wrong one into the filler? They should do!
I normally focus on the hose colour "black" these days, but you still have to be carefull. Can happen to anyone.

I must admit that the petrol stations I usually use where I live DO generally have different coloured hoses (i.e. black for diesel, green for unleaded) which makes it easier to spot a mistake before it happens.

In this case though, the standard diesel and ultimate unleaded hoses (which were next to each other) were both black, probably another contributory factor! I cant now recall if they were all black hoses - and too far for me to go back to check! lol

I think that some of the unleaded nozzles are sized too big to go into a diesel car - but as I have never tried to do this (yet!!!) I couldnt confirm.

**dave45040** · 21st August 2007, 22:53

Originally Posted by AndrewTi

I did it.

Ultimate unleaded in the tank. Luckily it was a Sprinter van. Topped up with diesel and drove it like I stole it. Worked fine afterwards.

Made me very carefull since about what I'm putting into the car.

Wish I had gone with my original thought of just putting enough diesel in to get me home (as its afair bit cheaper up here) as VX assistance said that the only time they can 'recommend' someone to simply top up with diesel in cases like mine was if they had put in 5 litres of petrol or less.

As I had put approx 18 litres in, I just didn't think it would be worth the chance to try, as the repair could have been an awful lot more costly if it had gone wrong.