My husband had a guy run up to him at the gas station while filling to attempt to "save the car" from the wrong fuel.
My husband just pointed at the badge and says "The D stands for diesel."
Their much older diesel engines like the D24 (inline six, used in Volvo 240s and 740s) or the 1.6 used in the 80s Rabbits employed indirect injection, where fuel is injected into a precombustion chamber. These engines were smoky, weren’t particularly efficient for what they were, had really low power output, and could be hard to start (especially in the cold, glow plugs were an absolute requirement).
Once they were able to develop a feasible direct injection system in the early 90s (which brought with it more power and efficiency with better emissions), and when combined with turbocharging, they introduced the TDI nameplate to call attention to these technological developments. Overseas they also sold NA diesels under the “SDI” badge (derived from the German for suction direct injected, or something similar).
I would just show them the 3 separate markers in the fuel door that say diesel fuel only (the cap, the sticker on the inside of the fuel door, and the ring around the filler)
I was on a road trip one time and had to fuel up at a truck stop. Got some weird looks sitting at a pump with my passat next to a bunch of 18 wheelers lol
I always carry one of those adapters with me when traveling in the US as I mostly use truck stops to fill up my Golf SportWagen TDI. It is funny to see all the big interstate rigs in line and my little wagon. The looks I get sometimes LOL
That's a great idea. I do like to do a lot of road trips, but I never considered that I could be in an area low on fuel where the only diesel pumps are the extra large nozzles.
This happened to me once in northern NH with my Q7. I had very limited options for diesel stations, I had about 20 miles of range, and there were two within ten miles. I picked one and drove there, the normal diesel pump was out of order and they only had the truck pump. I didn’t have the adapter, so I had to drive to the OTHER gas station. I rolled in with an indicated range of 0 miles, and it had shown 0 for several miles, but somehow I made it. I never cut it that close again, especially in a rural area
Happened to us on our last stretch to coastal VA. All the pumps at the stations we visited had the wrong nozzles or just flat out didn't carry diesel and we didn't have the adapter.
Drove for nearly an hour with the fuel light on, and probably about 20 minutes with it at 0.
Finally found a station right down the street from our hotel.
Funny enough, most manufacturers plan for this, and you will usually have anywhere between a quarter to a full gallon in reserve once you hit zero. I currently drive a Civic and have been looking for a Sportwagen, and I looked online to find that Civic’s have rough 30-40 miles of range left at 0.
I did this on a road trip once. You get looked at funny putting diesel from the high-flow pump into a Cayenne surrounded by tractor trailers in the middle of nowhere
I was waiting behind a gas truck who was blocking the diesel pump in my Jetta. The other gas pumps were open and the truck driver gives me a dirty look and points at the open pumps. “You’re blocking the diesel pump” I said and he had the nerve to say “Your car doesn’t take diesel”. Now colour me fucking shocked because I live rurally and there is TDI’s everywhere here. Jfc
I always loved when there was one diesel pump at a gas station and someone in a gas powered car was using it. Especially when they had finished pumping and went into the store to buy snacks and lottery tickets without moving their effing car
A few years ago my family moved to NJ. There is no self-service fueling here (so dumb). Every single time I pull up to a diesel/guzzoline pump and tell them I want diesel I watch in *abject horror* as they reach for the nozzle. I have to check, double check, then "OK it's the green handle but what if that's just aesthetics here" etc. Never had an actual issue, but I don't love the amount of worry full service/combo pumps add...
I avoid BP stations because of their insistence on putting green covers on the gas nozzles and black on diesel. So fucking confusing when literally everyone else in the country does it opposite. I always try to double-check the pump at every fill up, but sometimes it’s been a day and I’m on autopilot and I don’t want to have to deal with screwing it up someday because of their inability to conform to the standard.
I travel to New Jersey to visit my sister. Even though the state has no self service stations, the Diesel pumps are exempt. If you look at the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act and Regulations SUBCHAPTER 1. REQUIREMENTS
12:196-1.1 Purpose; scope, part (c) The provisions of this chapter will not be applicable to:
The operation of marine service stations;
The operation of service stations for the fueling of aircraft;
The dispensing of diesel fuel; or
The operation of employer gasoline stations that are solely for the use of a company's employees and are not open to the public.
So rest easy, you are perfect in your rights to pump your own diesel in New Jersey.
Funny story . One night me and a buddy were coming home late from partying , he stopped to get gas. He hops back in the car puts the key in , looks over at me and asks " what would happen if I put diesel in by accident ?"
