R2D2 Posted September 29, 2019 Share Posted September 29, 2019 (edited) So I gassed up earlier today in my 2014 MKZH and about 10 miles later the car was bucking, and the check engine light is blinking. Stopped at an AutoZone and the diagnostic showed all 4 cylinders misfiring. The strange thing is it took about 15 minutes to fill the tank. I think I got some bad gas. So now what do I do to get rid of it and change the filters? Does the gas station have any liability for the repairs? Never experienced this before. Heeeeeelp?? Edited October 2, 2019 by R2D2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, R2D2 said: So I gassed up earlier today in my 2014 MKZH and about 10 miles later the car was bucking, and the check engine light is blinking. Stopped at an AutoZone and the diagnostic showed all 4 cylinders misfiring. The strange thing is it took about 15 minutes to fill the tank. I think I got so bad gas. So now what do I do to get rid of it and change the filters? Does the gas station have any liability for the repairs? Never experienced this before. Heeeeeelp?? Hi R2D2. Report it immediately (or at this point, ASAP) to the gas station manager/owner. Ask for the corporate number and contact them. See how the manager/owner and corporate react. Do they listen and try to help a customer, or do they attempt to shift blame and blow you off? Legally, the station is liable. However, proving it and having them do the right thing is the hard part. Start with the owner and corporate. They should be getting more claims from other owners who were also affected, so see if you can find any information about that also. If it is bad gas, the only way I know of to get rid of it is to have the tank drained. That will likely entail having the tank dropped. The filter is in the tank with the fuel pump. I'm sure you will get additional advice and help from our other forum members. Start out there and let us know how things progress. Good luck. Edited September 30, 2019 by bbf2530 R2D2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 Thanks, will keep everyone updated I did drop an email to Corporate (large retailer here in South) yesterday and will also contact by phone on today. Will be going down to station to talk to manager as well early today. I was afraid that this was going to get expensive and am super busy with the charity bike shop right now too. Damn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris109 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 I remember when I headed south in January, I did put high octane (91?) in the tank. Whenever I did stop for pee or sleep (slpeep?), right after I would start on the road again, the car was doing the same thing until I got up to speed. But, if I slowed down, it would start bucking again, as if choking for air. When I got halfway down on the tank, I just put in regular unleaded and it never did it again. That is when I found out these hybrids don't like the high octane gas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted October 1, 2019 Author Share Posted October 1, 2019 (edited) Manager of the station said that they were waiting on a filter service but no one else complained about problems, that was at 6am Monday. Dropped the car off at my service station and they could not believe how bad it sounded. They too are suspecting bad gas. Car will be drained Tuesday and tank dropped for the rest of the servicing to the fuel system. Edited October 1, 2019 by R2D2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 You might want to ask the service station to document their findings as much as possible to prove that the gas was bad - if that is indeed the case. It could be used as evidence if you end up having to go to small claims court, or if corporate asks for proof. R2D2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drolds1 Posted October 1, 2019 Share Posted October 1, 2019 4 hours ago, Scott said: You might want to ask the service station to document their findings as much as possible to prove that the gas was bad - if that is indeed the case. It could be used as evidence if you end up having to go to small claims court, or if corporate asks for proof. This is one reason to pay for gas with a credit card and print out a receipt. This is proof-positive that you purchased gas at the station in question. Otherwise, you can't even prove that you bought gas there unless they check their security video for you. IDK how likely that would be. That aside, there are many credit card cash-back or percentage off arrangements for gasoline purchases. It sure sounds like a case of bad gas, but they seem to be pushing back on that. We had a case around here recently in which the fuel delivery driver accidentally filled the station's regular gasoline storage tank with diesel fuel. Obviously, there were multiple complaints and the company took responsibility. We'll see what happens in this case. R2D2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted October 2, 2019 Author Share Posted October 2, 2019 Yes I did pay with a cc and the corporate office has already verified that purchase. Stopped by the service station early afternoon yesterday and they showed me a glass of gas they pumped out of the tank. It was not clear sort of milky looking and when you swirled it around it was noticeable that there were two different type of fluid that would not mix. They took picture of that glass sitting next to another of "fresh" gas. WOW, what a difference. They will continue to work on the car today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drolds1 Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 OK. Good going. Sure sounds like water in the gas. Does it look anything like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 On 10/2/2019 at 3:19 AM, drolds1 said: OK. Good going. Sure sounds like water in the gas. Does it look anything like this? Exactly, Got the car back but still running a little rough, I dropped a bottle of Heet dry gas in the fresh tank of gas, hopefully that clears the rest of the trapped water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drolds1 Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 22 hours ago, R2D2 said: Exactly, Got the car back but still running a little rough, I dropped a bottle of Heet dry gas in the fresh tank of gas, hopefully that clears the rest of the trapped water. I use HEET in my other car since having a suspected water in gas incident a few years ago. Seems to have done the trick. R2D2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted October 22, 2019 Author Share Posted October 22, 2019 Update - Now three tanks of gas in, one with Heet and the next two with SeaFoam, still not running right so back to the Lincoln dealer it goes. Dropped it off yesterday morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted October 23, 2019 Author Share Posted October 23, 2019 Great news, picked it back up ;last night and all is now good. They ended up replacing the ignition coils on cylinders 1 & 2 which was causing the misfiring.?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted October 23, 2019 Share Posted October 23, 2019 6 hours ago, R2D2 said: Great news, picked it back up ;last night and all is now good. They ended up replacing the ignition coils on cylinders 1 & 2 which was causing the misfiring.?? Hi R2D2. Great news! Glad you were finally able to get it straightened out. Who covered the repair costs? Good luck from here on in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted October 24, 2019 Author Share Posted October 24, 2019 The corporate office of the Gas station has a double claim on file from me, 1st was for the cleaning of lines, tank, filers, fuel pump and the 2nd was for the ignition coils. Both claim also have rental car charges.... We are still waiting to hear back from them on the outcome of the claim.... total was $1,560.00 for everything here is a picture of the gas they pulled out of my tank (on right), vs fresh gas on the left Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MKZMark Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 The gas killed the ignition coils? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted October 30, 2019 Author Share Posted October 30, 2019 I cannot say that the gas directly killed them but they were the collateral damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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