Rejecting new car due to dealer misfuel

99iainb

Hi folks, I've posted my story a few places around the Internet to get some advice and opinions, here is my story...

I Bought a new car in England on the 29/12, collected it with 64 miles fuel range in it. Drove to the nearest petrol station and filled up with petrol. Drove home 110 miles, left it a few days before travelling on holiday did another 150 miles, with no performance issues and very good mpg numbers... when the engine failed, got towed back to my local dealer, and they have diagnosed a misfuel (diesel in petrol tank). Fortunately I have a receipt to say I filled up with petrol, the pay at pump kiosk didn't give me one originally but morrisons have since been able to provide me with one. The dealer is saying they did not put any fuel in and suggest i contact Hyundai UK.

The fuel sample has not yet been sent off for analysis but currently the fuel system has been flushed, cleaned and I needed a new fuel injector on cylinder 2. The Repairing dealer said there was something not right with the engine and they'd never seen anything quite like it before, almost as if somebody had tried to remove some fuel from the engine, I'm not engine savvy, so I don't really know what he was on about.

I'm thinking of rejecting the car as I've only had it for 2 weeks, not sure where i stand legally. Currently I have a 2 week old car that has lost its fuel system warranty and a £1,000 repair bill. 

I have full Google location timeline data that matches the cars onboard computer showing that I have only used the car on the 2 days 29/12 & 4/1

Keep_pedalling

Sounds highly unlikely that it came with diesel in tank otherwise it would had showed up almost instantly with such a small amount of fuel in the tank. The other possibility is you unknowingly filled it with contaminated fuel. 

99iainb

I've been looking at the local news and on Twitter X and there have been no reports of fuel contamination in the area. I 100% filled with petrol. I "filled" the tank within 2 miles of the dealer could only get 32.5 litres in the 40 litre tank. Been talking to an ex dealer manager on another forum and he suspects the dealership jerry canned it to move it around the depot as they come with absolute minimal fuel in

Grumpy_chap

99iainb said:

Hi folks, I've posted my story a few places around the Internet to get some advice and opinions, here is my story...

I Bought a new car in England on the 29/12, collected it with 64 miles fuel range in it. Drove to the nearest petrol station and filled up with petrol. Drove home 110 miles, left it a few days before travelling on holiday did another 150 miles, with no performance issues and very good mpg numbers... when the engine failed, got towed back to my local dealer, and they have diagnosed a misfuel (diesel in petrol tank). Fortunately I have a receipt to say I filled up with petrol, the pay at pump kiosk didn't give me one originally but morrisons have since been able to provide me with one. The dealer is saying they did not put any fuel in and suggest i contact Hyundai UK.

The fuel sample has not yet been sent off for analysis but currently the fuel system has been flushed, cleaned and I needed a new fuel injector on cylinder 2. The Repairing dealer said there was something not right with the engine and they'd never seen anything quite like it before, almost as if somebody had tried to remove some fuel from the engine, I'm not engine savvy, so I don't really know what he was on about.

I'm thinking of rejecting the car as I've only had it for 2 weeks, not sure where i stand legally. Currently I have a 2 week old car that has lost its fuel system warranty and a £1,000 repair bill. 

I have full Google location timeline data that matches the cars onboard computer showing that I have only used the car on the 2 days 29/12 & 4/1

Is this a brand new car?
Or a "new to you" car?

99iainb

Grumpy_chap said:

99iainb said:

Hi folks, I've posted my story a few places around the Internet to get some advice and opinions, here is my story...

I Bought a new car in England on the 29/12, collected it with 64 miles fuel range in it. Drove to the nearest petrol station and filled up with petrol. Drove home 110 miles, left it a few days before travelling on holiday did another 150 miles, with no performance issues and very good mpg numbers... when the engine failed, got towed back to my local dealer, and they have diagnosed a misfuel (diesel in petrol tank). Fortunately I have a receipt to say I filled up with petrol, the pay at pump kiosk didn't give me one originally but morrisons have since been able to provide me with one. The dealer is saying they did not put any fuel in and suggest i contact Hyundai UK.

The fuel sample has not yet been sent off for analysis but currently the fuel system has been flushed, cleaned and I needed a new fuel injector on cylinder 2. The Repairing dealer said there was something not right with the engine and they'd never seen anything quite like it before, almost as if somebody had tried to remove some fuel from the engine, I'm not engine savvy, so I don't really know what he was on about.

I'm thinking of rejecting the car as I've only had it for 2 weeks, not sure where i stand legally. Currently I have a 2 week old car that has lost its fuel system warranty and a £1,000 repair bill. 

I have full Google location timeline data that matches the cars onboard computer showing that I have only used the car on the 2 days 29/12 & 4/1

Is this a brand new car?
Or a "new to you" car?

Brand spanking new, 9 miles on the clock, I only used it twice and only filled it with fuel the once 

WellKnownSid

A diesel pump nozzle is normally too big to fit into a petrol car - but the supplying dealer may well have jerry cans of diesel that'll fit quite nicely...

400ixl

You will probably need to wait for the fuel sample to come back. If it is mainly petrol then you will have a stronger case, if it comes back mainly diesel then it would appear either you mis fuelled or there was contaminated fuel.  

Until then you are assuming.

When is the fuel being sent off and how long are the results expected to take?

99iainb

400ixl said:

You will probably need to wait for the fuel sample to come back. If it is mainly petrol then you will have a stronger case, if it comes back mainly diesel then it would appear either you mis fuelled or there was contaminated fuel.  

Until then you are assuming.

When is the fuel being sent off and how long are the results expected to take?

I only spoke to Hyundai UK on Friday, I'm hoping that they will instruct the fuel to be sent off for analysis, if they don't I will have to do that... another £250! I definitely, 100%, did not misfuel, no reports of any other contamination either

sevenhills

99iainb said:

The Repairing dealer said there was something not right with the engine and they'd never seen anything quite like it before, almost as if somebody had tried to remove some fuel from the engine

You need to email them, so you have what they are saying in writing. That sounds like a load of nonsense.

What would be the signs of removing fuel from the engine, a pipe sticking out of the petrol cap, or a clip missing from the petrol pipe under the bonnet?

They are just trying to baffle you, unless you just cannot remember what they said.

99iainb

They are just trying to baffle you, unless you just cannot remember what they said.

Probably a bit of both tbh, I'm not mechanically minded at all and he was trying to describe to me but it went over my head a bit. He was saying that they'd never quite seen anything like the condition cylinder 2 was in i think. Yes i need to get a written report on what they found... as long as they don't close ranks

sevenhills

99iainb said:

They are just trying to baffle you, unless you just cannot remember what they said.

Probably a bit of both tbh, I'm not mechanically minded at all and he was trying to describe to me but it went over my head a bit. He was saying that they'd never quite seen anything like the condition cylinder 2 was in i think. Yes i need to get a written report on what they found... as long as they don't close ranks

Contaminated fuel would affect every cylinder, not just cylinder two.