August 2014 – Wrong fuel on a superbike
On a hot, sunny morning in August, the wrong fuel engineer Nigel is called into a job in Worcester. A gentleman named Felix has managed to put the wrong fuel on his motorcycle. In fact, this is something very rare and Nigel arrives at the scene to find Felix standing next to his Ducati Panigale superbike accompanied by about 20 of his fellow motorcyclists who all cheer loudly when he arrives. Felix is not going to overlook this because of the looks of things. He has managed to put a full tank of diesel on his motorcycle, which has stopped about 2 miles down the road from the forecourt of the fuel station. The bike is in a safe place to work on the side of the road, so Nigel goes to work to drain the wrong fuel from the bike’s gas tank. Felix tells Nigel that he realized what had happened when the bike started making loud noises like a backfire. Nigel assures him that the bike should be fine, as it has only been driven a little on the road.
With the complete fuel drain, the bike’s fuel system is cleaned with fresh fuel and 10 liters of super unleaded is added. Felix turns the key and the bike starts up and accelerates perfectly. He thanks Nigel profusely and Felix’s motorcycle friends cheer once more as Nigel drives away.
Felix did the right thing by calling Nigel as soon as he could, he has experienced other situations where motorcyclists have tried to perform fuel evacuation themselves and have managed to remove some, but not all, of the wrong type of fuel. Then they have filled the tank without lead and have run the bikes with a mixture of the two fuels. Motorcycle engines are finely tuned, especially superbike engines like the Ducati, and running them on contaminated fuel can cause serious problems down the road, leading to costly repair work. A complete fuel drain and system flush is the only safe and sensible answer.
September 2014 – The Ferrari F355
On a fine Saturday morning in September, Nigel receives a call from a very stressed-out gentleman named Mohammed. Mohammed tells Nigel that he has rented a Ferrari F355 for the weekend to take his girlfriend to a luxurious country hotel. He tells Nigel that he drove the car to a gas station and filled the tank with unleaded gasoline. Driving away from the gas station, Mohammed realized that the car seemed to run a bit poorly and then remembers being told by the representative of the car rental company that he should only put high-octane unleaded super in this vehicle. You realize you have put in lower octane standard fuel by mistake.
Nigel tells Mohammed not to try to start or run the car again until he gets there and since Mohammed is only 20 miles away he should be able to get there pretty quickly. The traffic is friendly and it only takes Nigel 35 minutes to reach Mohammed. The Ferrari is parked in your driveway so it is very easy to get to and work on it. Mohammed has put 80 liters of unleaded fuel in the car, which cost him just under £ 100. Nigel checks the rental documentation with Mohammed and effectively specifies that only the high octane / unleaded super should be used. premium lead. Rather than risk repercussions from the rental company and a possible huge repair bill, Mohammed asks Nigel to drain the wrong fuel from the Ferrari and flush the system to clean it thoroughly.
Nigel gets down to business; First, place a body protection blanket over the Ferrari around the fuel tank opening. The last thing you want to do is scratch this car, a single scratch repair could cost hundreds of pounds on a supercar. He is very particular at his job and always takes great care of all vehicles, despite this, he is still a bit nervous about working on such an expensive engine that currently costs between £ 70,000 and £ 100,000, even at 7 or 8 years of age. , which this is.
Once the safety side has been resolved, Nigel drains the 80 gallons of fuel from the tank. Although it is not a mixture of different fuels, it is treated as contaminated fuel and enters the storage tank with the unleaded / diesel mixture for refinement. After draining the fuel, flush the system with the correct grade of fuel to remove any residual low grade fuel. The tank is then refilled with premium, high-octane unleaded fuel. Nigel gives Mohammed the keys to do the honors. Mohammed starts the Ferrari and it sounds good. Nigel walks in for a quick test drive and the pair return, satisfied that the Ferrari is back at its best.
September 2014 – The Morris Minor
Nigel goes from supercars to old classics in the space of a week. You get a call 4 days after your Ferrari experience from John, who owns a 1958 Morris Minor 1000 two-door saloon in showroom condition. John explains that his son has accidentally put 3 gallons of diesel fuel in his beloved Morris Minor and then started the vehicle. The diesel was stored in a 5 gallon container in John’s garage along with a different colored 5 gallon container filled with treated fuel for the old Morris. There has been some sort of confusion and the wrong fuel has been put into the classic by mistake and needs to be removed.
Nigel arrives at John’s house within 20 minutes of the call, as he is not far away. The Morris is in the driveway with easy access to the fuel tank opening on the left side of the vehicle. John meets Nigel when he arrives and is obviously quite upset with his son as the car represents hundreds of hours of restoration time and is due to be featured as one of the star cars in 3 days, on the weekend. He immediately begins questioning Nigel about the potential damage done to the vehicle’s fuel system and engine and becomes quite anxious. Nigel is used to dealing with stressed out clients and takes out the all-important tea jar to try to calm John’s nerves.
At nearly 60 years old, the Morris is incredibly basic compared to modern engines, but that also means it’s a tough old engine and shouldn’t have suffered too much as a result of putting the wrong fuel in it. The lack of a sophisticated electronic control unit means that there will be no problem as long as the fuel system is properly and carefully flushed with the leaded fuel it is designed to work with. Nigel gets to work removing the diesel from the tank, which is a pretty straightforward job on the old Morris with its low-rise fuel tank and low tank opening. Once the wrong fuel is removed, use some of John’s treated fuel to carefully remove any remaining diesel fuel from the system. Then he fills the Morris with leaded gasoline and lights it. Engine runs but doesn’t sound too good, runs a bit lumpy, and may need some tweaking to get it working properly. After 30 minutes of working with John, who knows the engine from the inside out, the couple get the engine running smoothly one more time and give it a try. The car runs normally and once again a very relieved customer thanks Nigel deeply.
Some other unusual requests
Aside from supercars, superbikes, and classic engines, Nigel has seen his fair share of unusual jobs and has worked on lawnmowers, tractors, buses, heavy vehicles, and even a boat. That level of experience only comes from years of experience in the industry.
If you are ever unlucky enough to find yourself in the wrong fuel situation, verify that your engineer has the training and experience to deal with the situation correctly. If they have a SPA passport and are registered with the Environment Agency to remove and transport contaminated fuel, this should give you confidence in your work. There is always the “cowboy” element at work in any service industry and if you are not comfortable with an individual’s attitude or level of knowledge then walk away and talk to an expert.