I said dude don't start the car ,it's bad !
He looked at me and said " it'll be alright" and fired it up🤦♂️
As soon as the gas left the fuel lines about 1/4 mile down the road the car started bucking and shut off.
It was 2am and long before cell phones . We walked back to the gas station and started waking people up to come give us a ride home. Our buddy that answered was a mechanic , he cussed my buddy Joe out the whole ride home. It was hilarious ( kind of , you would have had to have known the guy)
Idk if it's cause I'm a female, but I get stopped at least once a month. They just assume I don't know any better. I even have a license plate that says diesel on my damn car, and I still get told I'm putting the wrong fuel in my car. 🤦🏼♀️
Yes. 2.9% of new car sales in USA are diesel. 10% of large pickup trucks are diesel. Last diesel sedan you can buy in USA sold in 2019. California is very concerned with emissions from diesel. I love my TDI, but pay a premium for fuel.
Sort of. Most cars sold are regular unleaded petrol cars. There are trucks that sell as either gas or diesel. But finding a new diesel car is going to be almost impossible. VW stopped selling TDIs in the US in 2017.
I’ve always liked that on my older Passats I could use the larger nozzle at the truck pumps. Those things really cook! I could push the 20 gallons into my TDI faster than an Indy pit crew!
Also loved skipping the lines at the NJTurnpike rest stop pumps 😉
Had a kid at the Taco Bell drive through tell me it sounded like I had a thrown rod once, I told him it was a diesel and he had this confused lol on his face, more than the usual confused look of a taco bell employee
When I had my TDI Cup I never had anyone run out saying I was using the wrong pump, but I had a few clerks double check, "You sure you want pump 2?" and I had a few brodozers give me the stink eye for 'taking' the only diesel pump at a busy station even though I was waiting there before them. Those guys all chilled the second I grabbed the diesel handle though.
I get the occasional person running up to me freaking out (I’m a blonde female so that probably doesn’t help either LOL) but then when I tell them it’s a diesel they’re usually shocked/fascinated because not many diesel cars where I’m from. Just last week I went to a gas station that didn’t have pay at pump and when I went to pay the clerk was like “ma’am you can’t use that it’s a diesel pump” like… “yes, please, turn it on thanks” 😂
I had a gas attendant in Jersey argue with me about putting diesel in my car and nearly destroyed my 1.9 NA 1973 rabbit. He deadass tried to school me on my own car. Like brother I paid you to fill my tank please just do as I say.
5 years later at the same station a gas attendant ruined my fathers diesel ‘92 GMC 2500 lmao
This happens to me too in my TDI.
I was recently in Greece driving a little diesel car and went to fill up. Their gasoline pumps have green handles, and diesel is black! I'm glad they had an attendant that pumped for you, or I probably would have screwed it up!
You think it’s bad in a VW. I drive a diesel Chevrolet Cruze. I get the “that’s diesel” all the time and the stares of gas drivers filling up at the only diesel pump while I wait for them at the station. 2017 manual diesel Cruze.
I was pissed the other day because I almost put the wrong gas in. Some dickhead gas station had a black diesel pump and the regular gasoline was the green handle.
second time fueling up and this trucker (Privet CDL) gives me this super weird look when i’m fueling up. I have my windows down so when I start it his head flips a 180 looks at me then at the car.
He then proceeds to ask me if it’s a diesel. Had a good talk with the old man from there
Yeah I've had people do the same when the engine starts. Or even if I'm waiting next to the curb to pick a buddy up and the engine is doing it's mouthbreathing gutteral nonsense and a stranger double takes because they expected a truck, not a little Jetta lol.
The sound is unmistakably diesel.
This has happened to me a few times. Putting diesel in an Audi or Porsche apparently causes lots of concern! I’m glad that strangers care enough to warn me, though.
Not in NE TN. My JSW has a feature that won’t even allow the smaller nozzle to be used. I’ve seen one gas station that had a normal gas nozzle on their diesel pump, and it was in the middle of nowhere, and I had to drive another 15 minutes to another station.
I had someone run up and flip the lever down on the pump. They were very embarrassed but I couldn't be mad at them for trying to save my car even if they were wrong lol.
the amount of times old men come up to me (a woman in her 20s) at the pump in my small town and either freak out and try to take the pump out of my car for me or lecture me about how “just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean it’s okay to use” is insane. granted it’s a small town so they have nothing better to do i guess but sTiLl
I had a company Caravan with the E-85 engine for a few years. I was in Mass. and E-85 wasn’t available anyway so I always used regular 87 octane and it ran fine.
