Contaminated Diesel - big repair bill!!

withabix

goldspanners wrote: »

a diesel doesnt run on fumes.

I know that - merely using a common phrase for 'a virtually empty tank'.

I reckon the OP probably had crud in the bottom of the tank and that's what has done the damage, if it was the fuel at all.

photome

How much fuel did you put in? As others have said £53 is a lot to put in to a Clio.

Alfrescodave

OP any update now that you've had time to contact Trading Standards and been to the garage to see the fuel ?

Ms_Brush

some answers...

Yes, tank was empty(ish) - around 90 miles left in tank, fuel light had just come on. On this basis from what has been said, it could still be a tesco fuel issue as some real fuel would have been in the fuel lines

Normally fill up with somewhere between 90 - 120 miles left, and have done since new. Recently, average fill up has been around £52, so not unusual to be £53. think the tank is slightly bigger than 50 litres otherwise this amount of fuel wouldnt all fit in...

cant see how anyone could get stuff into tank without me knowing (or without a key to the car), got a wierd locking device on the flap that only opens when the car is completely unlocked (not just the drivers door). Funny enough, the whole car is always locked when I'm not in it!

car was serviced at 12,000 miles in accordance with manufacturers recommendations, and 19 000 on clock now - next service due at 24 000 miles.

cant comment on garage - have been fantastic as far as I can see, but who knows?

the stuff that came out of the car isnt even the right colour and doesnt smell right either. god only knows what it is... Trading Standards very interested in talking to me - seems there are other isolated problems they are dealing with as well

Costs could be covered under the sale of goods act, and have been advised to pursue this route.

Using my powers of deduction, fuel from last fill up is still the most likely cause

still annoyed that the petrol / diesel mixup debate is being mooted when it obviously isnt either that came out of the tank.

Bowdyjan18

ms_brush wrote: »

some answers...



Still annoyed that the petrol / diesel mixup debate is being mooted when it obviously isnt either that came out of the tank.

lpg ? ..........:D

1984ReturnsForReal_2

silicon????

Hintza

Keep us up to speed on how this pans out.

pulliptears

From when I passed my test at 17 my Dad drummed it into me that I should always keep my car topped up and never let it go under half full lol
I do try and stick to that, Its never gone under a quarter of a tank and the usual fill up in my clio is £27 or so.

djheath

pulliptears wrote: »

From when I passed my test at 17 my Dad drummed it into me that I should always keep my car topped up and never let it go under half full lol
I do try and stick to that, Its never gone under a quarter of a tank and the usual fill up in my clio is £27 or so.

I do find this kind of statement funny, no offence, but just think about it for a bit.

If you fill the car up ever time the tank gets down to half full, so that you're not dragging sludge and crap into the engine, just think what is actually happening in the tank. If there is any crap in there, it will be being swished around the tank every time the car turns a corner, meaning it is always mixed with the fuel and floating around in it. It will never just sit at the bottom. The pick up of most petrol pumps is from a big fat pipe coming in from the top of the tank all the way down to the bottom of the tank. This means you are always pulling fuel from the bottom of the tank anyway, so any sludge that is supposedly sat there would quickly be drawn up easily at that position. Also, remember that the car has a fuel filter installed which would trap any particles that do get sucked down the line. The fuel pump in the tank will also have a fine fuel filter on its opening as well.

So in conclsion, dont worry about filling the car up if its on empty, it wont make any difference.

Just my two cents.

Silk

Petrolprices.com have a blog for contaminated fuel, it may be worth making a post on there to see if anyone else has had problems from the petrol station or the area etc
The link to the blog is http://www.petrolprices.com/blog/have-you-been-affected-by-contaminated-fuel-65.html&p=1