Motoring Discussion > Someone else's OCD saved me...	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: R.P.	Replies: 33

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:02   Someone else's OCD saved me... - R.P.

One of my best friends has OCD - he had a breakdown - although more or less recovered - he still has some of the OCDs that he developed in that time. One of them was the fear of mis-fuelling his car (two petrol cars in the household) - I remember him telling me how he prevents it. When about to press the trigger he makes a concious check of the of the nozzle that's in the filler and saying to himself "This is me putting petrol/diesel in the car". Fast forward a few years and driving home from a gig the other night we stopped in a fuel station - I was eyeing up the petrol prices (my bit of the fleet being entirely petrol driven now) I was driving my wife's diesel Volvo - I drew up at the pump - got out got the nozzle and was just about to pump (steady Ted) when I did the "Bob check" to find I was about to fill up with unleaded..... a very near miss and only the second time ever that I've come close to doing this. A properly designed filler neck on the X1 prevented me the last time - the one on the V50 is so easy to get the wrong nozzle in. Nearly a very expensive night out. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:09   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Old Navy

I check the nozzle and cross check that the diesel price is lit up on the pump. The pumps I usually use have separate price displays for each nozzle. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:24   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Bromptonaut

>> I check the nozzle and cross check that the diesel price is lit up on >> the pump. The pumps I usually use have separate price displays for each nozzle. Same here. Only saved me once in BP station on the A5 when I got as far as having the green nozzle in the diesel Berlingo's filler. Sunday eve before the work's annual conference for 200 delegates. Mind too full of programmes, presentations and make up of syndicate groups. Mrs B was driving. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:32   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Stuu

I have never once had this problem, I dont understand it however, I have only ever owned two diesel cars ( old Astra and Rover 400 ) and both were loud, rattly and you never managed to imagine you were driving a petrol. Are todays diesels so quiet that people forget what they are driving? Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:33   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Old Navy

Yes. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:35   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Bromptonaut

>> I have never once had this problem, I dont understand it however, I have only >> ever owned two diesel cars ( old Astra and Rover 400 ) and both were >> loud, rattly and you never managed to imagine you were driving a petrol. Are todays >> diesels so quiet that people forget what they are driving? Cannot claim mixed fleet as a reason for me Stu. I've not run a petrol since 1993. Straightforward lack of attention. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:48   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Manatee

>>Straightforward lack of attention. Correct. Somebody usually pops up about and says they don't know how anyone can make such a mistake, or that you have to be an idiot to do it. One way to characterise it I suppose, but then you have to concede that we can all be idiots at times. I put petrol in a diesel 12 or so years ago. No confusion. I knew it was a diesel car, I knew it was petrol. I just didn't pay enough attention to the job in hand. I was watching my youngest acting the goat in the car and working out a route to Vicarage Road Watford in my head. I now have a habit of matching the label on the inside of the fuel flap to whatever I'm putting in. So far, so good. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:39   Someone else's OCD saved me... - sooty123

Depends where ones you drive FoR, I believe some of them are. The Astras and Kias we have at work you can still tell it's refuelled from the black pump. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:49   Someone else's OCD saved me... - TeeCee

>> I have never once had this problem, I dont understand it however, I have only >> ever owned two diesel cars ( old Astra and Rover 400 ) and both were >> loud, rattly and you never managed to imagine you were driving a petrol. Are todays >> diesels so quiet that people forget what they are driving? >> I once filled a Bedford CF van with diesel because it was loud, rattly and gutless. Funny how "utterly clapped out petrol engine" and "diesel engine" are indistinguishable.... Last edited by: TeeCee on Thu 13 Dec 12 at 11:49 Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 11:59   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Dog

Back in the mid 80's the derv driven BX was quieter than my petrol 16 TRS. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 12:04   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Bromptonaut

>> Back in the mid 80's the derv driven BX was quieter than my petrol 16 >> TRS. And gutsier too. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 12:39   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Dog

Err ... mine was an automatic :( pig of a gearbox (and I like autos!) Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 12:42   Someone else's OCD saved me... - WillDeBeest

But there's nothing 'obsessive' or 'compulsive' about any of these routines. (And I know I have OCD because no less an authority than our own AC diagnosed me.) They are just taking reasonable care to avoid an expensive mistake. The greater the consequence of a mistake, the more precautions it's worth taking to avoid it. Getting dressed in murky, pre-dawn light I often can't tell my dark grey trousers from my navy blue ones; I could sew labels inside to tell me which is which, but the consequence - occasionally going to work in the wrong pair - doesn't merit the effort. But a few seconds' mental effort to avoid days of bother and hundreds of pounds of expense? Who wouldn't? Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 12:50   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Focusless

>> Getting dressed in murky, pre-dawn light I often can't tell my dark grey trousers >> from my navy blue ones I only leave one pair on the floor - you must have quite a pile :) Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 12:57   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Bromptonaut

Getting dressed in murky, pre-dawn light I can't tell my black shoes from my brown ones. The wrong pair merely affronts one's sartorial sense but I've twice managed one of each. Didn't notice until train was coming into Euston and I looked down to tuck trousers into socks for the bike ride to office. Most folks in the office didn't notice unless I told them. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 13:07   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Manatee

Brahn booits to t'office? Surprised you've not been drummed out. How are you getting on with getting champerty back on the books? Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 13:28   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Dog