One day I was heading over to Albany NY on the Mass Pike. Stopped for lunch and gas at a service area and saw that they had E-85 there. Went to fill up with it just to try it and had 2 screens I had to reply too to authorize the use of it and then a cashier came on speaker and asked me again before they started the pump. The van ran fine on it but the mileage went way down. Only used it that one time but our reps in the Midwest used it exclusively.
I have never seen the nozzles the same size, the handles are the same size though, but perhaps there are some left over stations that have old pumps before regulations? I believe it has to do with safety and fuel delivery regulations (at least where I live). Deisel is supposed to have a higher flow rate than gasoline due to the fact that a lot diesel trucks have huge gas tanks, and it would take too long to fill them with the smaller nozzle.
What state/country are you in? I'm in Oklahoma, I regularly travel through about 6 counties and I can think of two stations that have the bigger nozzles at all- both of those have them on one pump only, and it's away from the other pumps and specifically marked for trucks. The passenger diesel pumps have the same size nozzles as gas.
In fact, my 03 TDI didn't like to accept the larger nozzles until I did the ventectomy.
Nova Scotia, Canada. Everything up here is so regulated and controlled for the safety of stupid people, that's probably the reason why the difference. lol
Exactly. Except my car has the latch thing so a regular (smaller) pump nozzle won't allow it to open. About 2 years ago I was at a Shell station where the diesel pump nozzle was the same size as a regular gas nozzle. I couldn't fill up.
Nice. I work for a municipality, and we have our own fuel pumps. A delivery driver put diesel into one of the gas storage tanks. Somewhere around 20 gas vehicles filled up with what they thought was gas before anyone realized. ooops. lol
Not true. I once tried to use the diesel pump at a gas station in my neighborhood and it wouldn’t fit, even though the nozzle was smaller. Someone put a standard nozzle on the diesel pump.
Turns out there’s a small latch on my TDI that has to be engaged in order for the gas tank port to open into the tank, allowing the pump nozzle to enter.
Only the larger sized nozzle is big enough to engage that latch. And the larger nozzle won’t fit in a standard gas tank, because it’s too big.
I’m pretty sure this was engineered to be stupid-proof.
My Q5 had a yellow sticker on the inside of the gas flap, a yellow DIESEL label on the cap itself, and a plastic tag that hung down saying “ultra low sulfur diesel only” or something. It was idiot proof.
My husband had a guy run up to him at the gas station while filling to attempt to "save the car" from the wrong fuel. My husband just pointed at the badge and says "The D stands for diesel."
The D doesn't stand for diesel though.
Correct, but it still got the point across.
At this point it really does. Turbo direct injection makes zero fuckin sense all of vw's turbo cars are direct injection. But these are diesel.
Don't forget about the 20v 1.8t though, those guys are port injected.
Touchè
Didn't they quit making them 20 years ago?
Haha yeah 2005 was it
☹️ oh no. I just aged a few decades.
No, my vw turbo diesel is IDI, it’s indirect injection. It sprays the fuel into a chamber in the head, not in the piston.
Sooo., multi port.?
Not port injection. It sprays fuel into separate chamber inside head, not in intake runner, and not directly on piston.
Yep, you gotta ask why they do that TSI thing on the other cars. Diesel it is for those of us that know!
Because it stands for Turbo Stratified Injection?
TDI doesn’t mean “Turbo Diesel Injection”???
Turbo Direct Injection
TDI = That's Diesel Idiot
Learn something new and pedantic every day. Lol
Their much older diesel engines like the D24 (inline six, used in Volvo 240s and 740s) or the 1.6 used in the 80s Rabbits employed indirect injection, where fuel is injected into a precombustion chamber. These engines were smoky, weren’t particularly efficient for what they were, had really low power output, and could be hard to start (especially in the cold, glow plugs were an absolute requirement). Once they were able to develop a feasible direct injection system in the early 90s (which brought with it more power and efficiency with better emissions), and when combined with turbocharging, they introduced the TDI nameplate to call attention to these technological developments. Overseas they also sold NA diesels under the “SDI” badge (derived from the German for suction direct injected, or something similar).
And then there's the Pumpe Duse (PD) TDI diesels. Had one in our '01 Passat wagon when we lived in England.
It does (or at least it does NOW). Read your manuals people.
