Contaminated fuel

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sparticus
Posts: 230
Joined: 25 Jan 2013 13:56

Contaminated fuel

Post by sparticus »

My partner filled up her old Audi A4 with petrol at the filling station at the bottom of Kirkdale- on the left just before the roundabout- and said that it was a "bit lumpy" on the way home. The following morning the car failed to start. It turned over happily but the engine wouldn't "catch" Of course, my immediate thought was that she had put the wrong fuel in- she's always had diesel cars before and it would have been an easy mistake out of long habit. The estimable Kevin from Knighton Motors came to our rescue, despite being really busy, and towed the car to his workshop where, after a lot of investigation which ended with the fuel tank being drained, found that the fuel was heavily contaminated with water. Petrol floats on water, and the fuel pump is in the bottom of the tank where it was drawing the water into the fuel system. We concluded that the water must have been in the forecourt's storage tank. Of course they deny any responsibility, and they can afford better lawyers than we can, so we have to put it down to bad luck. It cost us £300 and a full tank of petrol. Lessons learned: don't buy fuel from a filling station that doesn't maintain it's tanks properly, think twice about filling up from empty, and have your cars looked after by Knighton Motors who I think is undoubtedly one of the best businesses on our fantastic High Street!
stuart
Posts: 3633
Joined: 21 Sep 2004 10:13
Location: Lawrie Park
Contact:

Re: Contaminated fuel

Post by stuart »

Thumbs up for Kevin! A Sydenham treasure.

We haven't had any trouble with that petrol station. However, if they did get water in their tanks you won't be the only one with the problem. Maybe a discreet enquiry to the AA & RAC to see if they have seen a cluster of incidents in the area.

Stuart
syenhamboy
Posts: 107
Joined: 26 Aug 2016 03:33

Re: Contaminated fuel

Post by syenhamboy »

You don't need expensive lawyers just put in a claim at money claim online it's easy to do

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome
milton
Posts: 36
Joined: 27 Feb 2018 11:33
Location: newbury

Re: Contaminated fuel

Post by milton »

It may not be the garage to blame.
Modern "eco friendly" fuel contains a lot of Ethanol which is hydroscopic, meaning it attracts water; this water will settle in the bottom of the fuel tank. Owners of older vintage vehicles such as myself have found endless problems caused by this such as corrosion of the metal fuel tank and also affecting certain rubber or neoprene components in the fuel line.
We have had to line fuel tanks with ethanol proof linings.

Still worth checking for others affected, its not unknown for certain types of garage owners to put water in their tanks.
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