Contaminated Fuel

[Donald]

Once again diesel fuel was mixed with gas. But does not look like one tanker truck driver making a mistake. Much larger kind of mistake. Like many tanker trucks filled with contaminated fuel.

https://kdvr.com/news/local/list-of...fuel-released-heres-what-customers-should-do/

 

[ecotourist]

When I was a kid a visiting work crew accidentally put a bit of diesel fuel in the gas of their Pontiac Catalina (an unusual model for Canada).

They drove around with a smoking car for a couple of days. I don't know if they eventually drained it or used it up. I don't suppose it was very good for the engine but that old car just kept going. That was in the pre-cat days of course.

I wouldn't bet that modern cars would be so accommodating.

 

[jhellwig]

It takes a large amount of diesel to contaminate gas at a terminal to the point there is a problem at stations.

Stupid thing is it was probably some valve that doesn't get moved very often and broke or was forgotten about. Or they knew it was broke and had a bandaid on it that didn't get put back on. Not that I have seen any of that happen and then get blamed on personnel....

 

[Donald]

So say they ended up with 50,000 gallons of contaminated fuel they pumped from gas station tanks. What do they do with it? Mix it with a million gallons of gas? Mix it with crude and put it back through the refinery?

 

[SC Maintenance]

Wow, that is going to be a mess for many people.

Anyone know what the first symptoms of diesel contamination in a gasoline engine are?

 

[tmorris1]

Wow, that is going to be a mess for many people.

Anyone know what the first symptoms of diesel contamination in a gasoline engine are?

Running like crap

 

[tmorris1]

It takes a large amount of diesel to contaminate gas at a terminal to the point there is a problem at stations.

Stupid thing is it was probably some valve that doesn't get moved very often and broke or was forgotten about. Or they knew it was broke and had a bandaid on it that didn't get put back on. Not that I have seen any of that happen and then get blamed on personnel....

Maybe the fuel hauling company has a bulk plant locally that someone dumped into the wrong tank? Who knows. It is hard to believe this happened at a refinery terminal.

 

[Kira]

Pontiac Catalina (an unusual model for Canada).

Perhaps it began its life as a US car?

Maybe it was equipped uniquely or there was a run on Parisiennes -what Catalinas were called in Canada- and dealers needed stock?

Did the various makes of "American cars" enjoy varying popularity in different parts of Canada?

 

[GaryMX5]

It's been a local news issue here every day for a week now. Most of the contaminated gas went to the worst places for vehicle owners.....high volume retailers like costco, sam's club, King Soopers (a Kroger affiliate) and some mom and pop discount convenience stores so lots of customers were impacted. The number of owners reporting vehicle issues is growing everyday. Reported costs for repair have been 1000.00 to 10,000.00 so far. Seems to depend a lot on make model and year. The Costco one mile from me was affected. I'm very lucky as I had filled up there just a few days before the poison was delivered.

 

[jhellwig]

So say they ended up with 50,000 gallons of contaminated fuel they pumped from gas station tanks. What do they do with it? Mix it with a million gallons of gas? Mix it with crude and put it back through the refinery?

Could be millions of gallons ruined. 50,000 gallons is a small amount in this industry.

The stuff that made it to the stations will probably be sold as transmix for pennies on the dollar. The stuff still in the terminal will be blended off most likely.

Maybe the fuel hauling company has a bulk plant locally that someone dumped into the wrong tank? Who knows. It is hard to believe this happened at a refinery terminal.

They said it came from a terminal. Midstream operations run ancient equipment and often don't fully decommission unused equipment unless someone pays to do it.

 

[ecotourist]

Perhaps it began its life as a US car?

Maybe it was equipped uniquely or there was a run on Parisiennes -what Catalinas were called in Canada- and dealers needed stock?

Did the various makes of "American cars" enjoy varying popularity in different parts of Canada?

It must have been an American car. Which probably means one of the crew came from the US. New Catalinas were never sold in Canada.

Pontiacs in Canada were built on a Chevrolet platform with sheet metal and trim that made them look like a US Pontiac. Likely as a result Pontiacs never had quite the aura they had in the US. They were good cars, and stylish too, just sold by a different dealer network. We had Pontiac/Buick, and Chevrolet/Oldsmobile dealerships. Buicks and Oldsmobiles were considered pretty equivalent, as were Pontiacs and Chevrolets.

It wasn't easy to import a car from the US in those days. One of my engineering classmates (recently killed when his home build aircraft crashed) had arranged to buy a few year's old Corvette from someone from the US who was working in Canada. When he discovered that he couldn't licence it the deal fell through.