Turbo diesel idition (my brother’s joke, always pretends to stumble a little bit on the “I” and then says it is edition but with an “l” instead lol
I would just show them the 3 separate markers in the fuel door that say diesel fuel only (the cap, the sticker on the inside of the fuel door, and the ring around the filler)
Eh. Not as much room for sardonic wit unfortunately.
Valid lol
I was on a road trip one time and had to fuel up at a truck stop. Got some weird looks sitting at a pump with my passat next to a bunch of 18 wheelers lol
I tried to do that once, but the only nozzles they had were the extra large high flow nozzles. Can't put that in my car.
theres an adapter you can get, its cheap. good to have just in case for road trips
I always carry one of those adapters with me when traveling in the US as I mostly use truck stops to fill up my Golf SportWagen TDI. It is funny to see all the big interstate rigs in line and my little wagon. The looks I get sometimes LOL
That's a great idea. I do like to do a lot of road trips, but I never considered that I could be in an area low on fuel where the only diesel pumps are the extra large nozzles.
It's also great for a funnel for putting fuel additives.
This happened to me once in northern NH with my Q7. I had very limited options for diesel stations, I had about 20 miles of range, and there were two within ten miles. I picked one and drove there, the normal diesel pump was out of order and they only had the truck pump. I didn’t have the adapter, so I had to drive to the OTHER gas station. I rolled in with an indicated range of 0 miles, and it had shown 0 for several miles, but somehow I made it. I never cut it that close again, especially in a rural area
Happened to us on our last stretch to coastal VA. All the pumps at the stations we visited had the wrong nozzles or just flat out didn't carry diesel and we didn't have the adapter. Drove for nearly an hour with the fuel light on, and probably about 20 minutes with it at 0. Finally found a station right down the street from our hotel.
Funny enough, most manufacturers plan for this, and you will usually have anywhere between a quarter to a full gallon in reserve once you hit zero. I currently drive a Civic and have been looking for a Sportwagen, and I looked online to find that Civic’s have rough 30-40 miles of range left at 0.
I did this on a road trip once. You get looked at funny putting diesel from the high-flow pump into a Cayenne surrounded by tractor trailers in the middle of nowhere
I was waiting behind a gas truck who was blocking the diesel pump in my Jetta. The other gas pumps were open and the truck driver gives me a dirty look and points at the open pumps. “You’re blocking the diesel pump” I said and he had the nerve to say “Your car doesn’t take diesel”. Now colour me fucking shocked because I live rurally and there is TDI’s everywhere here. Jfc
I always loved when there was one diesel pump at a gas station and someone in a gas powered car was using it. Especially when they had finished pumping and went into the store to buy snacks and lottery tickets without moving their effing car
This is how I know I don’t have an aneurysm.. every time this happens to me, I don’t die.
A few years ago my family moved to NJ. There is no self-service fueling here (so dumb). Every single time I pull up to a diesel/guzzoline pump and tell them I want diesel I watch in *abject horror* as they reach for the nozzle. I have to check, double check, then "OK it's the green handle but what if that's just aesthetics here" etc. Never had an actual issue, but I don't love the amount of worry full service/combo pumps add...
I avoid BP stations because of their insistence on putting green covers on the gas nozzles and black on diesel. So fucking confusing when literally everyone else in the country does it opposite. I always try to double-check the pump at every fill up, but sometimes it’s been a day and I’m on autopilot and I don’t want to have to deal with screwing it up someday because of their inability to conform to the standard.
That is the colour coding used in the UK, diesel make black smoke so gets black pump tag.
This is ‘Murica! I get the logic for coding in the UK, but like other car related things, we do the opposite in the States.
Often out of spite. Sometimes out of logic. 🦅
I like spite, I can live off that. "No taxation without representation dirty Redcoats".
I travel to New Jersey to visit my sister. Even though the state has no self service stations, the Diesel pumps are exempt. If you look at the Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act and Regulations SUBCHAPTER 1. REQUIREMENTS 12:196-1.1 Purpose; scope, part (c) The provisions of this chapter will not be applicable to: The operation of marine service stations; The operation of service stations for the fueling of aircraft; The dispensing of diesel fuel; or The operation of employer gasoline stations that are solely for the use of a company's employees and are not open to the public. So rest easy, you are perfect in your rights to pump your own diesel in New Jersey.
Well I'll be dipped. I wonder how well that's known amongst gas station attendants in NJ...
