Vehicles getting wrong fuel type at gas station

Donald

Donald

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Mar 21, 2004
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Near the beach in Delaware
It looks like a fuel delivery truck put diesel in gas storage tank and gas in diesel storage tank.

The fuel delivery company has admitted fault. The gas station is telling customers to file a complaint with the fuel delivery company.

My personal feeling is the gas station should handle all the complaints and get reimbursed from the fuel delivery company. After all you as a consumer used the pump owned by the gas station and the pump provided the wrong fuel for whatever reason.

One car said the repair bill would be $17K. That seems crazy high. I thought a car that used gasoline but got diesel just needed all the fuel flushed out of tank and the rest of the fuel system.

Now if it was an engine that used diesel and instead got gas and had a CP4 HPFP then maybe over $10K

https://www.wfsb.com/2025/12/10/wro...uses-thousands-damage-drivers/?outputType=amp
 
Your own article said it was $17K to "replace the fuel system". Not sure why it just can't be drained but we don't know what car? Could also be a mechanic looking to create work for themselves. My guess is the delivery company will just pay and move on.

Sounds like the fuel delivery company is stepping up so probably those affected are better off dealing with them directly.
 
While $17k is nuts, think about it this way.

I've got this nice car, I filled up from the 91 octane pump but filled my tank with diesel because of an error. I can have the whole thing replaced and then there definitely will be no issues going forward or I find someone who will flush it out and be on my way for a fraction.

BUT

What if there was something affected that didn't present itself until 6 months later? The likelihood of going back to the fuel company with another complaint and being successful has to be super low.

It not just diesel in the tank and that's where it set, it's fully throughout the system and attempted to be burned.

How are gas DI systems affected by diesel?

How many sensors are in there that are rated for gas and not diesel because there isn't a diesel option and if there was it'd be a 100% different fuel system?

We complain regularly here about how complicated new cars are, why would you chance it when it's due to an error by an entity.

Time for liability insurance to pay up.

They should consider themselves lucky it was only 25 vehicles.
 
I thought the diesel nozzle was bigger so that it would prevent diesel from ever getting pumped into a gasoline powered car?
 
Good the delivery company s taking responsibility. If not I would go after the gas station after all they are the ones I purchased the fuel from.
 
Patman said:
I thought the diesel nozzle was bigger so that it would prevent diesel from ever getting pumped into a gasoline powered car?
Click to expand...
They put the Diesel in the gasoline tanks. Go to put gasoline pump in your Vette but end up getting diesel. Everyone is using the correct pump, that's not the problem.
 
Maybe the in ground tank needs a different connection than gasoline. This happened last year at relatively local station. Felt bad a nice Indian family owned it and had to deal with their supplier problems who did take ownership.
 
My daughter's first car 2000 Toyota Camry. Her car died out on way home. We had triple A bring to the house. We find out she filled car with diesel. She had to really work at this as diesel nozzle much larger than gas fill. I drained the tank about 3/4 way filled with fresh gas and never had a problem.
 
Pablo said:
Wow. That should have been idiot proofed a LONG time ago given the exponential increase in idiots. Surprised it doesn't happen more often.
Click to expand...
You would think but there was a member here that drove those trucks, or maybe just worked in the industry, and he said the same truck can haul whatever fuel is needed next, so presumably all the connections are the same.

So yes, I am surprised also.
 
racer12306 said:
While $17k is nuts, think about it this way.

I've got this nice car, I filled up from the 91 octane pump but filled my tank with diesel because of an error. I can have the whole thing replaced and then there definitely will be no issues going forward or I find someone who will flush it out and be on my way for a fraction.

BUT

What if there was something affected that didn't present itself until 6 months later? The likelihood of going back to the fuel company with another complaint and being successful has to be super low.

It not just diesel in the tank and that's where it set, it's fully throughout the system and attempted to be burned.

How are gas DI systems affected by diesel?

How many sensors are in there that are rated for gas and not diesel because there isn't a diesel option and if there was it'd be a 100% different fuel system?

We complain regularly here about how complicated new cars are, why would you chance it when it's due to an error by an entity.

Time for liability insurance to pay up.

They should consider themselves lucky it was only 25 vehicles.
Click to expand...
The diesel likely lubricated the injectors up nicely, and everything else should be sealed. I would be more worried about damage to the actual engine internals, not the fuel system there replacing. Fire the parts canon.

Everyone will simply be paying for the $17K now in the form of higher fuel costs. As usual one person is trying to soak someone else simply because he can. So yes, we will all pay up.
 
I've know two people over the years that had issues with fuel mix ups in the under ground tanks. Both of them filled up their gas tanks with a bunch of diesel in the mix of gas. One guy was 300 miles from home. That is one reason I like costco gas they don't sell diesel at their gas stations around here. Figure less chance of a tank drop mix up.
 
Pablo said:
Wow. That should have been idiot proofed a LONG time ago given the exponential increase in idiots. Surprised it doesn't happen more often.
Click to expand...
This happened several years ago at one of the stations on Iowa, across from the Toyota dealership. I was working at the Mercedes side of the dealership then..we had a Sprinter van that made it 3.5 miles on mostly gasoline. Destroyed the engine!
Nelson Petroleum (I think..now Reisner-Nelson) was the culprit.
I agree..the in-ground tanks are capped with color-coded lids..certainly NOT idiot proof!
 
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