Most Expensive Tank of petrol I ever got

XA-Coupe · 09-06-2006, 09:02 AM

I was just doing the sums on what a tank of petrol cost me last week. Not actually including the petrol, about $10 a litre .. the commodore was a steal at about $7 a litre.
That's what it cost.. plus the petrol of course, to get the cars repaired after two dodgey tanks of fuel.
The commodore actually stopped and required towing when the fuel pump finally siezed. After that I booked the XR8 in and it was only a matter of time before it went too. Both of them required new fuel pumps and filters .. plus labour and other stuff directly related to the problem.

Someone will be hearing about this ... I don't have more than a grand to chuck away because of some 98 octane fuel !!

It was BP Ultimate too ... you would expect far better than that, particularly at what petrol costs.

OzJavelin · 09-06-2006, 09:11 AM

What was the problem?

I've been steering towards BP for fuel (petrol and LPG) because of "bad gas" (how embarrassing!) from Shell ... but by the sounds of it, all manufacturers/distributors of fuel are pretty hopeless. Funny, considering the price they are charging .. I bought ULP @ $1.459 this morning. $20 bought 13.7L, which thankfully is about all I need to keep in the tank on my ute for LPG starting.

BTW: I contacted Shell after I needed a rebuild of the 3mth old LPG converter in my ute. They were "very sympathetic" but had absolutely no intention of admitting any liability .. although I had receipts for the previous few months of purchasing LPG from Shell servos ..

Good Luck,
Rod.

XA-Coupe · 09-06-2006, 09:35 AM

It was just junk in the actual petrol. I still have my fuel pump and filter which can be tested if they like... I also have RACV to get logs from to show when I called them for the problem .. and fo the towing of the commode. I may well not get anything but I am going to try.
I usually go between BP and Mobil ... but now I am rethinking my strategy... well, I am not going to get any more petrol from the place I got this lot from that's for sure.

red_hotxr6 · 09-06-2006, 10:03 AM

Maybe they should consider putting a good filter between the pump and nozzle so you get a cleaner petrol entering your tank. Naw now i think about it in about 4 hours the filter would be clogged with crap. :voldar02:

agony · 09-06-2006, 10:06 AM

was it the fuel itself or the petrol stations tanks that caused the problem.

HEMI POWER · 09-06-2006, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XA-Coupe

I was just doing the sums on what a tank of petrol cost me last week. Not actually including the petrol, about $10 a litre .. the commodore was a steal at about $7 a litre.
That's what it cost.. plus the petrol of course, to get the cars repaired after two dodgey tanks of fuel.
The commodore actually stopped and required towing when the fuel pump finally siezed. After that I booked the XR8 in and it was only a matter of time before it went too. Both of them required new fuel pumps and filters .. plus labour and other stuff directly related to the problem.

Someone will be hearing about this ... I don't have more than a grand to chuck away because of some 98 octane fuel !!

It was BP Ultimate too ... you would expect far better than that, particularly at what petrol costs.

Jeff get it tested,a client of mine had the same thing happend to them using Shell fuel.The report came back as being contaminated fuel and Shell forked out the cost of repairs.Unfortanately this is going to be a huge problem as Premuim or 98 fuels are not going to be used as much in today's high prices.Good Luck with it.

all4ford · 09-06-2006, 10:56 AM

So does this mean that while we still pay through the roof for our petrol, they're actually blending it so much that the quality is pathetic, in effect making themselves an extra few million litres to sell?

I only ask this because I know a person who sells deisel and a company that buys it from him, and when the owner of the truck company asks him to reduce deisel prices, he tells him to buy a pallet of fuel filters. lol

max · 09-06-2006, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

What was the problem?

I've been steering towards BP for fuel (petrol and LPG) because of "bad gas" (how embarrassing!) from Shell ... but by the sounds of it, all manufacturers/distributors of fuel are pretty hopeless. Funny, considering the price they are charging .. I bought ULP @ $1.459 this morning. $20 bought 13.7L, which thankfully is about all I need to keep in the tank on my ute for LPG starting.

BTW: I contacted Shell after I needed a rebuild of the 3mth old LPG converter in my ute. They were "very sympathetic" but had absolutely no intention of admitting any liability .. although I had receipts for the previous few months of purchasing LPG from Shell servos ..

Good Luck,
Rod.

Really? So gas can be bad too?? I've occasionally had a time when shortly after a fill up I get rough idle/stall at lights. Put it down to needing a gas service. But it only does it once in a while. A long while actually. I buy by price not brand, so I should keep a note of where I buy and see if there's a relationship between brand and this rough running phenomenon.

XRchic · 09-06-2006, 05:26 PM

I was told by some guys who have worked on my car (BDT) that you have to be careful WHEN you fill up. Apparently if you get some of the fuel at the bottom of a tank, it can be full of stale fuel and bits. And also to avoid filling up if you see the tanker around the place filling up the petrol station tanks, as the process of filling them up stirs up the gunk at the bottom, which can end up in your tank.

