Contaminated diesel

Jonyboy178

Filled up with City Diesel on 27/11/12 at Sainsbury's Middlesbrough within 8 miles I had broken down, had vehicle recovered to Landrover garage who next day examined vehicle they tell me that a large amount of the fuel was actually water! Sainsbury's so far are saying that there is no problem and no one else has complained but have suspended the pumps waiting for an pump engineer to check the system.
Anyone else had a problem here the last few days? in the mean time I'm facing a 6K repair bill, not happy.

Stooby2

Is it a newish Defender? They had problems a couple of years ago with the fuel breather pipe being located just behind the bumper or similar and drawing water in. ISTR there was a recall for it. With all the rain recently this might be the problem?

Jonyboy178

Hello, no its a Discovery 3 which has now been looked at by Landrover who tell me I have filled up with a large amount of water! as I said earlier I had only just filled up with around 60 ish l of Sainsbury's fuel and broke down around 8 miles after where else could the water have come from?

copystuff

I cant see them shutting pumps down just for one complaint so maybe there is more complaints but there not saying.

Jonyboy178

Update, the pumps have now been closed for six days awaiting pump engineers, today however I was contacted by trading standards following me reporting the problem to them last week I have now been told that water has been found in the tank system at the filling station, no more from Sainsbury's yet lets see what tomorrow brings.

Jonyboy178

Would be very interested if anyone else has had problems since filling up last week at the Wilson street filling station?

Wig

They have 20 litre measuring jugs at petrol stations for calibration, it would have been wise to go back in person and asked them to pump out 20 litres to see if there was water there.

Seems you will have no trouble getting them to repair your car given that TS has confirmed the water was there.

Joe_Horner

Curious how it's going to e a 6k repair bill. If you broke down after 8 miles that'd be just about as the water got through to the engine. By that point it shouldn't have done any damage except for contaminating the filter.

Even at main stealer prices, drain & flush system, replace filter and put a tenner in the tank (at inflated £ / litre) shouldn't be more than a couple or 3 hundred!

Jonyboy178

Didn't find out that the fuel contamination was the cause of the problem after Landrover Main dealers had investigated the fault,
I live 45 miles from where I filled up At Sainsbury's Wilson street Middlesbrough by the time I found it was a contamination problem they had suspended the pumps. for over a week they told me that they didn't have a contamination problem and it wasn't until Trading standards confirmed there was a problem however Sainsbury's still said to me there was no problem they also said they were waiting for pump engineers up untill a couple of days ago when in fact they had made visits to the site days before.
yesterday Sainsbury's case management team contacted me and refused all responsibility saying the water contamination did not come from them and that they found the contamination after my delivery!
Trading Standards seem to have received a different story from Sainsbury's we will see in court.
As far as repair costs the whole fuel system has been replaced pumps filters injectors pipes, your right it could have been flushed but a future problem would almost certainly with a botch repair not cheep in the long run, the cost by the way came to £4800.
Beware of Sainsbury's fuel stations and even more their very poor customer service.

arcon5

Sorry but I can't see you being awarded £4,800 when a flush and filter change could have yielded the same results. You would not be seen as having tried to mitigate your losses and have put yourself in a better position than before, particularly since you now have new pumps as well. Justifying this work would require much more than speculation on what could happen, an engineers report showing the components have been damaged or compromised at the very least for each component. In fact a flush and 'loss of value' to cover any deduction in expected lifespan of components would probably have come to much less.

Gloomendoom

arcon5 wrote: »

Sorry but I can't see you being awarded £4,800 when a flush and filter change could have yielded the same results.

He wouldn't be the first person to have been awarded that much. I was talking to a chap a couple of months ago who had had the same issue. The whole fuel system was replaced. Oddly enough, it was a Disco 3 too.

A quick flush wasn't deemed enough because it wouldn't guarantee that all the water had been removed and there was a risk that water damaged parts would fail in future.

OP push for the full amount. There is a precedent.