>>Getting dressed in murky, pre-dawn light I often can't tell my dark grey trousers from my navy blue ones<< Have you never heard of the electric light bulb, Beest? it was invented by a Cornishman called Humph, apparently. What you do is plug the electric light bulb into something called electricity, which was invented by a fish BTW. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 13:33   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Bromptonaut

>> Have you never heard of the electric light bulb, Beest? Don't know how Beest fares but have you ever heard my wife if I put a light on while she's still akip? You might well do even if you are miles away!! Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 13:43   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Dog

You shouldn't mess with a woman's Pineal gland first thing in the morning though Brompt. :) Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 19:29   Someone else's OCD saved me... - PhilW

"put a light on while she's still akip?" Ever tried hanging your next day's clothes in bathroom the night before? Have shower and get dressed in the light. Outdoor shoes? Surely they're not allowed in the bedroom? Leave 'em downstairs and put on there - in the light!! Reply to this message | Report message

Fri 14 Dec 12 06:29   Someone else's OCD saved me... - WillDeBeest

Thanks for the advice, chaps, but that's exactly my point: there are all kinds of things I could do but the consequences of what I probably shouldn't call the Trouser Problem aren't serious enough to make them worth the bother. Wrong fuel in the car, on the other hand... Incidentally, Phil, on the shoes point, you seem to be mistaking Bromp and me for Bobby - and there's a good reason for his shoes not being allowed upstairs. }:---) Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 13:44   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Zero

I filled my Cavalier 1.7TD with a 50/50 petrol diesel mix. It drove fine, well as good as it did before anyway. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Thu 13 Dec 12 13:54   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Dog

I put a load of diesel in my old petrol 320i one Sunday morning many moons ago. It was fine - after I ran it from Indian Queens to Launceston about a dozen times to clear it out. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 14:35   Someone else's OCD saved me... - BobbyG

My car is diesel. Works van is diesel. Missus' car is diesel. Never had a need to put petrol in a car for gawd knows how many years. But courtesy car we now have is petrol.................... Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 15:19   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Old Navy

>> My car is diesel. Works van is diesel. Missus' car is diesel. >> >> Never had a need to put petrol in a car for gawd knows how many >> years. >> >> But courtesy car we now have is petrol.................... >> And I would put money on a moments distraction putting the petrol in your car. :-) Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 17:46   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Dave_

My last half a dozen cars have been diesel, diesel, petrol, petrol, diesel, petrol, and I drive all sorts every day for work. I haven't misfuelled anything yet, but I know many otherwise intelligent people who have so I'm never saying never :) Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 18:16   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Armel Coussine

I've never done it either. If you are fully conscious you don't do it. The problem arises with distraction/fatigue and doing things on autopilot. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 18:45   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Robin O'Reliant

I got as far as 3 litres of petrol in a diesel before I twigged. Felt a bit of a fool going into pay for it and then saying I'd be back in a minute after I'd filled up with the proper stuff. I came across my BiL in Cardigan a few years ago while he was waiting for the AA. His newly acquired diesel Escort van (his first ever diesel) had been running like a dog since pulling out of Tescos filling station a few minutes earlier. Couldn't understand it as it had been ok before that... Last edited by: Robin Regal on Thu 13 Dec 12 at 18:46 Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 18:59   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Bill Payer

>> I got as far as 3 litres of petrol in a diesel before I twigged. I put 7p in mine once, after getting a bit flustered at a pay-at-pump only Adsa filling station I'd stopped at. Not used one before and the first credit card I tried didn't work. Already there was a queue of cars behind me. For some reason, and thank goodness, I realised as soon as I squeezed the trigger. Put the nozzle back and decided to call it quits and find another filling station. I now do almost exactly as R.P. describes - I put the nozzle in place then take my hand off it, stand back and recheck everything. Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 20:38   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Alastairw

Funny how "utterly clapped out petrol engine" and "diesel engine" are indistinguishable.... That is so true. My old Fiesta was, how you say, 'a bit tappety', so I shouldn't have been surprised when the garge I took it to offered to change the diesel filter! It was noticeably quieter for about a week after they had re-set the tappets, but they were soon back to their reliable rattly norm Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 21:33   Someone else's OCD saved me... - -

Autopilot, yes thats a good word for the routine of filling with fuel which can go so disastrously wrong. I'm paranoid about misfuelling, check everything twice and then still have sniff down by the filler neck once its flowing just to be sure, haven't done it yet but never say never. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Thu 13 Dec 12 21:40   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Bromptonaut

Pretty much my take GB. There are those who have miss-fuelled and those who have yet to do so. Reply to this message | Report message       1

Thu 13 Dec 12 22:51   Someone else's OCD saved me... - Ted

I stuffed the old Diesel Vitara with £30 of superunleaded a couple of years ago...already half full of DERV. Wasn't my fault...he bleated....handle of the pump was black, like the diesel one. Force of habit Only 200 yds from home, drove it back ok, got the arras end up in the air on the ramps and found a tube wot would go in to syphon it all out. Went back and did a proper fill up. £60 out and £60 in....bums. Ted Reply to this message | Report message

Thu 13 Dec 12 23:19   Someone else's OCD saved me... - bathtub tom

Wot did yer do wiv the petrol/diesel mix? Reply to this message | Report message