Poor Fuel Quality in Applegreen?

Jesus.

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

I wonder are people mistaking ppor quality diesel for a hard DPF regeneration?

They'd want to be a bit thick to do that

MetzgerMeister

MuppetCheck wrote: »

How does that work? If you're driving normally you won't even notice the dpf unless you're at a standstill.

Haven't a clue :pac:

SGKM

I'm only seeing this thread now and I 100% agree with the negative sentiment towards Applegreen having had what must be the worst experience of anyone here...

About two years ago I got a fill of diesel from an Applegreen station. At the time I only filled up from Applegreen and this particular station (brand loyalty, eh?), in fact all my previous fills for the previous number of months came from this particular station, I foolishly trusted them. About 200km later (c. 30% of the tank), the car died. I assumed that it was an injector problem as they were known to give issues on my model of car, and had it towed to BMW - the car was just two weeks out of warranty. Long story short, the fuel in the tank was tested twice (at my expense) and both times the diesel tested positive for traces of petrol. I can say with absolute certainty that the mix of fuel in my tank 100% came from Applegreen - they confirmed I filled with diesel at my claimed date / time (security footage and till receipt) but totally denied any ounce of liability. The fuel system in my car was rebuilt at a cost of €10,500 (no joke).

They were incredibly unhelpful and dismissive. Despite my understanding of the “balance of probability” in a civil court, I was advised by a solicitor at the time not to go after Applegreen as my case wasn’t strong enough.

Neither I, nor anyone in my family has put a cent through an Applegreen till since. Honestly, I wouldn't put Applegreen fuel in my car if I got it for free.

Kenny Logins

Wow. How much petrol was in there, do you know?

SGKM

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Wow. How much petrol was in there, do you know?

I don't know in percentage terms, all I was ever told was "traces" but it must have been a significant amount given the damage it did. The mechanics from BMW said they could smell petrol from the tank, I remember when I went to collect some belongings from the car as I knew it was going to be off the road for weeks and BMW had the backseats out with the fuel tank open (I think there's some kind of fuel tank cap under the rear seats) and there was a really strong smell of fuel so I thought I could smell petrol too (that kind stronger smell it has over diesel) but that may have just been because I was told you could smell petrol.

5W30

Did you buy the car new or second hand?

edburg

SGKM wrote: »

I don't know in percentage terms, all I was ever told was "traces" but it must have been a significant amount given the damage it did. The mechanics from BMW said they could smell petrol from the tank, I remember when I went to collect some belongings from the car as I knew it was going to be off the road for weeks and BMW had the backseats out with the fuel tank open (I think there's some kind of fuel tank cap under the rear seats) and there was a really strong smell of fuel so I thought I could smell petrol too (that kind stronger smell it has over diesel) but that may have just been because I was told you could smell petrol.

How old is car??

Most modern diesels (2008 -) can take petrol in system and be no problem, empty tank and new filters and away. 10k in repairs sounds more like car had a hidden issue.


I have a applegreen at end of road and insignia has no issues with the diesel, Astra runs fine but maybe be 30-50km less in overall mileage from a tank.
Texaco in cork gets about best mileage with Astra.

faral

Bandara wrote: »

They don't have a reputation for 'that'

Applegreen are the most professionally run service stations in this country, the spec of their equipment is the highest it can be. They are a stock exchange listed company and their fuel is absolutely without question.

I have zero affiliation with them. I am just a envious competitor of theirs

OP I can guarantee you there is no way in gods earth that they are selling fuel that you should be concerned over. Especially in two different sites.

I totally do agree with that, moreover from my personal experience I do more millage on applegreen petrol than any other competitors' stuff.

SGKM

edburg wrote: »

How old is car??

Most modern diesels (2008 -) can take petrol in system and be no problem, empty tank and new filters and away. 10k in repairs sounds more like car had a hidden issue.


I have a applegreen at end of road and insignia has no issues with the diesel, Astra runs fine but maybe be 30-50km less in overall mileage from a tank.
Texaco in cork gets about best mileage with Astra.

How do you reckon modern diesels can take petrol into the system without a problem? Surely with high pressure common rail injection systems they're more sensitive to dirt / impurities in the fuel?

The car is a 2010, I bought the car from a BMW main dealer in the UK when it was 2 years old with 35k miles, at the time of the Applegreen incident it had about 45k miles at c. 3 years old. The car had been prior to my ownership (and always has been since) maintained meticulously. I really don't think there was any underlying issue with the car.

The €10k rebuild cost was at main dealer prices, I can't remember the exact breakdown but there was 6 new injectors at €500 a pop, a new fuel tank, a new fuel pump, new fuel lines, filters etc - that wouldn't be shy of €5k or €6k in parts + main dealer labour rates (I think the job took the best part of a week). It doesn't take long to get to €10k at that rate

Zubeneschamali

If there was enough petrol in the diesel storage tanks at the station to destroy your engine, how come there weren't hundreds of people with destroyed engines blaming this station?

It's far more likely that someone put €20 worth of petrol into your car.

Mycroft H

It's seriously unlikely that a branded station has poor quality fuel. They've too much to loose.

More than likely a small dodgy independent place to do that

SGKM

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

If there was enough petrol in the diesel storage tanks at the station to destroy your engine, how come there weren't hundreds of people with destroyed engines blaming this station?

It's far more likely that someone put €20 worth of petrol into your car.