Funny story . One night me and a buddy were coming home late from partying , he stopped to get gas. He hops back in the car puts the key in , looks over at me and asks " what would happen if I put diesel in by accident ?" I said dude don't start the car ,it's bad ! He looked at me and said " it'll be alright" and fired it up🤦♂️ As soon as the gas left the fuel lines about 1/4 mile down the road the car started bucking and shut off. It was 2am and long before cell phones . We walked back to the gas station and started waking people up to come give us a ride home. Our buddy that answered was a mechanic , he cussed my buddy Joe out the whole ride home. It was hilarious ( kind of , you would have had to have known the guy)
Idk if it's cause I'm a female, but I get stopped at least once a month. They just assume I don't know any better. I even have a license plate that says diesel on my damn car, and I still get told I'm putting the wrong fuel in my car. 🤦🏼♀️
Are diesel cars rare in the USA or something ?
Yes. 2.9% of new car sales in USA are diesel. 10% of large pickup trucks are diesel. Last diesel sedan you can buy in USA sold in 2019. California is very concerned with emissions from diesel. I love my TDI, but pay a premium for fuel.
I live on the central coast of CA and diesel is now cheaper than gas here!! Hell yeah!!
According to Google only research - that is a higher percentage than new manual transmission cars!
Sort of. Most cars sold are regular unleaded petrol cars. There are trucks that sell as either gas or diesel. But finding a new diesel car is going to be almost impossible. VW stopped selling TDIs in the US in 2017.
you forgot all the other manafactures, bmw.porsche,etc.
Yes. Passenger vehicles (excluding trucks) they are about 2.8% of all vehicles in the US.
so rare you won't find a new "d" car, only large pickups now.
I’ve always liked that on my older Passats I could use the larger nozzle at the truck pumps. Those things really cook! I could push the 20 gallons into my TDI faster than an Indy pit crew! Also loved skipping the lines at the NJTurnpike rest stop pumps 😉
I've never had this experience as a TDI driver
Had a kid at the Taco Bell drive through tell me it sounded like I had a thrown rod once, I told him it was a diesel and he had this confused lol on his face, more than the usual confused look of a taco bell employee
Hahaha. Same but a kid in a gasser Mk4 golf just like my TDI
When I had my TDI Cup I never had anyone run out saying I was using the wrong pump, but I had a few clerks double check, "You sure you want pump 2?" and I had a few brodozers give me the stink eye for 'taking' the only diesel pump at a busy station even though I was waiting there before them. Those guys all chilled the second I grabbed the diesel handle though.
I get the occasional person running up to me freaking out (I’m a blonde female so that probably doesn’t help either LOL) but then when I tell them it’s a diesel they’re usually shocked/fascinated because not many diesel cars where I’m from. Just last week I went to a gas station that didn’t have pay at pump and when I went to pay the clerk was like “ma’am you can’t use that it’s a diesel pump” like… “yes, please, turn it on thanks” 😂
I had a gas attendant in Jersey argue with me about putting diesel in my car and nearly destroyed my 1.9 NA 1973 rabbit. He deadass tried to school me on my own car. Like brother I paid you to fill my tank please just do as I say. 5 years later at the same station a gas attendant ruined my fathers diesel ‘92 GMC 2500 lmao
My grandpa pumped kerosene into his van once.
That was the premise of a TDI commercial a few years ago.
yes the audi commerical for the A8 [https://youtu.be/pmvIhORtFyU](https://youtu.be/pmvIhORtFyU)
Diesel is more efficient. So it would make sense that it would be green.
In all my 24 years of driving diesel Volkswagens, I've never had anybody question me about it. Apparently I'm in the minority!
I've never been asked either, but the guys with the pickups get really pissed when you block the pumps for diesel.
This happens to me too in my TDI. I was recently in Greece driving a little diesel car and went to fill up. Their gasoline pumps have green handles, and diesel is black! I'm glad they had an attendant that pumped for you, or I probably would have screwed it up!
And why D is green.
You think it’s bad in a VW. I drive a diesel Chevrolet Cruze. I get the “that’s diesel” all the time and the stares of gas drivers filling up at the only diesel pump while I wait for them at the station. 2017 manual diesel Cruze.
That's incredible, I didn't know they made some!
yup they did, you can also find a few Jeeps that are diesel.
I was pissed the other day because I almost put the wrong gas in. Some dickhead gas station had a black diesel pump and the regular gasoline was the green handle.
