Brand New Volvo XC90 Ruined As Pump Attendant Fills Wrong Fuel

It was just last year that Volvo Cars India launched the plug-in hybrid variant of its flagship SUV - the Volvo XC90 Excellence in India. A Karnataka MLA, Mohiuddin Bava from Mangalore is reportedly one of the first customers to purchase this new XC90 model in the country and he is said to have taken the delivery of the car only early this month. Sadly, due to the ignorance of a fuel station attendant, Bava will not be able to enjoy his luxury SUV any time soon. Apparently, the petrol pump attendant accidentally filled the fuel tank of this petrol-powered SUV with diesel, which has caused considerable damage to Bava's XC90 Excellence.

Karnataka MLA's Mohiuddin Bava Volvo XC90 Excellence

As mentioned before the Volvo XC90 Excellence is a plug-in hybrid that is powered by a T8 twin-engine paired to an electric powertrain (2.0 litre supercharged and turbocharged petrol engine + 9.2kWh Lithium-ion battery). Mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission, the SUV offers a combined power output of nearly 402 bhp and develops a maximum torque of 640 Nm.

Now, if you are thinking how can a person make such a huge mistake, you'll be surprised to hear that such blunders are quite common in India. In fact, such accidents happens despite there being a specification chart inside the fuel tank lid that tells you which fuel does the vehicle run on, mainly because the ignorance of some fuel pump attendants. And that is exactly what happened with Bava's XC90 as well.

The attendant mistakenly filled the Volvo XC90 Excellence with diesel

It has been reported that it was Bava's son who had taken the SUV to the fuel station to get it filled and had specifically told the attendant to fill it up with petrol. But the mistakenly filled it up with diesel. In fact, the fuel pump's staff member accepted his mistake and apologised for the same. Bava has already reached out to the Volvo dealership and it will be fixed but the losses have to be incurred by the owner of the fuel pump, which will be quite hefty.

Volvo XC90 Excellence is a plug-in hybrid

Now the ignorance in such cases kept aside, if you are in such a situation where your petrol car is filled with diesel, here's how you can keep losses to a minimum by acting smartly. Of course this will only work if the blunder is found out at the fuel station before you start the vehicle. As soon as you realise that wrong fuel has been filled in your car, here's what needs to be done (by an experienced mechanic in an authorised workshop) -

1. Disconnect the main fuel line first. This has to be done because the first part that is affected is the fuel filter, which gets clogged up since diesel is a lot thicker than petrol. Diesel mixed with petrol will build up soot because of which the fuel injection will stop functioning.
2. After disconnecting the main fuel line all the fuel in the tanks has to be drained out and the tank has to be flushed with the correct fuel.
3. Crank up the engine so that the remaining diesel can exit the engine.
4. Fuel filter and spark plugs will have to be replaced with new ones and fill the tanks with a couple of litres of correct fuel.
5. Crank the engine again to clean the fuel lines and fill up the fuel tank with petrol along with an additive to clean the fuel injectors.