August 2014 – Wrong fuel on a Superbike
One hot sunny August morning, Nigel, the misguided fuel engineer, gets a job in Worcester. A man named Felix has managed to put the wrong fuel in his motorcycle. This is a very rare occurrence and Nigel arrives on the scene to find Felix standing next to his Ducati Panigale superbike accompanied by about 20 of his fellow bikers who applaud loudly as he arrives. Felix is not going to live through this by the looks of things. He managed to put a full tank of diesel on his motorcycle which stopped about 2 miles down the road from the fuel station yard. The bike is in a safe work spot on the side of the road, so Nigel goes to work draining the wrong fuel from the bike’s gas tank. Felix tells Nigel that he realized what had happened when the bike started making loud backfiring noises. Nigel assures him that the bike should be fine, having only been ridden on the road a little.
With the fuel drain complete, the bike’s fuel system is flushed with fresh fuel and 10 liters of unleaded super is added. Felix turns the key and the bike starts and accelerates perfectly. He thanks Nigel profusely and Felix’s biker friends clap once more as Nigel rides off.
Felix did the right thing by calling Nigel as soon as he could, he has experienced other situations where riders have tried to do the fuel evacuation themselves and have managed to remove some, but not all, of the wrong type of fuel. Next, they have filled the tank with unleaded gasoline and have run the motorcycles 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 expensive repair work. A complete fuel drain and system flush is the only safe and sensible response.
September 2014 – The Ferrari F355
One beautiful Saturday morning in September, Nigel receives a call from a very stressed gentleman named Mohammed. Mohammed tells Nigel that he has rented a Ferrari F355 for the weekend to take his girlfriend to a posh country hotel. He tells Nigel that he has taken the car to a gas station and filled the tank with unleaded gasoline. Driving away from the gas station, Mohammed notices that the car seems to be running a bit rough and then he remembers that the car rental company representative told him that he should only put high octane super unleaded gasoline in this vehicle. He realizes that he has mistakenly put in lower octane standard fuel.
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. Traffic is friendly and it only takes Nigel 35 minutes to reach Mohammed. The Ferrari is parked in his driveway so very easy to get to and work on. Mohammed has put 80 liters of unleaded fuel in the car, which has cost him just under £100. Nigel checks the rental papers with Mohammed and of course he specifies that only super unleaded/premium high octane unleaded petrol should be used. 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 give it a thorough cleaning.
Nigel is on task; First, he places a protective body blanket over the Ferrari around the fuel tank opening. The last thing he wants to do is scratch this car, a repair alone could cost hundreds of pounds for a supercar. He is very particular in his work and is always very careful with all vehicles, despite this he is still a bit nervous about working on such an expensive engine which currently costs between £70,000 and £100,000 even at 7 or 8 years, that this is
Once the safety side is taken care of, Nigel drains all 80 liters of fuel from the tank. Although it is not a blend of different fuels, it is treated as contaminated fuel and goes to the storage tank with the unleaded/diesel blend for refining. After the fuel drain, he flushes 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 hands Mohammed the keys to do the honors. Mohammed starts the Ferrari and it sounds good. Nigel hops in for a quick test drive and the pair return, satisfied that the Ferrari is back to its best.
September 2014 – The Morris Minor
Nigel goes from supercars to old classics in the space of a week. He gets a call 4 days after the Ferrari experience from John, who owns a 1958 Morris Minor 1000 2-door sedan in showroom condition. John explains that his son 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. Some sort of mix up has occurred and the wrong fuel has been put into the classic by mistake and it needs to be removed.
Nigel arrives at John’s house within 20 minutes of the call, as it’s not far away. The Morris is in the driveway with easy access to the lower 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 perform at a show as one of the star cars in 3 days, the end of week. He immediately begins questioning Nigel about possible damage to the vehicle’s fuel system and engine and becomes quite anxious. Nigel is used to dealing with stressed customers and brings out the all-important thermos of tea 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 one that shouldn’t have suffered too much as a result of putting the wrong fuel on 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 LED fuel it is designed to run on. Nigel gets to work removing the diesel from the tank, which is a fairly easy job on the old Morris with its low-slung fuel tank and low opening. Once the wrong fuel is removed, he uses some of John’s treated fuel to carefully remove any remaining diesel fuel from the system. He then fills the Morris with LED gasoline and starts it up. The motor runs but doesn’t sound very good, it’s running a bit rough and may need some adjustments to get it working properly. After 30 minutes of working with John, who knows the engine inside out, the pair get the engine running smoothly once more and test drive it. The car runs normally and once again a very relieved customer thanks Nigel profusely.
Some other unusual requests
As well as classic supercars, supermotos and engines, Nigel has done his fair share of unusual work and has worked on lawnmowers, tractors, buses, heavy goods vehicles and even a boat. That level of expertise only comes from years of experience in the industry.
If you are ever unlucky enough to find yourself in an incorrect fuel situation, check to make sure your engineer has the training and experience to handle 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’s always the “cowboy” element to working in any service industry and if you’re not comfortable with someone’s attitude or level of knowledge, walk away and talk to an expert.
