Petrol Contam?

jaymoe

Was low on fuel today so decided to fill up at the garage. Put petrol in my petrol car. It was E10. My car is a 64 reg ford focus. Literally 2 mile down the road the car went into limp mode, message on the dash said engine service now, and smoke was blowing out of the exhaust and I was losing petrol at a fast rate. Managed to get it to the garage which was 5 mile away. My petrol range went from 233 miles to 194.
Does this sound like the petrol tank at the garage has diesel in it as I know my car is compatible with E10. I know I might be asked what colour the smoke was but I was concentrating on getting to the local garage but i would say it was white (slight possibility of it being blue!!)

The_Fat_Controller

Call the garage and ask if they have had anyone else with problems.

daveyjp

Most petrol retailers serve dozens of customers a day.  If there was a problem just 2 miles from the station plenty of other cars would be awaiting rescue.

jaymoe

The called the garage and they said no one else had an issue so my first thought was they are hardly going to admit there was an issue. Davey, thats a good point and from memory I dont remember many cars parked near to the garage but it just seems to much of a coincidence of being fine all day, no signs of any issue and literally fill up with petrol (checked receipt and it was petrol) and bang, limp mode and smoke coming out. I know it only takes a second for an issue to arise but all this seems to coincidental to an untrained eye

Grumpy_chap

The best thing the OP can do is wait until the mechanic gives some indication once the car is looked at tomorrow.  The OP describes the condition of the car as fatal - limp mode and smoke everywhere and engine stop light - yet the OP was still able to do the 5 miles to the garage with the car like that and was not forced to stop immediately.

jaymoe

Thanks Grumpy, again being honest it was going 20mph down an A road and each time I stopped it was struggling to get up to 10 but I had to keep going as I had my autistic son with me and just wanted to get as close to the garage with him as possible

TadleyBaggie

Try posting on relevent Facebook groups for the area, e.g. "Spotted ...", others might see it if affected.

jaymoe

Great idea Tadley done just that

[Deleted User]

It isn't a good to carry on driving with the car in the state you mentioned, it is much better to find a safe spot to pull over and call your breakdown provider for assistance.

Continuing to drive risks firstly your safety as you could be stranded in the middle of a junction or hit by another car due to your limited speed. Secondly, whatever the problem is mechanically, you risk making it worse by continuing to drive and potentially more costly.

Limp mode is simply that, provides the ability to get to a nearby safe spot, it isn't intended for you to drive 5 miles to a garage.

Until your garage has done diagnostics on the car, nobody on this forum can provide any idea of what went wrong.

Ebe_Scrooge

jaymoe said:

I was losing petrol at a fast rate.  My petrol range went from 233 miles to 194.

It might be something as simple as a leak in the fuel system somewhere along the line.  That would explain the loss of petrol, and the reduced range.  And I wouldn't be surprised if one of the many sensors in modern cars detected a reduced fuel pressure at the injectors and flashed up a warning.

Norman_Castle

Presumably the thread title should be "Petrol Contamination".