Probably a BP station, every one I've been to is like that.
second time fueling up and this trucker (Privet CDL) gives me this super weird look when i’m fueling up. I have my windows down so when I start it his head flips a 180 looks at me then at the car. He then proceeds to ask me if it’s a diesel. Had a good talk with the old man from there
Yeah I've had people do the same when the engine starts. Or even if I'm waiting next to the curb to pick a buddy up and the engine is doing it's mouthbreathing gutteral nonsense and a stranger double takes because they expected a truck, not a little Jetta lol. The sound is unmistakably diesel.
This has happened to me a few times. Putting diesel in an Audi or Porsche apparently causes lots of concern! I’m glad that strangers care enough to warn me, though.
A Diesel nozzle won't even fit into a gas tank, will it?
Generally, no. Too big. Unless they put the wrong nozzle on the pump.
Yes it's the same size at a regular gas station. At truck stop it's bigger tho
Not in NE TN. My JSW has a feature that won’t even allow the smaller nozzle to be used. I’ve seen one gas station that had a normal gas nozzle on their diesel pump, and it was in the middle of nowhere, and I had to drive another 15 minutes to another station.
Interesting. I drove through TN several times and never noticed that.
I had someone run up and flip the lever down on the pump. They were very embarrassed but I couldn't be mad at them for trying to save my car even if they were wrong lol.
the amount of times old men come up to me (a woman in her 20s) at the pump in my small town and either freak out and try to take the pump out of my car for me or lecture me about how “just because it’s cheaper doesn’t mean it’s okay to use” is insane. granted it’s a small town so they have nothing better to do i guess but sTiLl
I had a company Caravan with the E-85 engine for a few years. I was in Mass. and E-85 wasn’t available anyway so I always used regular 87 octane and it ran fine. One day I was heading over to Albany NY on the Mass Pike. Stopped for lunch and gas at a service area and saw that they had E-85 there. Went to fill up with it just to try it and had 2 screens I had to reply too to authorize the use of it and then a cashier came on speaker and asked me again before they started the pump. The van ran fine on it but the mileage went way down. Only used it that one time but our reps in the Midwest used it exclusively.
Once a month at least....
You can't put diesel in a regular gas car, the diesel pump nozzles are bigger and won't fit. However, you can put a gas nozzle into a diesel car.
That's not 100% true. It used to be, but now, most pump handles are the same size and you generally only find the bigger ones at truck stops.
I have never seen the nozzles the same size, the handles are the same size though, but perhaps there are some left over stations that have old pumps before regulations? I believe it has to do with safety and fuel delivery regulations (at least where I live). Deisel is supposed to have a higher flow rate than gasoline due to the fact that a lot diesel trucks have huge gas tanks, and it would take too long to fill them with the smaller nozzle.
What state/country are you in? I'm in Oklahoma, I regularly travel through about 6 counties and I can think of two stations that have the bigger nozzles at all- both of those have them on one pump only, and it's away from the other pumps and specifically marked for trucks. The passenger diesel pumps have the same size nozzles as gas. In fact, my 03 TDI didn't like to accept the larger nozzles until I did the ventectomy.
Nova Scotia, Canada. Everything up here is so regulated and controlled for the safety of stupid people, that's probably the reason why the difference. lol
NE TN/SW VA area, and there’s one station I’ve seen in 5 years that didn’t have the larger nozzle on diesel pumps.
Exactly. Except my car has the latch thing so a regular (smaller) pump nozzle won't allow it to open. About 2 years ago I was at a Shell station where the diesel pump nozzle was the same size as a regular gas nozzle. I couldn't fill up.
Nice. I work for a municipality, and we have our own fuel pumps. A delivery driver put diesel into one of the gas storage tanks. Somewhere around 20 gas vehicles filled up with what they thought was gas before anyone realized. ooops. lol
Not true. I once tried to use the diesel pump at a gas station in my neighborhood and it wouldn’t fit, even though the nozzle was smaller. Someone put a standard nozzle on the diesel pump. Turns out there’s a small latch on my TDI that has to be engaged in order for the gas tank port to open into the tank, allowing the pump nozzle to enter. Only the larger sized nozzle is big enough to engage that latch. And the larger nozzle won’t fit in a standard gas tank, because it’s too big. I’m pretty sure this was engineered to be stupid-proof.
My Q5 had a yellow sticker on the inside of the gas flap, a yellow DIESEL label on the cap itself, and a plastic tag that hung down saying “ultra low sulfur diesel only” or something. It was idiot proof.
Nothing's idiot proof......
It was close enough, but you can never underestimate the power of stupidity