12 replies to this topic

[medlow]

A mechanic I know has told me that 14 cars have been brought into companies workshops for running problems, after further tests it appears that bad fuel could be the culprit.. but nothing has been proved yet.

This is in the Cambs area and I guess the mechanics have asked the owners where they last filled to get to a list of possible outlets..

Hopefully everything is well and it is just a coincidence. but 14 cars within 3 days..

[TangoAlpha]

Is this a friend of a friend of a guy who works at Tesco whose mother's mechanic once told me...or are there actual facts involved?

[medlow]

The mechanic is a family member and has worked on some of the cars that have been bought in by customers to the dealership. They have all arrived during the last 3 days and all experiencing the same problems. Bad petrol may or may not be the cause but for whatever reason the mechanics are predicting something funny in the fuel. MED.

Edited by medlow, 28 February 2007 - 05:16 AM.

[slindborg]

Ive seen one case of bad fuel about 4 years ago and it was one car only.... i filled up on the same day at the same pump and the car i had at the time didnt have any problems. Its swings and roundabouts as to who is truely at fault... could be a rust tank, could be water in the fuel, could be anything really

[rabidh]

Could be diesel in the petrol pumps I guess. Thanks - good to know though, given I usually fill up from a shell garage in the cambridgeshire area. Not much I can do apart from keep filling up at the same place so I can have a go at them if my car blows up

[Ouija Board]

Medlow You ARE CORRECT!! It is bad fuel. I was due to get some warranty work done this week on the VXT, and so get a loaner. The garage rang Monday to say that they cannot tell me what courtesy car I will get as they have had 27!!!!!!!!! Vaxhaulls come in with the ECU fault light on yesyerday alone. (They are a network Q main dealer in New Haven/Brighton). They have traced it to a poorly/incorrectly mixed batch of fuel which is for supermarket distribution. The depot is based near london and apparently feeds "most of the supermarkets in the south/midlands". The depot has admitted it's cock up, but will not tell them to whom they have sent the fuel. So there you go. I'll do a nother post as a warning for others. Hope this helps. Rob

[fluffy]

Hey I just saw this on the BBC website. Ethanol in the fuel?

Mind you if it affects a vx, how would you tell?

Just as well James sold his alfa - that alfa would probably require a complete engine rebuild after just a drop of the stuff.

[VIX]

So is it just supermarket fuel then?

[theotherjonnymac]

Apparently, Tesco, Morrison and a few independent garages

[VIX]

[cyberface]

Sounds *really* fishy to me - ethanol in the fuel wouldn't make the car run shite, it would make it run better in many cases. I solely use Tesco super unleaded in my VXT - which is, funnily enough, 5% ethanol. Ethanol has a much higher octane rating than petrol so filling up with higher ethanol content fuel wouldn't cause detonation or engine damage. Ethanol needs more fuel to produce the same power level (higher stoichiometric fuel-air ratio) but I'd only expect leaning-out problems to occur if the fuel was 30% ethanol or more - which is hardly 'contamination' but wholesale 'wrong fuel in tank' stuff. Even 30% ethanol probably wouldn't damage rubber hoses / seals etc. If it was E85 then yeah, the mixture would be all wrong, but again that's not 'contamination' but putting entirely the wrong substance in the underground tank. I'd assume that either far too much detergent / additive packages were poured in, or some clusterfuck of mixing diesel with petrol would be the problem. Edit - perhaps (conspiracy theory hat on) the main oil suppliers want to start a FUD campaign against the cheap supermarkets?

Edited by cyberface, 01 March 2007 - 01:36 AM.

[Alex L]

I have read about this before on the other forum I frequent when I had my Z3M.

Have a read of this... http://www.zroadster...0766&highlight=

[medlow]

Yeah, its been on national news now so must be affecting many cars::>> As Fluffy posted earlier

Apparently Super Unleaded is not affected.

You heard it hear first folks!

Edited by medlow, 01 March 2007 - 02:26 AM.