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hi room, with all this misfuelling debacle why cant the petrol stations have dedicated pumps ie diesel on one side of the forecourt and petrol on tuther? that way at least the numpty in the wrong queue may at least get a friendly nod from the car behind or even better have painted arrows upon entry with corresponding signage... zoo
Edited by Pugugly on 06/08/2008 at 21:31
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Sounds reasonable to me - then I wouldn't get my shoes dirty with the filthy 'd' word, either.
However, it would probably cost the likes of Esso or (particularly, from what I noticed in the UK recently) BP .00000000000001p per litre to implement - so, no chance.
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mike, in my experience petrol stations have make overs just as quick as the main superstores et al, they come and go .. maybe it would be too hard for them to re assign the underneath storage tanks.. but im no expert... some one will probably be along soon to shed light on the matter
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The op's sugestion assumes that most drivers are sensible enough to get in the correct queue if you did this, experince seems to indicate that's not the case...
Personally I feel that Unleaded, Super Unleaded and Diesel should be at all locations in the forecourt... with some sort of verbal(?) warning when you remove the nozzle to fill up....
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Most petrol stations I visit have queues of people who seem to think that which queue they join has to depend on which side of their car the filler cap is, so they aren't likely to cope well with a petrol department and a diesel 'department' I'd guess
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Ha, that's very true. I've never understood why people don't realise the fuel hose will reach to either side of the car .... still, often saves me queueing so we shouldn't complain :)
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The manager of the filling station at my local Sainsbury's (which I no longer use) used to reckon that the auto cut off feature when the tank is approaching full does not work if the hose is fully extended to the far side of the vehicle - if you see what I mean!
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son is vw techie. last week he had to drain a van which had been misfuelled. driver had filled up in glasgow and got halfway to aberdeen before the van stopped. van was trailered in , son drained out petrol/diesel mix, changed filters, cleared fuel lines and away goes van. vw's seem to get off without new fuel pumps unlike the fords posted on here. misfuelling seems to be a regular occurrence judging by the number son's work drain. jag.
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I've never understood why people don't realise the fuel hose will reach to either side of the car ....
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I do realise but am not prepared to risk back strain lifting a hose over the boot , so it does not scrape the paint, and then it only just makes the filler tube.
I am pleased to see that some filling station are fitting pumps with hoses connected way up in the air rather than at waist level. These do permit easier filling from the other side.
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Why should most of us be penalized in order to cater for idiots?.Nanny state again!!!
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I've never understood why people don't realise the fuel hose will reach to either side of the car ....
Not everyone has the strength and agility to lug a hose over to the other side.
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why cant the petrol stations have dedicated pumps ie diesel on one side of the forecourt and petrol on tuther?
They'd have to have more pumps, and therefore a larger forecourt, or throughput of customers would be restricted.
People would still make mistakes and put in the wrong fuel. People would also make mistakes and pull up at the wrong pump, realise, and have to manoeuvre.
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The filling stations do have some responsibilty here.
They should standardise on hose and nozzle colour - green for unleaded and black for diesel. They should also state on the nozzle fuel type.
On one occasion, I selected the black nozzle which had a black hose. The fuel type label was missing from the nozzle. Only when I checked did I find that it was the petrol hose. Fortunately, I hadn't started using it.
I've come across blue hoses and yellow ones. Which fuel they were I've no idea. Labelling the nozzle 'Ultimate' or whatever doesn't help either.
Having had diesel cars for over fifteen years, I've not made a mistake yet. (I probably will next week now!). But sensible labelling and colour coding would certainly help.
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Fully agree astrabob.
Should be standardised colours.
Bu then the colour blind argument begins I suppose ?
Do the fuel companies and petrol stations have any concerns about misfuelled cars is another pertinent question too?
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@ Jag -- depends on the age of the VW group vehicle but until late last year, their 4-cyl diesels were direct injection.
This means they don't have the ultra high-pressure injection pump that common-rail diesels do.
