Oh CRAP.....wrong gas

That's the first time in 45 yrs of driving, that I started to pick up the wrong nozzle.

I've seen diesel nozzles that were not green, and not blue. Just dirty black like the regular gas nozzles. But you guys are correct, supposedly a diesel nozzle will not fit into a newer (?) non-diesel gas tank. But you still hear stories of people doing it somehow.

 

Twice a year, I would pour a $5 bottle of Chevron "Techron" fuel system cleaner into my Camry's tank. Have no idea if it made any difference, or if it was actually needed. Top Tier gas seems to be good enough these days.

 

Gotta hunch those fuel treatments don't do much, if anything. I do use Chevron, virtually exclusively, just a hunch they have good quality control, and they're the only stations in town that still provide free air. That said, the last few times I've aired up the tires, at more than one station too, the pumps seemed barely capable, not sure what's going on there.

 

Diesel nozzles are typically 24 mm (except for high-flow (truck) nozzles at 30 mm), versus unleaded gasoline nozzles at 21 mm. And, leaded gasoline nozzles were typically 25 mm, IIRC - within the tolerance range for diesel nozzles.

However, it's worth noting that 21 mm diesel nozzles, while they used to be around here and there, are far less common now, due to a lot of diesel cars having mechanisms to prevent a 21 mm nozzle from being used to fuel the vehicle - only a ~24 mm nozzle can open the filler neck.

Also, BP locations will typically use black for diesel, as that's the European (at minimum UK) standard, I believe.

 

Oh..my god! It's a tragedy! Siphon it all out now, like it's snakes venom.

You're absolutely fine.
If it makes you feel better, some people occasionally run fuel injection/system cleaners that temporarily change the octane of the gas in the tank.

Even though I hesitate to recommend it, because I feel it's probably unnecessary, about twice a year I run a tank of Premium just for kicks, and I use a Techron fuel treatment.

I recommend simply using "regular" but 2 gallons of mid-grade...even a whole tank of premium, IMO is not a problem.

 

FOUND IT - the handbook says (Page headed "OPENING THE FUEL TANK CAP"):
"To help prevent incorrect fuelling, your vehicle has a fuel tank opening that only accommodates the special nozzle on unleaded fuel pumps".

Which presumably includes premium and E10.

 

Maybe on a REALLY old car. My Dad's 1992 Camry, 250,000km, (fuel injected) was running a bit rough, recently his mechanic suggested some fuel injector cleaner - 2 bottles later, it was definitely running better.

 

Yes, I knew there was a nozzle size difference. I couldn't remember what wouldn't fit into what. So the diesel pump won't fit into a gas car. Today with diesel at the same pump as the gas you have to be careful.

 

UK pumps have 4 nozzles. Of the 4 on each pump, Shell has two green nozzles, one for Fuelsave (normal UL) and one for Nitro (Super UL) and two black nozzles, one for normal Diesel and one for Nitro diesel. The two different fuel Nitro nozzles could be very easily confused if you're not paying attention.

 

Not always. Don't be lazy, always pay attention and pick the right nozzle pump.

 

There's no standard for colors. Read, then grab.

Except at BP, where diesel's always black, regular gas is always green. (Premium is sometimes gold, with midgrade being silver, IIRC, unless they share a nozzle with regular.) Then you can look at the color and grab. Unless it's a station that isn't conforming to the standards, then you still get the wrong nozzle, so still read.

 

Exactly. Look twice, squeeze once. Some places thankfully have dedicated pumps for diesel, although a number of years ago I did see a woman in a Geo Tracker about to put diesel in her car. I stopped her before she grabbed the pump handle.

 

To be fair, as a former diesel owner, stations that have diesel at every pump are amazing.

Often, stations have diesel on only one pair of gasoline pumps, or in between two pairs of gasoline pumps on one side of the station. And, invariably, at an empty station, someone with a gasoline vehicle will go for the first pump they see, and that'll be one that blocks a diesel pump. Only takes two of those to block both of the diesel pumps, then you have to wait for one of them to finish.

It's the diesel version of getting ICEd, except not as awful as actually getting ICEd (because you only have to wait 5-15 minutes, not hours, and you've probably got enough fuel to get somewhere else).

Basically, it's just good fuel station etiquette, before stopping at a pump, to see if you're blocking a diesel pump.

 

That "free" air is mighty expensive when you factor the surcharge per gallon(litre) your paying at the pump. You must certainly could have afforded a nice compressor by now & would be able to adjust

 

Prices are very steady here, no premium at Chevron. I do use a bicycle pump on a occasion, especially if it's just one problematic tire.

 

Not in his neck of the woods. While visiting his Province, I've noticed a very glaring lack of price competition. Every station in town usually has exactly the same price, regardless of brand or no-brand. Except for the Costco in Kamloops, which did post a price 5 cents/liter lower than everyone else.

 

I believe this varies by location. Around here, the market is large enough to justify separate tanks for each blend.