The other thing to be careful of, especially with premium and 98, is to get it from high traffic areas with high fuel turnover. Fuel gets stale and yukky, so if they dont sell much of it, it will have been sitting there for a while. Especially in hot weather.

Hard for you to prove though, either with the petrol station or BP.

Hope its all good now though Jeff!

Dazza XLT · 09-06-2006, 05:49 PM

Go to the busiest Servo. They turn their fuel over fairly regularly, so almost guaranteed of a fresh supply.
As XRChic said, never fuel up while there is a tanker there re-filling the tanks.
The Mobil just up the road has converted all its old steel tanks to Fibreglass tanks. I wonder if that would help... No rusting inside the tanks.
I always keep my fuel receipts, and fuel up at the same Servo whenever possible, just in case. :dr_Evil:

Grechie · 09-06-2006, 05:53 PM

damn thats bad luck XA Coupe, im yet to have a bad batch of BP ultimate, thats all i run 24/7, never ever have used a different fuel, and only fill up with the one near my place, and the one on the highway heading towards geelong (or back for that matter).

hope you get it all sorted !

**Full Noise** · 10-06-2006, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XA-Coupe

It was just junk in the actual petrol. I still have my fuel pump and filter which can be tested if they like... I also have RACV to get logs from to show when I called them for the problem .. and fo the towing of the commode. I may well not get anything but I am going to try.
I usually go between BP and Mobil ... but now I am rethinking my strategy... well, I am not going to get any more petrol from the place I got this lot from that's for sure.

I’d go back to the servo and take a sample of the 98 octane fuel, 200 mls will be enough. Ask to speak to the manager and see if he will check delivery times, dates etc. All of this will help when approaching BP to discuss possible contamination issues. Be meticulous with your record keeping as the oil companies first response is to deny liability. Did you keep any of the contaminated fuel from your tank? If so this will be beneficial to your case.

There are many different reasons why this can happen, your records will help in narrowing down where the problem has occurred.

Good luck with it all.

elgt146 · 10-06-2006, 08:46 AM

We had a similar problem with my wifes VW.
Ran rough, wouldn't idle properly and had a miss at certain revs.

She said she had just put fuel in it. Bing ! When the fuel ran out and was refueled it went fine.

Bad fuel and yes it came from a servo that has very low turnover.

In the old leaded days I also used get diffrent batches that my XW Fairmont would run fine on yet other days it would ping its head off.

Martyvan · 10-06-2006, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XRchic

I was told by some guys who have worked on my car (BDT) that you have to be careful WHEN you fill up. Apparently if you get some of the fuel at the bottom of a tank, it can be full of stale fuel and bits. And also to avoid filling up if you see the tanker around the place filling up the petrol station tanks, as the process of filling them up stirs up the gunk at the bottom, which can end up in your tank.

The other thing to be careful of, especially with premium and 98, is to get it from high traffic areas with high fuel turnover. Fuel gets stale and yukky, so if they dont sell much of it, it will have been sitting there for a while. Especially in hot weather.

Hard for you to prove though, either with the petrol station or BP.

Hope its all good now though Jeff!

Thats incredibly sound advice. Very simple... but i would imagine incredibly accurate. I for one, have taken this on board.... Dont want fuel problems with either of my cars!

troppo · 10-06-2006, 09:32 AM

Jeez I hope that doesn't happen up here. Especially since I've only found one servo in the whole of Darwin that actually sells BP ultimate, and every day is hot...

**Falcon Coupe** · 10-06-2006, 10:12 AM

Was it only the one tank ? this sort of thing usually happens over a period of time fillig up at the same place that has dirty fuel, it happened to a friend of mine over a couple of months.
Ended up needing a new fuel pump, tank cleaned and i think injectors cleaned as well.

**Stav** · 10-06-2006, 10:32 AM

Thats not true.I had my last ford fill up at a local habibi garage station.Next day the pump was eaten away. Went with my wifes car (not being aware yet) and its pump died the next day.The problem is that unless you have a few billion in court costs you cant fight these scum.

**ebxr8240** · 10-06-2006, 11:05 AM

It seems to happen when Ethonol and petrol seperates.. T have high octane at resonable prices, ethonol the cheapest additive??.
WHY is it that in W.A fuel price havn't gone up? But very state that has Queens birthday weekend, petrol prices have ?????
ARE we all stuppid ??????Especially when at the time world oil dropped in price !!!!!

Fairlane · 10-06-2006, 11:56 AM

Ever since leaded was phased out the quality of petrol has declined. They are getting rid of more and more crap in our petrol (water, Toulene, Methanol, debris) and ethanol and still charging ridiculous. Even 95 and some 98 octane was crap.

*Oh yeah Ozjavelin Ive noticed that Shell LPG is crap also- I refuse to use it

XA-Coupe · 10-06-2006, 11:59 AM

My big problem is that I have nothing from commodore but I still have the whole fuel pump from the BA. They can dissect that to their heart's content.
Fortunately I keep all my recieipts for tax purposes.

M14A-Mclaren · 10-06-2006, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzJavelin

I bought ULP @ $1.459 this morning. $20 bought 13.7L, which thankfully is about all I need to keep in the tank on my ute for LPG starting.

