She called me because she couldn't get her car started after work. We had to get it towed out of the underground parking which is quite a pain in the ass apparently.
I spent a couple hours troubleshooting the issue (smoky exhaust, barely started, ran like shit) and I burned out the starter in the process and had to put a new one in. Starters in these little 3.7L engines are pretty pathetic.
At some point in all this she mentioned she had filled up before driving to work, so I figured out how to jumper the fuel pump and pumped out this piss-colored junk. Feels oily like diesel, doesn't burn explosively like you'd expect with straight gas.
Fresh fuel and some Seafoam snake oil to maybe clean injectors. Since I didn't drop the tank to clean it perfectly, she's going to put small amounts in for a few fills and burn it off completely between fills because the solution to pollution is dilution.
Her receipt showed she uses the gas pump, not the diesel, so I'm wondering how many people got to deal with this bullshit since I'm guessing the station got an entire compartment contaminated. Haven't bothered to talk to the company, since I did the work myself and they certainly aren't going to reimburse me for my time.
Ah well, it's an excuse to do a pile of other maintenance I'd planned anyway and had parts for.
Wife is happy she isn't buying a new car. Happy wife, happy life.
This happened to me a couple of years ago. I called the gas station and as soon as I described the issue the clerk said they knew about the problem and gave me the number direct to their insurance guy, who made sure all repair costs were covered. (Pumped the tank, flushed the system, and some other stuff I'm not a car guy.) It was a hassle, but as soon as the insurance was involved, it was smooth. I think they were trying to avoid a law suit.
What happened? Insurance guy said that the diesel truck driver had somehow put diesel in their unleaded tanks. I was dumbfounded. He said, yes, a person has to be both an idiot and a very determined one to make that mistake. Said the gas station tried to get all the diesel out, but of course couldn't. So there we were.
My point is: it might be worth a call to the station she filled up at.
don't they have different connector for different fuel?
Kinda like it's done on diesel car to avoid mistakes
Yeah, the insurance guy said that, but I guess people find a way to still screw it up.
Whenever you idiot proof something, the world just invents a bigger idiot.
~~Life~~ Stupidity, uh, finds a way.
Could have been intentional sabotage. Maybe he had a vendetta against the gas station owner
Yah, I get that, but it's done now. They aren't going to reimburse me my time, and the tow was on CMA membership so it was covered. All I'll probably end up with is a tank of gas that I don't want to redeem anyway.
No, you're a freelance mechanic and send them the bills for the repairs. Make those fuckers pay you back.
I see what you mean; sometimes it's easier to just deal with it than jump through the hoops. In my case they also gave me something like 10000 of their customer loyalty points, which I had absolutely no interest in using.