Contaminated gas pumped into 2010 R3
 

On Friday, stopped at local (Lansing, KS) Woody's Mini mart for tankfull of premium. First noticed the pump was very slow -- about .5 gallon per minute. Kept pumping until full. Started and drove off and engine began sputtering. Tried to accelerate out of the sputtering, managed to get home (about 1.5 miles from the gas station).

Called service manager at the Mazda dealer where I bought the car in October 2010. He said to call Mazda Road assist and get a truck to bring it to the dealership. Did that and on Saurday, service manager called me and reported very contaminated gas. To fix (drop fuel tank, purge, purge fuel lines, clean fuel pump filter (if possible) perhaps replace fuel pump. Also clean injectors. Total initial estimate $1500. In his opinion, since I only drove about 1.5 miles, engine itself should be OK...

Picked up a small sample of the contaminated gas frm dealership and went to gas station -- began process of complaining about fuel and having them pay the service bill. Manager said I should hear back in 10 days or so. Not very cooperative manager at the mini-mart. Began to tell lies, like a fill up when 1/4 full would not do this - would need to be several fillups earlier that caused the problem -- so I gave her receipts for the last three fill-ups -- all at her gas pumps.

Questions -- how do I get the gas station to own up? Will the damage be worse than the service manager thinks?:mad:

Well, only way is probably bring it to small claims court, with bills from dealership, ask them to put it in writing about poor gas and such.

what was it contaminated with? Just water, or other nasty stuff?

The gas from my fuel tank looks thinner and clearer than most gasoline, and it does not smell of gas as it should either. However, on top of the clear, watery(?) gas is a layer pf apout 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch of brownish-gray thick material that floats on top of the gasoline. It loooks like a heavy crreamconsitency, but also has particulate matter n the underside of the gray material.

Eww...

Um, my thought of trying a can of gas treatment is not going to take care of that...

Sorry.

https://ag.ks.gov/about-the-office/c...le-a-complaint

:dunno:

Nationwide insurance, the gas station's business insurance, is now involved. We shall see what they offer. I will post the outcome here.

thats funny, my boss went down to KS last weekend and filled up his inifiniti and died 20 seconds getting on the interstate.
costed $1000 to flush everything out.

This shit is crazy.

JasonRXeight,
Ask your boss if he/she fueled up in Lansing or Bonner Springs.
He or he should file a claim with the last ga station.

servicing the injectors seems a bit overboard IMO, the pump strainer should catch anything that would damage the injectors. draining the tank also doesn't need to be done by removing the tank, remove the pump assembly and passenger access port and siphon out both halves of the tank through the openings under the rear seats would take about an hour at most at a shop. removing the tank doesn't make it any easier to drain it either.

there's a reason why most say to avoid the dealership, and we know this is going to come out of your pocket until a settlement is made.

I hope you get fixed up eventually on their dime, two good lessons here though. I was told many years ago not to pump fuel if the pump is running extremely slow. Even if you fill up at Mega Mart with all pumps active, they should have the capacity to run all the pumps on the property. The logic being that you are skimming the bottom of the tank, and all the crap from their tank will now be in yours. I don't know how much truth is in that, but I never do it. Also this is a very good reason to keep receipts from your fuel purchases, or at least use a credit card.

or just stick to a reputable brand. I only use BP.

Good news - Rx-8 is home in its grage, fully repaired, and all at the expense of Nationwide Insurance. Kudos to Tumminia Mazda,Olathe KS and Nationwide, no kudos to Woody's Gas Marts in NE Kansas and SE Nebraska.

Fix required dropping the fuel tank, purging all the crap out of the tank, replaceing fuel pump and cleaning fuel lines and injectors. Runs perfectly again.

On the news today from Kansas City -- more contaminated fuel for NE Kansas -- this time diesel mixed with regular unleaded.

Damn, this EXACT same thing happened to me about a week ago. Pump was going really slow, took like 15 minutes to fill my tank. Drove about a mile down the road and care started sputtering, wanted to stall at stop lights. I sputtered to work and after 20 miles or so it felt better, idled fine, but zero power over 5k. Thinking I fried my fuel pump :banghead:

For Noredline,

top driving and have the car flat-bedded to a dealer or reputable independent shop. You may be doing more damage by continuing to drive. Go to the gas station where you filled up, wiith a sample of the crap you pumped in, and tell them to get their insurance company involved.
Good luck - my R3 is still runnig beautifully.

Well my problem is I've filled up since then, and it was a week ago. The insurance could blame the other gas station. The only chance I'd have if I went back and got a sample and it was still messed up. The other issue is my problem started before the bad gas, and is the same after the bad gas. I'll be tearing into my fuel system shortly to assess the damage/purge the system.

How the hell does such messed up "gas" get into their tanks? That's fucked up, and scary.

I'm glad I read this...I'm in Olathe...If I go through Bonner I won't be filling up there, that's for sure.