I buy 91 for $1.70.9 for a bloody 1990 Laser, The thing that ****es me off is that the petrol isn't being used to produce as much power as it can. Atleast I get about 450-500ks to 40 litres.

S3SR · 10-06-2006, 12:57 PM

yeah i had a similar thing happen except it was the bloody bowser that jipped me 65L and still had quarter tank left and @1.379 that = 89.64 and i didnt have a f'n fuel voucher discount....

oh and ive been told when u pick the hose up and the pump kicks in on the bowser and it starts jerking and carrying on hang it up and use a different one, cause that hose is at the bottom picking up the crap
also morning/or cold is good time to fuel up as fuel is more dense not much difference but in the long run its like putting in $62.02 worth of fuel u get 2 cents fuel free (as long as you pay cash)

oh just remembered a trick we did.....fill up about $20 then press the button thing so the counter stops and then fill again HEHEHE only one of them will count if counter people are dumb...dont blame me $1.758 for 91 fuel after cyclone larry they deserve it

HOON69 · 10-06-2006, 01:42 PM

i've been filling up 80% of the time at shell in slackscreek never had a problem yet
sometimes use the independant servo's that i know and trust,i guess it depends on the batch of fuel really,but i agree with previous comments never fill up when a tanker is about.

banarcus · 10-06-2006, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FALCONSR

oh just remembered a trick we did.....fill up about $20 then press the button thing so the counter stops and then fill again HEHEHE only one of them will count if counter people are dumb...dont blame me $1.758 for 91 fuel after cyclone larry they deserve it

You are dumb by stealing fuel and ripping off those who are trying to make a living out of selling petrol. Cant stand thieves, they should have their hands cut off.

S3SR · 10-06-2006, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banarcus

You are dumb by stealing fuel and ripping off those who are trying to make a living out of selling petrol. Cant stand thieves, they should have their hands cut off.

make a living from selling petrol hey....so u call raising the price after a major event while everyone else is still selling at the right price trying to make a living ..... and while theres more than just stealing involved i think hes the thief for taking advantage of a time like that when everyone just needs to get there stuff done... and he aint making a living off selling petrol hes a f'n drug dealer and makes money on side things so i think i would think twice before calling me the thief and chopping their hands off

banarcus · 10-06-2006, 04:22 PM

Your still a thief mate, whether the fella is a drug dealing rip off merchant in a cyclone ravaged town or not. Please forgive me.

S3SR · 10-06-2006, 04:48 PM

oh well im a thief... still i couldnt care

as long as i dont murder anyone i spose im still a good person fuel theif or not..
anyways i hope fuel comes down soon otherwise its gonna cost near $136 from empty to full and if that comes bye bye falcon time to get a more efficient commodore or a crappy civic that runs on natural gas or fill up in innisfail haha joking...

XA-Coupe · 10-06-2006, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FALCONSR

oh well im a thief... still i couldnt care

as long as i dont murder anyone i spose im still a good person fuel theif or not..
anyways i hope fuel comes down soon otherwise its gonna cost near $136 from empty to full and if that comes bye bye falcon time to get a more efficient commodore or a crappy civic that runs on natural gas or fill up in innisfail haha joking...

Like barnacus, I can't stand theives and if you are stupid enough to admit it, you can go to another forum and brag about your theft there.

Goodbye

ronwest · 10-06-2006, 05:37 PM

many years ago I got a gutful of bad fuel at a Caltex in Sydney.

Unfortunately I had overseas business visitors in the car at the time and a full schedule for the day;- inspect a warehouse/distribution facility, lunch, pick up their visas from the Thai consulate, drop them off at the airport.

So, at 8am I'm sitting on Woodville Rd at Villawood with a 6 month old Statesman that died a horrible death and a console operator who is tyrying to get in contact with his area manager (remember when there were no mobile phones?).

As luck would have it there was (is?) a Toyota dealership nearby. Saw them and yes, they could remove the tank, drain the fuel/lines/filters etc but was going to take some time.

I ended up ringing the Caltex customer service manager and explained the situation.

Caltex arranged with the Toyota guys to do what it took to get the car fixed and supplied me with a taxi for the day.

To the OP, if you can verify your facts I'd be in contact with the fuel company and see what can be done. If they are no help, get a solicitor to draft a demand and get that off to them.

deesun · 10-06-2006, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FALCONSR

make a living from selling petrol hey....so u call raising the price after a major event while everyone else is still selling at the right price trying to make a living ..... and while theres more than just stealing involved i think hes the thief for taking advantage of a time like that when everyone just needs to get there stuff done... and he aint making a living off selling petrol hes a f'n drug dealer and makes money on side things so i think i would think twice before calling me the thief and chopping their hands off

Good bloke you are ripping of the person who actually has little or no control over the prices. It is after all the OIL COMPANIES who set wholesale price NOT the servo. You then rip off the servo owner and its employees who are the innocent party.

I understand that we don't use Motels as often as petrol but why are they allowed to double their prices at holiday time when the oil companies aren't. Isn't that price gouging as well? Whats the difference? Is to me.