you'd expect someone old enough to drive would know the difference between diesel and gas. or would at least be smart enough to ask which fuel the car takes.

until this post i would have done the same thing...

Whats the difference??? Seriously.....

Diesel and gas undergo different refinery processes and diesel engine uses diesel in a different way than a gas engine uses gas so they are def not interchangeable. Hopefully OP can siphon it all out before anything permanent happened :(

Where I live, diesel pumps are made special so they can't even fit in the car.

Same where I am too. I assumed they were all like that.

Forgive him for essentially ruining the car? Not only should he NOT be forgiven, he should be forced to pay for the damage.

Putting the wrong fuel into a petrol/diesel engine can ruin the engine and require a swap...this is an FML indeed xD

It would only requires a swap if he actually drove the car for a little while. If OP noticed before they had driven again it's just a matter of draining the fuel tank.

Putting diesel into a gas engine wouldn't even start the car, and would probably just require an engine flush, if anything there would be very minimal damage!! It's when you put gas into a diesel car that it can cause issues due to uncontrolled detonation of the fuel. So OP, just be happy you don't have a diesel car and this FML was going in the opposite direction! : P

14, you'd be surprised. I went to a gas station a few months ago and filled up. About a mile later, my car started losing power and went into limp mode. Turns out, the station I filled at had put diesel in its premium fuel tank, which then put diesel into my gas tank. The car got me home, but wouldn't start after that because the spark plugs gave up on life. Got everything fixed on the gas station's dime, which cost about $800. Luckily for them, I didn't need a new engine.

diesel in a gas tank can be replaced and new spark plugs will fix most things. other way around, and you're F'ed. badly

True. One of my family's trucks was filled with gas a few years ago. It didn't last long. Ended selling it as spare parts because it was no longer worth fixing.

It's much better to put diesel in a petrol engine than the other way around. I accidentally confused the colours of the spigots once (thank you very much, British Petroleum) and put petrol in my ex-fiancée's diesel engine. The damage came to more then €8000. To their immense credit, Volkswagen paid for the entire repair. Though given what I know about my ex now, I would be much happier had they not. :-P

If there's diesel in the tank and you dont start it, can you save the car?

Yea maybe. You'd have to drain the fuel tank. If you start it it's generally unsalvageable.

It would be fine. only have to change fuel filters and drain tank...now if he put gasoline in a diesel, it could blow the engine real fast.

What type of idiot can't pump their own gas? License or no license.

Maybe he has a truck or learned to drive one and is just used to pumping diesel, so didn't think twice about it.

This is why some cars come with stickers inside the fuel cap to say diesel or petrol. However you'd think OP would've mentioned what to get and how much to get.

Larla, it's pretty easy for someone who has never done it not to know how. It doesn't require a long explanation, but a basic one is useful (especially if it's not the car that the new driver usually drives).

In the UK, the diesel pumps are black and the petroleum pumps are green. They also have labels on to say what they are, the gauge says what you're pumping along with the price. Diesel is more expensive, surely you'd be smart enough to use your eyes before spending so much money in a short space of time. I couldn't remember which side the pump was on if I went to the same one every time.

Force of habit is really strong, and the total amount was never a factor to me. It was just "this one is cheapest" and it was always on the left. So when I went to the new one, I clicked the button to the left (in the US they all use the same pump) and didn't give it a second thought.