Bad GAS Night Mares....

[OLAFF]

So here is the story:

My GF drives a Dodge Stratus wtih a 2.4L engine, and I drive a Catera wtih a 3.0L V6.

Last week we see a gas station down the road from our house that sells gas for 2.57, all others were at 2.65 or higher.
So we decide we need to get gas for both cars, so we stop by, she filles up full tank of 87, and I get about half tank of 93.

Next day (WED) on the way from work her cars starts to sputter and the battery light comes on.

Then on Thursday, she is driving towards work and it gets even worse, and on the way home the car looses all power and can barely keep 40mph on the highway, sputtering and popping like crazy... now we get a check engine light.

So as soon as she got home i get in the car and I head back to the AutoZone, and on the way there 3mi away, the car starts to backfire, sputter and lost all power, slowly coming to a dead stop on teh side of the road...
So I shut it off and restarted it, and all teh sudden it runs fine. But as soon as you accelarate past 2000rpm it goes nutz.

So I get a code P1391 whihc is Camshaft Position Sensor.
Replaced it, but the car runs even worse now.
Next day Friday, I replace the air filter since it was dirty. Checked the spark plugs, and replaced the wires. I also got P0352 which is Ignition circuit faults.

At that point I cant find nothing to work on the car. So I unplugged the CPS and the car runs smooth as before so now I think its faulty CPS sensor.
I decided to go and return the sensor and thus I took my car... and on the way there I noticed a hickup on mine too and then it hit me.

We filled up at the Eagle Gas Station and then the problems started.

What helped the situation slightly was HEET and some Octane Booster, but it didnt entirely fix the issues.
New gas took care of all things.

I returned all the parts to teh store and the car is now as it was before the fill up with no issues.



SOLUTION: I drove the car until I burned all the gas in the tank and refilled with shell... , Check Engine Light went away, and car runs smooth as before.

Lesson Learned:! Do not attempt to save $1 or $2 at fill ups by going to off-brand gas stations, instead stick to Shell, BP, or Mobil.

My car also cleared up the hickups as soon as I filled up with some gas.

 

[CharlieJ]

I stick with Shell, Chevron or Texaco with Techron.

 

[crazyoildude]

that must have been really bad gas to make it backfire
I have heard that a local gas station near my shop had a problem like that where many cars had to be towed..

 

[OLAFF]

Her car was acting terrible, as if there was misfires, and general loss of power....
It idled ok but as soon as you tried to rev it, it started missing terribly, and could barely keep 2000rpms.

At one point on the trip to autozone, I had the throttle to the floor and the car was just loosing speed, with terrible pops and hesitations.

I even thought it was the fuel filter and was about to replace it but what stopped me was the fact that the O2 sensors didnt report any lean mixtures...

I used some HEET and 1 tube of Octane booster, and it helped a bit, it made to where the car was just having hickups every so often.
I think that there was water in the gas, and that could explain why the gas was so cheap in first place.

Went to complain to the gas station owner, and he just slammed the window on me and said no comments.... < I was like [censored]?

 

[OLAFF]

My father works at BP station's repair shop and he likes the BP, he has seen many cars perform better with it, after some of those [censored] brands.

He likes Shell too, and in general sticks to those brands.

I do to most of the time but I don't know what possessed me to do that.

 

[beast3300]

Giant Eagle is garbage.

 

[beast3300]

I only run Shell.

 

[sunfire]

Originally Posted By: Catera
Lesson Learned:! Do not attempt to save $1 or $2 at fill ups by going to off-brand gas stations, instead stick to Shell, BP, or Mobil.


Good post. I guess that's what happens when you get too much water in your gas tank. I've always wondered what would happen.

Does this Eagle Gas Station move a lot of gas... long lines?

Those small gas stations that don't sell a lot of gas is highly suspect IMO. The brand names you can always complain to their customer service and they will probably give you a free gas card to shut you up. Which is better than having a door slammed in your face.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: beast3300
Giant Eagle is garbage.


I think the Eagle gas he was talking about is different than Giant Eagle/ Getgo which I never had a problem with even though I would only use it when it when my fuelperks were about to expire.

I stick with Shell/Chevron though regardless of price. Saves me from every having to buy fuel cleaner!

 

[SaturnIonVue]

My rule of thumb is that if a gas station in question is not a company that is also a major producer of motor oil, buying fuel from them may eventually lead to drivability issues. False economy has a way of biting back, especially with a newer fuel injected vehicle. For me, filling up with a Top Tier gasoline and paying a dollar or two more per tankful seems like the best economy overall.

 

[mechjames]

You're lucky you were able to return the used CMP sensor. Usually around here any electrical part is exchange only.

 

[OLAFF]

So long story short, that 2$ savings bit me in the rear end big time.

