552.00 dollars later, the Malibu runs

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Originally Posted By: madRiver
Not hard to get the station to pay for it with receipt for fuel(hopefully) and the invoice for work. They carry insurance for this kind of thing it is not a large issue.

+1; This is open and shut scenario. You will get your $552 back. There is no question. I do NOT see any fight on your hand.
 
Maybe we don't overpay for gas in CA? Never hear of these types of things locally...


OP, document it, submit a claim via certified mail. CC the owner and Texaco regional. If not satisfied, small claims court. Should be quite easy to win.
Bummer for the annoyance.
 
Originally Posted By: surfstar
Maybe we don't overpay for gas in CA? Never hear of these types of things locally...

I'm guessing most of your gas station have pretty good traffic.

The issues that OP experienced typically happen at low traffic stations where gas sits in the tanks for a long time, allowing moisture to accumulate.
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Not hard to get the station to pay for it with receipt for fuel(hopefully) and the invoice for work. They carry insurance for this kind of thing it is not a large issue.


Unless they have a deductible, in which case it would have to come out of pocket.
 
So I dropped the stuff off with the owner of the store. The maintenance guy was there looking at the pumps again. We talked, he said he would write a statement, that he remembers my wife. I said do you remember the car? He said maybe, but I do remember your wife. I chuckled at that.

Anyway he said the pumps are OOC for 89 and 92 because they ran the tanks low and clogged the filters. My wife got one of the first tanks of gas when they thought they were good to go....I just shoke my head.

The lady who owns the store knows me, big issue is there is a slight communication barrier since english is not her first language. She wanted to talk to her husband. She saw my reciepts and knows that the maintenance guy and her husband were standing right there when my wife filled up. She said she will make it right. Not sure what that means.
Time will tell.
 
Just got off the phone with the owner, good news!

She said it affected 5 other cars so far, to include her own! Hers died on the highway (2014 Lexus). She also said mine was the cheapest to fix
smile.gif
. She was very nice and said she was very sorry. Her car died Friday and did not get looked at until Monday so she did not know it was bad gas or she would have shut the pumps down right away.

Crazy thing is I posted it about on Facebook and a friend of mine called me at work this morning to have me talk with a coworker of his who got gas that same day at the store and it killed his Audi.

He said they were paying for his too. His bill was 1800 dollars with the tow!

Bad gas originated at the refinery. She said they have to drain their tanks and have them cleaned. The supplier knows about it and he is set to cover her cost.
 
Great news for you! .. And your friend's coworker. .. and also for the owner of the station. If this is falling on the refinery/supplier, then the station owner won't get hit with any rate increase or anything like that.
 
Glad it worked out. This type of thing is rare in my area with one exception I know of. A fuel delivery of diesel in gasoline causes all sorts of havoc. Apparently cars can (barely) run on that.
 
Brutal! I will put gas in my Saturn from anywhere that has a pump, but I have never had a problem at all. I do only put decent gas in my SI though. Sorry to hear!
 
Sounds great!

It is nice when something goes awry and both parties work it out. The shop owner doesnt try to refuse since they may think a customer is trying to get one over on them.....and the customer doesnt think the shop is false advertising and running a poor business. Glad everyone cooperated and got to the source of the problem!
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Sounds great!

It is nice when something goes awry and both parties work it out. The shop owner doesnt try to refuse since they may think a customer is trying to get one over on them.....and the customer doesnt think the shop is false advertising and running a poor business. Glad everyone cooperated and got to the source of the problem!

The reason was more than 1 vehicle had problem with fuel at the same pump, even station owner had the same problem. And the problem was bad fuel from refinery and they will pay all damage that their fuel causes to customers and station owner.
 
Sorry that happened to you! This past October I got gas at a Shell station and drove home. The next morning the car wouldn't start. After some diagnostics I came to realize that it was a fuel problem, not a vehicle problem. I pulled some fuel from the rail and it was the nastiest liquid ever. I called the convenience store and they admitted to the problem. The tanker delivery driver switched the diesel and gasoline fuels in the underground tanks and his excuse was, "it was dark and raining". Incompetence these days...

Anyway, the convenience store paid for every receipt I gave them. I elected to replace all of the fuel system components (fuel pump, filter, fuel injectors, spark plugs) as opposed to just cleaning them.

If the owner told your wife they just did maintenance, then it's time to get your branch of government that regulates fuel in your state. They are completely liable, if you decide to pursue it.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: surfstar
Maybe we don't overpay for gas in CA? Never hear of these types of things locally...

I'm guessing most of your gas station have pretty good traffic.

The issues that OP experienced typically happen at low traffic stations where gas sits in the tanks for a long time, allowing moisture to accumulate.


The gas can sit in the tanks for years and no significant free water will accumulate. You can't pump below two inches or so, on a typical 4000 gallon UST, it takes about twenty five gallons to get to two inches, about nineteen gallons on a typical 2000 - 3000 gallon UST. That's a lot of water; it doesn't accumulate in that quantity - it has to be introduced.

In the absence of a leak, there are only two ways in to a modern ( or ancient ) UST system - the vents and the fillers. I've never known water to get in through a vent, and the filler can be under water and will not allow ingress to the tanks if the seals are in better than terrible shape.

There is a paste that one affixes to the measuring sticks that changes color in the presence of water, so it's easy to see if there is any water accumulation in the bottom of a tank. Tanks are normally stuck every day to monitor inventory. With ethanol based fuels, you never see free water in the tank - unless it has separated out of the supplied fuel ....
 
Got my check in the mail from the insurance company yesterday.
Covered the repair, gas and my time off.
 
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Nope and Nope, still get my booze and snacks there.





You better hope they don't water your booze down too! That would be worse yet.
 
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