Bad fuel at petrol station

Duckegg2018

Hi, this is my first ever post on Boards, hopefully I won't break any rules.
I bought a 171 car from a main dealer almost 3 months ago, less than 10,000 miles on the clock, fully serviced, 2 years warranty left. I have driven around 7,000 km in that time, no issues. 2 weeks ago, I bought 30 euro of petrol from what I thought would be a reputable service station in Tipperary town. 3 days later, my car started chugging, 2 warning lights started flashing and I got a warning message on the screen on the dash. This happened late on a Friday evening, I left my car back to the main dealer on Saturday morning, and found out early following week that the petrol was seriously contaminated, it looked almost black, with a lot of sediment at the bottom. Cleaning and replacing parts has left me with a bill of 870 euro. I have communicated all this to the service station, by phone and email.
The service station has told me their examination of the petrol tank and pumps has come back perfect, but they won't give me anything in writing. They have said they had no other complaints, but won't confirm there were any purchases around the same time as mine. They won't give me any info about levels in their tank prior to my purchase, delivery dates and times to their tanks, their maintenance record of the tank, etc.
My mechanic is sure that it couldn't have been a previous fill, considering the level of contamination. My car would have already had trouble.
Has anyone had problems with petrol in Tipperary town in the second week of April, 2018?
Has anyone any advice as to the best course of action?
Thanks.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Duckegg2018

I informed the headquarters in Dublin on Thurs 19-4 and all tests were carried out and reported on, apparently, by the following Thursday, 26-4. Is that possible?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Duckegg2018

Should I deliver it to a lab myself-could I be accused of interfering with the sample myself? Or would I be better to get a Motor Assessor? The main dealer has some samples in sterile bottles, and has kept the fuel injectors that had to be removed.

Motormadcork

This is why its important to get your fuel from the same supplier and also keep receipts and document the mileage at each fill. Get a sample from the car and also from the forecourt and send each off for testing. It would be best to do this through a motor assessor.

Duckegg2018

It was a one-off purchase, unfortunately. I have proof of purchase. They have confirmed that they have CCTV footage, which I've asked them to preserve. I paid by card.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

Bicycle

You are lucky to have got away with only €870. Something similar happened to my husband's car a couple of years ago. It ended up costing him over €2500 to be put right.

The diesel was tested by a main dealer and came back clear but the dealer is adamant that there was something definitely wrong with the diesel taken from the tank.

He used to always purchase from a well known fuel chain. However in the same month as my husband's car had problems, the same main dealer had a number of cars in with the same issue and the drivers were all customers of this same fuel chain.

Coincidentally, today, we were talking to someone working in a large garage, and they had three cars in in the last week with engine issues which could have been attributed to fuel issues. And all of them had bought their fuel from the chain we had had problems with.

We didn't take a case at the time, because the diesel had come back clear. The dealer we dealt with at the time said that on occasions he had fuel that smelled really off and yet would come back clear from the lab.

I sincerely hope things work out well for you. They didn't for us. €2500 is a lot of money.

nigwerwig

Was there no fuel filter

Duckegg2018

The mechanic said there's one filter built into the fuel tank, but the level of contamination was too high for the filter to stop it.
As I'm not a mechanic, I'm not in a position to argue what I'm told, but does that sound plausible? The petrol sample looked almost black in a clear plastic cup, and the sediment is black.

nigwerwig

Is this a main dealer that fixed it. Have you paid yet

Duckegg2018

Yes to both. The car is under warranty, so when the warning lights started flashing, I presumed the cost of repairs would be covered. I need my car for work so I paid them.
Why do you ask? Does their explanation re the oil filter sound suspicious?

Duckegg2018

Are service stations obliged to show customers delivery details? I had car trouble recently, asked the service station where I had purchased fuel last, but they refused to give me any answers, much less show me anything in writing. The petrol taken from my car was visibly extremely contaminated, causing a lot of damage. I only bought my car recently, a 171, and it given no trouble prior to this fuel purchase.

nigwerwig

Duckegg2018 wrote: »

Yes to both. The car is under warranty, so when the warning lights started flashing, I presumed the cost of repairs would be covered. I need my car for work so I paid them.
Why do you ask? Does their explanation re the oil filter sound suspicious?

Some brands you push for good will. Cover some of the cost maybe but that's harder after paying. You could also go over there heads the head office a nice email saying you though everything would of been covered etc
You might get lucky

biko

Moved out from old thread

Did you remove the fuel yourself or did a mechanic remove it?
Was it a major chain station or a small local place?

ED E

OP was multi posting that, main thread in progress here:
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057866814

Duckegg2018

I bought the fuel in one of a large chain of service stations. Mechanic at main dealers removed, and has kept, the petrol.

bazz26

Did you get a sample from the fuel station also?

anewme

In fairness, you’d hardly expect goodwill from a manufacturer on contaminated fuel. I don’t know any manufacturer who’d pay out or offer any goodwill on that. I’d certainly make them aware though in case they have got other complaints. Also inform SIMI for the same reason.

Terrible thing to happen OP.

Duckegg2018

I didn't think it would be relevant to take a fuel sample a week and a half later. Would it?

bazz26

But how would you go about proving where the contaminated fuel came from?

Duckegg2018

Would the samples still be the same? What if they cleaned the tank after I contacted them? Or if they got a new delivery of fuel? Couldn't they claim I interfered with a sample that I took myself? If my fuel was purchased shortly after a delivery, would any sediment in their tanks have settled when taking a later sample?

nigwerwig

anewme wrote: »

In fairness, you’d hardly expect goodwill from a manufacturer on contaminated fuel. I don’t know any manufacturer who’d pay out or offer any goodwill on that. I’d certainly make them aware though in case they have got other complaints. Also inform SIMI for the same reason.

Terrible thing to happen OP.

I worked for a big dealer and we have cover alot more then this even the the likes of brake pads that should never be covered if you kick up enough you can alot

bazz26

See that's the problem, it would all about proving that the contaminated fuel came from them. I'm no expert but it could be very difficult to prove without getting a sample from their tank and have it tested.

You also state that the car is a 171 and you only recently bought it. It could also be possible that the problems with the car took time to build up over time and could have been from where the previous owner got their fuel. It's hard to know for sure with a second hand car.

The fuel station might also want your dealer to provide proof that the damage was caused by their fuel. Will the dealer be able to do that or do they even have the means to prove that? I'd imagine if push came to shove they would probably shy away from wanting any involvement in any potential legal battle between you and the fuel station and just state it's their opinion and put the onus back on you.

This is all just my opinion though.

Duckegg2018

I appreciate the opinions. When I bought the car, it had less than 15,000 km on the clock. I've driven around 7,000 km since I bought it. I haven't had any issue with it since I bought it, until this happened. If it was a pre-existing condition, would it not have shown up before now?

As a consumer, you can usually see what you're buying. But there seems to be no justice for anyone who buys dodgy petrol.

bazz26

There is justice once liability has been proven.

Tigger

When you say visibly contaminated how do you mean ?

Duckegg2018

It is almost black in colour, with black sludge at the bottom. Also, it reminds me of the smell of nail varnish remover.

Duckegg2018

When you can't even see what's going into your car, unless you take a sample each time you purchase fuel, and when you can't see the inside of a fuel tank, I realise that it makes proving liability difficult. It's so frustrating.

Eire Go Brach

Would it be a possible that yours was stolen, siphoned out and replaced? I’d imagine if it was siphoned they would not go though the trouble of putting crap back in.

Just throwing out our there.