"Bad Gas"

$324 to dispose of the "bad" gas? Was the gas radioactive or something? They probably gave the gas to Bubba the car washer, who like to burn stuff on his property.

 

Are you certain? Much to my surprise it turns out that there is no federal requirement that Diesel pump nozzles be larger than the 13/16" diameter required for unleaded gasoline nozzles. There may be individual state requirements, but otherwise a fuel retailer is allowed to have that size nozzle on a Diesel pump. Buyer beware.

Proving your case would require things like analyzing a sample from your tank, securing the record of your purchase indicating the pump, time and date, collecting similar complaints about the same retailer and/or that fuel distributor near the same date, etc.

 

i wonder if your auto insurance will cover any part of the bill.
i read a post last week or so about a prius owner who's daughter(s) (i think in arizona) put diesel in the tank and had serious issues similar to what i just read.
disposal fee for gas - frankly, if they can't sell it as gas, they have to do something with it - i'd wonder if they could run it in 2 cycle lawn engines or whatever but in the meantime, if i was the shop, what would i be doing with this "bad" gas? looking to get rid of it as soon as possible - and in this case it sounds like properly disposing.

 

I wholeheartedly agree. That is a terrible price to pay for the opportunity to save 10 or 15-cents a gallon - which amounts to $1 to $1.50 for the tankful.

I always put a major brand gas in my car (mine seems to run real good on Chevron) and for the extra few pennies I pay, I know I'm getting quality gas.

 

1. What stops the truck driver who delivers the fuel putting diesel in the underground tank? I wasn't implying you put diesel in the car from a diesel pump.
2. If the tech took the tank out and upturned it to drain the fuel out of the filler would the fuel come out? I suspect i would.
3. Toyota's call centre did not take your money.
4. It may have been hazardous to allow someone to take that volume of petrol away in their car and may even be prohibited by law, I'm not saying it is but it may be.
5. A dealer is entitled to make a profit on anything it does, if you paid more than the actual cost to the workshop of disposing of your bad fuel then that is normal business practice for any business. I suspect you wouldn't use them if they didn't have the nice building etc.
6. I assume they got your car running. So all is well.

Why aren't you pursuing the service station that sold you the bad fuel? I'd be on their doorstep with the invoice, not on Prius Chat.
Have you spoken with your insurance company? Did the bad fuel get in the car by accident?
I suspect the insurance company will go after the fuel supplier for you.

 

This makes no sense to me.
1. $324 to dispose of at most about 10 gallons of "bad gas"? I can think of many other ways to use it even if it isn't fit for a car. A couple of jerrycans would be a lot cheaper. That way one could store it until a use was found. Personally, I would try it in an old mower, perhaps running it through a bit of cloth in a funnel. If you were giving it away someone would likely take it even after being told that it was somehow adulterated.
2. Cleaning the injectors and throttle body would NOT be necessary. "Good gas" would purge it out shortly.

Can't say much about the difficulty in dropping and draining the tank though...but the rest of it is the dealer taking you for a ride.

If the dealer is willing to charge you this much for "bad gas" then they should be willing to give you some documentation to make a claim against the station's insurance...unless of course you mistakenly filled with E85 or something like that in which case it was your mistake.

There are a few decent Toyota service depts...emphasis being on the word "few" as the worst rip off I've ever had is courtesy of a Toyota dealer. At least with other brands when the service dept. has screwed up they had refunded some money...not so with Toyota's stealerships.

 

Bummer. It would be good to know what the contaminant was. It seems like it should have affected other customers... We sympathize. (I know, that plus $4 will buy you a Starbucks coffee.)

 

Just my 2 cents:
Check with the service station that sold you your gas. If other cars have reported problems the are solely responsable to pay for all repairs. I know this for a fact. I work for a major oil company and at least a dozen times a year we have a contam at a station due to truck drivers delivering the wrong fuel into the wrong tank. Often tankers will have multiple stops in that part of the country because the dealer (service station) is unable to purchase a full load of gas (upwards of $26,000).

This is an unfortunate event, however you should be reimbersed for your loss if in fact the claim it was "Bad Fuel".

 

I'm sure you could have taken your Prius anywhere to have the fuel tank removed, lines flushed out with clean fuel and codes cleared. The fuel system isn't all that different to any other new car.

I'm really sorry you had a bad experience with this incident, and I truely hope you never have the same problem again.

Have you done anything about reclaiming your expenses from the fuel supplier?

 

they said.
I'm sure they would say that.

After working as a mechanic for 15 years in independent workshops, running one for 12 months and spending a year in a Mazda dealership's workshop I think I have some idea what I am talking about.

Lets agree to disagree on this, I don't want to get into an argument with anyone over this. I have been accused of being too aggressive on the forums already today.

 

Very likely true unless you get lucky with the dealer.