Worst gas experiences.

Hemidart · Aug 9, 2004

I filled my tank with some new Shell the other day and my car has been running like crap. It has been having a hard time starting after running awhile and my car seems to be burning through this tank like I am getting about 10mpg. It's a 2004 Saturn Ion with 7.4k and ran flawless up to this tank.This also reminded me of the other bad experiences I have had with Shell gas, which as if I can recall has been about four or five times. All the other times it seems to act the same way, sluggish, poor mpg and hard starting.

Oh well...I am going to be glad when this tank is gone.

1maniac · Aug 9, 2004

I've seen others post about problems with Shell gas. It's pretty new around here so I have not tried it yet. I'd like to try the new "V-power" but my Quad Four engine does not like high octane gasoline

. However my Bimmer runs it's best on 93

Bishop · Aug 9, 2004

I was driving from Brisbane to Melbourne once, and picked up a dud batch of fuel at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, the rental car I was driving ran like a POS for the rest of the day, rough idle, intermittent miss at speed, the works.

It was still running rough the next time I filled up, so I stopped again and got lucky when I found some Lucas FI cleaner on the shelf at a gas station, which helped to fix most of the problem, although I suspect it needed something a little stronger.

Makes me glad it was not any of my cars it happened to, if I ever drive those sort of distances again, I will be bringing along some quality fuel conditioner, and be more careful about where I buy fuel from.

Starbreaker666 · Aug 9, 2004

For some reason vehicles I have owned hate Citgo fuel(7-11's). My blazer would literally stall at stop lights. I used midgrade and I always keep my engines in tip top shape. I will only use Conoco/Phillips fuels if I have the choice.

labman · Aug 9, 2004

About New Years some time in the 70's, I filled up with SOHIO regular as I left Johnstown Pennsylvania one evening. It was full of water. Time after time as I headed West on US 422, the engine would die. Of course, with the crappy automatic in my Valiant, it wouldn't restart without using the starter. If it had been much colder, I probably wouldn't have made it to my parents that night. I think it was weeks and several more tanks of gas and deicer before I finally got it straightened out. It turned cold the next week, and it died on my wife on her way to work and had to be towed in.

At that time, SOHIO heavily advertised the deicer in their gas, but only the high test. I never bought any more SOHIO gas after that. I also haven't bought any more automatics or Chrysler products. I had the 318 V-8, and never saw over 17 MPH even on a trip. I don't remember ever driving a Chrysler product that I liked the transmission including a Spirit R/T with the 5 speed Getrag.

At least I knew what the problem was. 10 years later I got a bad batch of gas in my truck. It wouldn't volatilize right, and my truck ran just like my old TR-4 did when the float valves were leaking. I messed around for days installing a carb kit before I heard about other people in town having the same problem. Haven't been back to that station either. Still driving the truck.

I mostly buy the cheapest gas I find, and have had very few problems I knew were due to the gas.

ToyotaNSaturn · Aug 10, 2004

Another tank-full-of-water story...

1985, my dad parked the family wagon, a 1978 full size Ford LTD, light green with the faux woody on the side, 400cid engine, at the local FISCA gas station. After pumping twenty-something gallons of water into the tank, he tried to fire it up. It didn't turn over. Battery seemed to crank just fine, but nothing. As if someone removed the distributor during the short stay at the pump.

Funny thing is, two other cars were parked in front of the other pumps with the same problem at the same time.

So, after our fiasco at the FISCA, they paid to have the entire fuel system cleaned out.

"Yep, that water doesn't burn too well!" LOL
or
"Sir, the octane rating of ZERO is your problem." LOL

road_rascal · Aug 10, 2004

In June 2001 myself and a few other riders filled up at a Pilot station (not sure who supplied the gas) located on I90 in Sioux Falls, SD during the Minnesota 1000. My bike was running OK but was running out of fuel at 90 miles compared to the usual 150. I stopped at Blue Earth MN and talked to a few other guys and they said their fuel injected BMW's were really running terrible (my bike has 4 carbs) and got horrible gas mileage. I think I figured 29mpg instead of the typical 43-45mpg. Never had any fuel related problems since.

97TJ · Aug 17, 2004

hi i have 1997 saturn sl1, 4 cyl 1.9 soch, auto trans, .........every time i use shell, i aviod it if i can, my saturn engine run bad stalls and rpm goes up and down several hundred rpm, i do not know what they put in it, shell 87 or 89 octane, but my starun ran bad, i aviod it at all costs,......the funny thing is two other friends with saturns, 96 and 99, have same identical problem,......just dont know what to make of it ? specifically shell gas.................

brianl703 · Aug 17, 2004

Never had any problems with any brand of gas that I can recall.

Sunoco, Shell, Exxon, Mobil, Citgo, Costco, WaWa, Sheetz, Chevron..just some of the ones that I've used.

Ugly3 · Aug 17, 2004

Let's not confuse a problem with a particular dealer with problems with a fuel brand.

The studies I have seen indicated that there is very little difference between fuel brands, the additive packs were generally slightly different.

We can all get a bad tank of gas from time to time due to any number of causes. My guess is that the majority of the problems are distribution and dealer oriented.

Motorbike · Aug 17, 2004

I once used some gas of such poor quality it pinged while I was using a brush/cleaning an oil pan with it .

No need to thank me for my contribution here

Ugly3 · Aug 17, 2004

Motorbike - I once used some gas of such poor quality it pinged while I was using a brush/cleaning an oil pan with it .

Love it!

Matt_S · Aug 17, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by Ugly3:
Let's not confuse a problem with a particular dealer with problems with a fuel brand.

The studies I have seen indicated that there is very little difference between fuel brands, the additive packs were generally slightly different.

We can all get a bad tank of gas from time to time due to any number of causes. My guess is that the majority of the problems are distribution and dealer oriented.

I completely agree. I've only had a bad tank of gas once, from a Marathon station. I've used Marathon countless other times with good results, though. I haven't been back to that station and have had no problems since.

Ken2 · Aug 17, 2004

One time years ago I got a tank of gas that was all ping, all the time. The gasoline had been trucked in a tanker that had some remaining diesel fuel.

Driving across Nevada one time, I filled in a Sparks, Nevada, gas station. The gas mileage was really, really bad, and the engine stumbled badly at more than half throttle. Water. A couple of bottles of HEET and fresh gas fixed that.

Now, regarding brands of gas, BP's ARCO presently gives me about 1 mph less that other brands including low-cost store brands.

Ken

97TJ · Aug 19, 2004

hi i can tell you saturns and shell dont mix, the formulation, i am not expert, has mbt or mbpt, something like that , which caused me no end of problems, a saturn tech ,told me other customers complianed about similar experrience, caused by stop go driving and this particular grade of shell fuel 87 or 89 octane,...................

Racerjk · Aug 19, 2004

I don't like the new V-power. I have been getting less 2-3 MPG less every time I use it.

Worst gas experiences.

Similar threads