Cleaning Out a Diesel Jerry Can

 

When you put the wrong fuel into your car dealing with it is fairly easy. You stop, don’t turn over the engine and immediately call us here at Wrong Fuel Expert.

Putting the wrong fuel in your vehicle is easier and more common than you would suppose, with someone somewhere doing it every few seconds. Again the most important thing is to not turn the engine over once you’ve done it.

Contaminated fuel will quickly cause damage to your engine and this damage may prove costly to remedy. Whether you turn over the engine or not however do make sure that you ensure all contaminated fuel is removed as quickly as possible to avoid corrosion and damage to the fuel tank itself.

The same applies to cleaning out a diesel jerry can which has previously use and now is needed to hold petrol. If you then want to use it for carrying petrol or find yourself having filled up the can with the wrong fuel then you need to make sure that all traces of diesel are removed.

Fortunately you don’t need to call us out for your jerry can as this is a quick fix you can deal with on your own. Carefully and safely dispose of the wrong diesel fuel from the jerry can and then use the right fuel, in this case petrol to swill and clean out the can before refilling it with the petrol you need.

Do not be tempted to use water to rinse out a can though as while water is the usual first port of call for cleaning anything out it isn’t what you need here as water and diesel don’t mix and the problem will simply get worse.

Once you’ve properly swilled out the jerry all should be well and you can crack on with the job at hand. Do take care however if you are using an old can as rust flakes also act as a contaminate to whichever fuel you carry in it. Removing rust may be done in a variety of ways using a number of different products however for anything other than fairly light rust it might work out less time and money costly to replace the can if in any doubt about whether it may be completely cleared.

Remember, whether your wrong fuel incident involves a fuel tank or a jerry can that diesel and petrol simply do not mix and so clearing out contaminated oil and cleaning the tank or can as soon as possible is extremely important.
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