Bad GAS Night Mares....

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
It doesn't matter who you buy gas from guys.

Here is what I do. Buy gas from a place that sells a lot of gas, and has a nice looking station. If they can afford to keep the station looking decent, then they can afford to upkeep the filters and the underground tanks.. The busier the place is the better..

You are asking for trouble buying gas from a hole in the wall station. I pay about a dime more per gallon to fill up at the mobil with brand new pumps, and a nice store.

The last time I got bad gas was after a large rain storm, at a indian reservation (tax free gas).. Water must have gotten into the tanks..

A few bottles of dry-gas, and 8 new sparkplugs fixed the problem in my F150.



For the most part that is true...My friend bought a tankful at Race Trac recently..It is a very busy and clean station...He ended up with a tankful of dirt...1200 bucks later his Expedition is just fine again...Now he only buys gas at busy Mobil and Chevron stations.

 

[chet2]

i try to buy from shell or mobil in hi volume stations in hopes they tanks are in good shape etc

 

[saberz]

I run Gulf, Exxon, Shell whatever is cheapest. All in all my truck still performs the same, and gets the same [censored] mileage.

Now there are a few places I avoid(even name brand) because the owner's actually mess with the machines and their fuel. A Gulf station back in 2001 was found to have added something into their gas and filled up there. My Jeep ran, stalled out and basically drop like [censored]. My friends gas station/shop got packed with cars for repairs and it turned out to be fuel related.

It was found out later the cause was due to that location and it was promplty put out of business.

 

[SteveSRT8]

sad to hear.

We buy over 5 grand a month in fuel, almost always at the same station near the dispatch point.

Can't even remember the last time we had any fuel related issues!

 

[Vizzy]

Generally the larger brands will do a bit more to make sure the franchisees adhere to certain proccedures that will generally prevent contamination issues....however I still think that you can go to larger discounters that have well maintained stations that have lots of traffic and do just fine as well....One thing I do ask and look for is gas pump in line fuel filters mounted right on the beginning of the hose with the nozzle. I have noticed that most of the places brand name and not where I now live (SC) never have these (always did up in PA)

 

[CourierDriver]

Had the water in the gas problem too, used Stabil and the problems went away, now I keep a bottle in the van incase I get bad gas next time..............

 

[PT1]

I filled up my 99 suburban once at a Clark refining station...about 5 miles later sputtering, backfiring and almost no throttle response. Called my dealer and they towed it in. They drained the gas tank and there was about 2 quarts of water in the gas. The fuel filter was packed with white sludge. $150 for a complete techron high pressure fuel system flush all was fine. I sent the bill to Clark...never heard back...called them no response.

 

[nthach]

The only "cheap" gas I use is Costco with a few ounces of SI-1 or MOC Fuel Injector Cleaner(from the dealership, I get them for free) for good measure.

I've used even worse than Arco on occasion, let's just say I saw MPG plummet. I do know that I've seen Arco workers at the stations punch holes through the dispenser filters.

 

[The_Jeff]

Just got some junk gas at BJs. High volume etc, very weird. Went back to citgo and it cleared right up. Ran good down the road but idle was funky, could feel the idle speed control fighting for a constant RPM. Around here everything is the same terminal and everyone gets E10. Must be the add pack.