Q: my focus ran out of fuel and won't start

asked by on October 14, 2016

Yesterday i drove home from work and parked the car in the drive as normal. When I went to go and get some fuel last night the car would not start. I got a couple of gallons in my petrol can ( diesel ) and put it in thinking that would do the trick but nothing happens. It will turn over but doesn't fire. Is there anything I can do

My car has 54000 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.

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A lot of times when the fuel tank is run completely empty trash will accumulate at the bottom of the tank in the fuel lines, which will make you car to be hard to start. Use a can of Seafoam in your gas tank to help break up anything inside the fuel lines.

If you have mixed diesel and gas then that is very bad for your vehicle. You will need to flush the fuel system if that is the case. If that isn’t the case, then you may have just run the whole fuel system dry and you’ll need to purge the system. You can do that by opening the line before the fuel rail (use eye protection while you do this and do not point the hose towards you). If there is fuel coming out then you are fine. Hook the line back up and try to start your car again. If it still does not start, you may need a professional, such as one from YourMechanic, to inspect why the car is not starting in order to identify other causes.

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