Honestly I don’t know, I suggested that possibility to them but they wouldn’t engage with the idea, totally denied anyone else had come forward. Maybe it happened to others and I never found out, maybe I got the dregs of a tank and it didn’t, I don’t know. But from their perspective I do see the logic of just totally denying, if a story like mine on a wider scale made the media the brand damage would be catastrophic.

Re. someone sticking €20 petrol into my car, I’m the only one who drives the car and fuels it, No one else has ever refuelled it under my ownership. The thought of malicious tampering did cross my mind but there has never been any evidence of tampering with my fuel tank (around the time of the incident or before / since). And even if someone had it in for me and did want to destroy my car, why would someone go out and buy a significant amount of petrol to pour into the fuel tank (the car is debadged with a BMW 6 cylinder twin exhaust and there is no evidence that it’s even a diesel bar the CO2 emissions on the tax disk) – you’d stick sugar or ballbearings in there not spend money buying petrol.

I totally understand people’s disbelief on this as you’d expect there’s no way a major fuel retailer could make a fcuk up like this but I can assure you it happened and the only possible way that fuel got into my tank was from the Applegreen pump. Plus the fuel was independently tested twice – once by BMW and once by an assessor.

Kenny Logins

Harsh, I know, but regardless of anything you say people will still think you (or somebody else that drives the car) accidentally put petrol in there.

SGKM

Kenny Logins wrote: »

Harsh, I know, but regardless of anything you say people will still think you (or somebody else that drives the car) accidentally put petrol in there.

Yeah, I know that - I get dogs abuse of my mates about it as they know it winds me up no end!

I went around the houses with BMW on this, had I put any material amount of petrol into the car (a few litres) they reckon it wouldn't have lasted 200km, it would have died way way sooner than that. Applegreen themselves confirmed to me that I purchased and put diesel into the car.

Whether people believe me or not, Applegreen clearly have a lapse in their operational controls at some level in their fuel distribution chain and their fcuk up left me out of pocket, I was advised not to go legal as my case wasn't strong enough, maybe I should have set up a twitter at the time and tried to go public myself to embarrass them but I didn't.

If someone reads my story, avoids Applegreen on the back of my experience and I can prevent their car being destroyed like mine because of Applgreen's ineffective internal fuel distribution issues then that's some satisfaction on my part

Toyotafanboi

I'm actually flat out buying applegreen fuel lately. They seem to be good at putting stations in convenient locations on motorways etc. Bought fuel at a Texaco yesterday and this morning on the motorway i got a check engine light. It'd be grand to blame Texaco but it's probably my p.o.s. car!

Zubeneschamali

SGKM wrote: »

I’m the only one who drives the car and fuels it

No-one else has ever driven it since you bought it?

Then I'm stumped.

SGKM

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

No-one else has ever driven it since you bought it?

Then I'm stumped.

A few mates have taken it for the odd spin but I've been in the car each time. I can say with absolute certainty that no one else has ever put fuel into the car under my ownership either in the year before the incident or in the two years since.

So it all points one way... What I reckon happened is the guy fuelling the tank from the truck fcuked up and poured some petrol into a diesel tank and maybe I was the first / last car to fill up from the tank. I'm obviously open to correction on the technicalities of that being possible but that's my theory

I'm not lying about this incident, I have nothing to gain by making this up on an internet forum and honestly had nothing against Applegreen prior to me having filled up with fuel that day.

Zubeneschamali

SGKM wrote: »

I have nothing to gain by making this up on an internet forum and honestly had nothing against Applegreen prior to me having filled up with fuel that day.

Unfortunately, even if you are right there's no way you'll ever be able to prove it in a court of law. Only you know that no-one else ever borrowed the car and stuck a bit of petrol in to avoid you noticing the fuel used.

SGKM

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Unfortunately, even if you are right there's no way you'll ever be able to prove it in a court of law. Only you know that no-one else ever borrowed the car and stuck a bit of petrol in to avoid you noticing the fuel used.

True – and that’s exactly what I was advised by a solicitor. In my mind I thought I had a strong case, the balance of probabilities and all that but seemingly it wasn't worth risking the legal fees to find out.

edburg

SGKM wrote: »

How do you reckon modern diesels can take petrol into the system without a problem? Surely with high pressure common rail injection systems they're more sensitive to dirt / impurities in the fuel?

The car is a 2010, I bought the car from a BMW main dealer in the UK when it was 2 years old with 35k miles, at the time of the Applegreen incident it had about 45k miles at c. 3 years old. The car had been prior to my ownership (and always has been since) maintained meticulously. I really don't think there was any underlying issue with the car.

The €10k rebuild cost was at main dealer prices, I can't remember the exact breakdown but there was 6 new injectors at €500 a pop, a new fuel tank, a new fuel pump, new fuel lines, filters etc - that wouldn't be shy of €5k or €6k in parts + main dealer labour rates (I think the job took the best part of a week). It doesn't take long to get to €10k at that rate

I have owned and seen a lot of cars over the years that have been filled with wrong fuel, Only one's that had any long lasting significant damage were 2 older peugeot's (late 80's 205 and 90's 405).

My current Insignia was filled by my dad with Petrol 2 years ago not longer after it was bought and he did same himself to his own 2010 Corsa. Both cars had system cleared with new filters and back on road with no lasting effects for around 400 euro each, done by Greenhalls Opel dealer.

Sounds to me you been taken for ride by BMW dealer to me. How you looked after your car does not mean there cant be underlying issue, but looking at you bill I agree there was not 1, as they have not changed anything that serious.

Sh1tbag OToole

400!? Wholly Che-Guevara