40$ - Full tank of 87 Fuel.
35$ - CPS Sensor
25$ - Spark Plug Wires
2$ - HEET
5$ - Octane Booster
12$ - New Air Filter
25$ - Fuel Filter
5$ - PCV Valve
XX$ - Trips to the store, and freezing your behind in the sub freezing temps in my garage for roughly 6 hours.

The outcome was at least good, the car still runs ok, and if I would have taken it to a mechanic who knows what else they would have replaced.

 

[beast3300]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: beast3300
Giant Eagle is garbage.


I think the Eagle gas he was talking about is different than Giant Eagle/ Getgo which I never had a problem with even though I would only use it when it when my fuelperks were about to expire.

I stick with Shell/Chevron though regardless of price. Saves me from every having to buy fuel cleaner!


Oh, I never heard of Eagle gas. I guess my brain put a puzzle together that wasn't there.

 

[addyguy]

We're really lucky up here in Canada. As I posted in another thread, small, no-name gas statuions have disappeared around here. Almost all stations are very large, brand-name affairs, and they move a lot of gas. Don't here of many folks getting bad tanks of gas up here.....

 

[OLAFF]

The owner of the station must be in a lot of trouble considering his reaction to my approach... he tried to be all helpful, and as soon as I mentioned bad gas, he pulled the sliding safety window, and said no comments, and started acting like he was typing something in his register machine...

Pretty much ignored me, kind of like those folks that get busted on TV for their screw ups.

 

[mikered30]

Originally Posted By: Catera
The owner of the station must be in a lot of trouble considering his reaction to my approach... he tried to be all helpful, and as soon as I mentioned bad gas, he pulled the sliding safety window, and said no comments, and started acting like he was typing something in his register machine...

Pretty much ignored me, kind of like those folks that get busted on TV for their screw ups.


There was a local station near me that clogged fuel filters on multiple vehicles. Everyone traced it back to this station and talked to the owner, and he denied it saying you cant prove it was from my station. So we told everyone we know what happened and how we were treated and now he doesn't get our business.

 

[Panzerman]

I ussually buy gas with who ever is giving the best cash back or % savings, but it is always Shell, BP or Sunoco. I does seem like I get the best fuel milelage with Sunoco. With the company truck, they want us to buy gas whereever its the cheapest and give us [censored] if we pay more than alot more so I end up getting gas at Kangaroos, 7-11s and no name Citgos. Although I havent experienced anything like the first story in shutting off, I have noticed performance issues and it seems like some gas the truck just runs worse and gas milelage suffers horribly. But corporate bean counters doesnt figure that in, only the cheapest price per gallon.

 

[Boomer]

Want a horrible gas story? Guy I worked with had a nice bass boat. Comes spring, he tows it into a local gas station and fills the tanks
with gas and heads to the Susquehanna River between York and Lancaster counties, PA. Now there is a huge dam downstream from the boat launch and they had the flood gates open to control the spring flooding, so a HUGE current. He puts the boat in and starts it up. Runs fine. Starts out into the river and runs downstrean towards the dam which is about 7 miles away. Suddenly the motor coughs and quits. Won't start and the boat is moving towards the dam. Starts to panic and pulls the top off the motor. He then realizes that he has huge amounts of water in the gas he just bought. So he decants some into a container, pours it into the carb, gets it running, heads upstream and it quits. He repeats this about 20 times to get back to the dock. The fall over the dam is about 60 feet or so.

Goes back to the station and almost ends up getting arrested. Turns out about a year later they had to tear out the tanks underground as they were corroded through and leaking into the soil as well as letting water into the tanks!!

 

[JustinH]

It doesn't matter who you buy gas from guys.

Here is what I do. Buy gas from a place that sells a lot of gas, and has a nice looking station. If they can afford to keep the station looking decent, then they can afford to upkeep the filters and the underground tanks.. The busier the place is the better..

You are asking for trouble buying gas from a hole in the wall station. I pay about a dime more per gallon to fill up at the mobil with brand new pumps, and a nice store.

The last time I got bad gas was after a large rain storm, at a indian reservation (tax free gas).. Water must have gotten into the tanks..

A few bottles of dry-gas, and 8 new sparkplugs fixed the problem in my F150.

 

[BearZDefect]

Panzerman mentioned Kangaroo stations...

Several times I filled up my i30 with premium at a Kangaroo station near Athens, TN. Mileage was disappointing every time, so I don't stop there anymore. I was ready to write off the brand.

But one day I filled up similarly at a Kangaroo station in Laurel, MS. That tankful seemed like the most potent gasoline I have ever used! It kept going and going, urban driving and heavy rain didn't faze it.

I realize pump shut-off varies, but I can measure that to some extent by how many miles it takes for the fuel gauge to fall below the 'F' mark.