It's this pump that can suffer with mis-fuelling, as it's a high-precision bit of kit that also relies on the diesel fuel for lubrication to its working faces.
After misfuelling, lubrication is diluted, which can cause the case-hardening in the pump to get eroded, which means metal fragments get into the fuel system .... you can guess the rest.
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Craig, I though that the PD version of DI works at a higher pressure than the CR?
Would agree with the others that they should use colours for the hoses as well - all the unleaded should be green (including super-u), and diesel black... I don't think there's any concern re colour blind people as they have that problem now - I suspect they are amongst the most careful of the users already!!
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Yorkiebar - if the rules are being applied efficiently I would like to think that we aren't going to get many colour blind people refuelling cars!
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They should also state on the nozzle fuel type.
That isn't necessary. You can tell by feel which is which. Diesel nozzles feel oily, petrol nozzles feel clean.
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It's not the case that color blind people see everything in black & white!
They simply can't differentiate between if too many similar colored objects are placed together.
So, a uniform green for unleaded and black for diesel should help every one.
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Our fuel pumps in NZ are always grouped on the same stand, but the diesel nozzle is required to have a separate catch so that it is a two-handed job to get the nozzle off the housing, whereas the petrol nozzles can be lifted straight out. Hoses are all black, but the nozzles are colour-coded. Theoretically, if you are driving a diesel and you can pull the fuelling nozzle straight out, you are supposed to know that you are making a mistake.
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Whatever you do its still down to the driver and, short of having a different method of filling for each fuel which cannot be used in any other, I suspect we'll always have some misfuelling!
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Why should fuel retailers care? Misfueling = more sales. It may be a drop in the ocean but its their ocean of profit.
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All Blacks don't work when they are really needed to ... ( responding to Kiwi Gary )
Edited by motorprop on 10/08/2008 at 01:17
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It's not the case that color blind people see everything in black & white!
All I can add is "There's none so blind as those who will not see."
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How about just including a very basic literacy test in the driving exam ? E.G. ..........."Can you tell the difference between these two words ? " ......... " Diesel "and "Unleaded"
;-)
Edited by Humph Backbridge on 09/08/2008 at 15:18
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Dunno how many times I've corrected the spelling of diesel on this very site - so what chance is there ?
Edited by Pugugly on 09/08/2008 at 15:21
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One of my fleets has just stuck some very prominent, commercially-produced, labels on all it's cars' bodywork - commanding that they must only be filled with "Deisel."
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Why can't people just grow a brain? How hard is it to put the correct fuel into your vehicle?
Frankly I'd advocate removing the driving licenses of those who do it becuase it's quite clear they are not intelligent enough to be trusted with a motor vehicle.
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I think there should be one pump without any indication of the fuel type at all. It would be labelled, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" and the fuel from it would only be charged at 50p a gallon.
Life is too safe and boring these days.
Edited by Robin Reliant on 09/08/2008 at 17:21
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Didn't some pumps used to have a voice control, saying "are you SURE you want Diesel/unleaded?"
Or was this banned as offensive to those with partial hearing?
maybe we should push this concept further? Recall the trucks with the voicebox: "Warning, vehicle reversing.. warning"
Maybe all fuel filler caps should have a similar system, which SHOUTS: "MAKE SURE YOU PUT UNLEADED/DIESEL FUEL IN, YOU NUMPTY!"
Not only would this stop numpties misfuelling, but would also curb latenight fuel thieves?
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Frankly I'd advocate removing the driving licenses of those who do it becuase it's quite clear they are not intelligent enough to be trusted with a motor vehicle.
Or at least mark the V5 of the car in question, so that the poor sap who gets the car next knows what he's getting himself into.
That might be the ultimate answer -- hit people in the pocket. If their £25K BMW suddenly becomes worth £15K because of a stupid mistake, people might be a little more careful. Frankly I don't care if someone suffers due to their own mistake, but it is unfortunate when an unsuspecting punter buys an offloaded trashed engine.
I know it's unenforceable, unfortunately.
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