Cars damaged by bad gas

[Jeepster_nut]

Would dry gas prevent this? I live in the area and dont want to mess up my cars injectors and pay dearly.

http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/business/conn-cars-being-damaged-by-bad-gasoline

 

[Dave Sherman]

Since it doesn't say what made the gas bad, it's impossible to say Drygas would fix it. Who knows? It could be spiked with diesel, which happens occasionally. It would be interesting to know what required replacing injectors, unless that's overzealous dealers trying to make a buck when all they needed to do was flush out the bad gas.

 

[Spazdog]

It's probably overblended gas. As high as E-85. Adding drygas will not help in that case. Most "drygas" products are methanol or isopropyl alcohol. There's already too much alcohol, adding more isn't going to help.

Most simply would be a terminal error. Tanker Driver picked up the wrong fuel.

Whether it was the driver's fault or the terminal's fault,...who knows?

If we had a list of the affected cars, we'd know right away. If you don't see any Flex-Fuel cars on the damaged car list, it was most likely E-85.

But then again, stuff like this happens:
Quote:
Scott Morrison is the owner of the City Garage chain in North Texas and he related the story of his technical director's run-in with ethanol; in December he filled up his E85 Flex Fuel Chevy Suburban at the Exxon station in Ovilla, just south of Dallas. His Suburban died on the spot, because even an E85-equipped vehicle will not run on the 100% pure ethanol that Exxon station was pumping that day. In that case it was not Exxon's fault but a mistake at the distribution center, and Exxon (XOM) quickly made good for the cost of repairs.
Ed Wallace, Business Week
So that is a possibility too.

 

[ahoier]

Originally Posted By: Spazdog
If we had a list of the affected cars, we'd know right away. If you don't see any Flex-Fuel cars on the damaged car list, it was most likely E-85.
Good point

And see, here's my thing about the whole "bad gas" possibility...if I picked up bad gas and say, after going down the road, the car started sputtering, and puffing smoke, you bet I'd be pulling over, turning the car off, and calling for a tow or help of some sort.

To go as far as needing "new injectors" they had to be running the vehicles for long miles with the sputtering, etc......

It's strange how times change though. My grandpa always carried around a bottle or 2 of "STP Gas Treatment" the red 5 or 6 oz. bottle, which seemed to be merely Kerosene and possibly some mild detergents, said to "spring life back to bad gas".....but in the new days of our E-10....ethanol itself dries water in it's own per se....I think the "new" thing to keep in the glovebox is a bottle of Upper Cylinder Lubricant, whether it be Lucas Fuel Injector Cleaner, or Marvel Mystery Oil.....I know accidents happen but seems times have changed. used to be the big scare was getting "water in the tank" - but I think the new scare is getting too much dry, corn fuel in the tank hehe.

In that case, dry gas (which is equivalent to camp fuel and/or kerosene?) won't help anything....a UCL might help to "buffer" the ethanol fuel....but you're probably still looking at a complete drain, and re-fill....

 

[exranger06]

I doubt it was because of E85. There is not a single gas station in the entire state of CT that sells E85. This is just wonderful, this is right in my area, and I need to fill my tank today...

 

[Rix]

The bad gas problems we had a few years ago, was due to an "extra heavy polymer" in the fuel. (according to the fuel company) and was all over the place.
They were paying (the oil/gas company) to replace the fuel injectors and drain/fill the tank.
We (the shop) replaced TONS of injectors on newer cars (6 and 12 hole injectors, mostly narrow body style) and sent alot of older ones out for cleaning. (the new injectors don't respond to cleaning).
The fuel at the time looked like mountain dew.
And it did not take long to screw up the injectors. There was very little warning. There was no initial sputtering, smoke, nothing.

 

[punisher]

Hard to figure how a refinery/terminal could screw up like this.

The chemists are always sampling at the refinery before product hits the lines. In the chemist shack they have a list of available distillates and they blend accordingly to meet specs (RVP, octane, lubricity etc). After the gas is blended, both products (lo/hi octane blends) are sampled before they get anywhere near a pipeline or terminal. Maybe the additive injectors at the rack got a bad mix?

 

[Jeepster_nut]

SO I heard that it is diesel contamination. Lots of cars sputtering and CEL coming on. The shops are dropping tanks, clearing lines, and replacing sensors/injectors.

 

[Bluestream]

It;s likely inferior "foreign" gas from Europe or South America..

 

[exranger06]

Heard on the news this morning that they think sea water somehow got in the gas.

I filled up at the Hess station I usually go to yesterday and thankfully have not had any problems.

 

[rslifkin]

Hopefully that issue doesn't make it down to the Stamford / Norwalk area.

 

[tmorris1]

I can't see why you would have to replace injectors? Sounds like a money grab to me. Drain everything and clean and you should be good to go.