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Fuel Contamination?

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Went to fill up last week at our local Shell, but the 98Ron pumps were all disabled.

 

Still went in the shop for some bits and asked the attendant, who told me she'd disabled the pumps because the forecourt 98Ron tank only had 400 liters left in it: they turn the pumps off until resupply, to prevent anything lying at the bottom of the forecourt tank from being pumped into cars.

 

So, same situation with forecourts, as with cars with sediments or stuff at the bottom of their tanks, whereby commonality of good fuel supply may well rule out fuel quality problems (...when it is delivered to a forecourt), but doesn't necessarily rule out problems created by the forecourt's installation.

 

 

Edited by L00b

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11 hours ago, Top Cats Hat said:

How low was the diesel when you filled up?

 

Sometimes in an older vehicle a low fuel tank concentrates all the crap in the bottom of the tank. Usually there will be a r at the fuel pickup and another between the fuel pump and the injectors. Was the car running OK when the light came on? Some modern diesels will give engine warnings if the fuel filter is contaminated.

 

Unless it was ‘bad fuel’ (unlikely in 2019) I suspect that flushing out your diesel filter should cure the problem.

On the money.

 

Angel1.

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It could obviously just be coincidence.  We look for patterns in things, but there's really no evidence to link this engine fault to the filling up.

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I'd go with that too.

 

If the error message disappears after three driving cycles (i.e unlock car, start, drive, park, lock, leave a couple of hours) it may have just been a random glitch.

 

I noticed reference to "eco mode".  Are you talking about "economy mode" on screen?

 

If so this occurs when the car notices the battery is running low and switches off certain things like the radio, electric windows, interior lights, and so on to prevent it going too low and preventing the car starting.  

 

If you're seeing this quite frequently it may indicate a battery problem.  From experience you should only see it if the engine is off and the radio has been on at least half an hour, or the boot or doors left open while cleaning or working on the car.

 

Pugs and Citroens are funny cars.  They'll start dead easily with a really poor battery or failing starter or alternator.  Yet if the supply voltage dips below 11.5 for any reason then the electrics don't like it and the sensors give off false warnings.

 

 

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I love it when people continually spout the "crap at the bottom of the tank" myth. 

 

It makes me chuckle at how dense people can be. 

 

Where do you think the fuel pump pickup line sits? I'll give you a clue, it doesn't float... 

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You can sometimes get a bacterial growth in diesel tanks, it's kinda rare though.

I've yet to see anything at all inside a normal petrol tank, usually sparkling inside.  

 

Fuel filter is there to catch debris anyway, but it's often not changed as regularly as it should be.

Edited by geared

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Not all petrol cars even have a fuel filter - certainly not a replaceable one anyway.  

 

Some have it built into the pump in the tank as a bit of gauze mesh.  Something to bear in mind if the car is over 10 years old or done 100,000 miles - often the expected "life" of a car by some manufacturers.

 

 

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My last one had that issue I remember, they also had a reputation for broken fuel injectors.

 

I always suspect the two were linked.

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Well, since forecourt tanks' contamination is such an impossibility, one has to wonder how a dedicated servicing industry could possibly survive.

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5 hours ago, L00b said:

Well, since forecourt tanks' contamination is such an impossibility, one has to wonder how a dedicated servicing industry could possibly survive.

I don't think that anyone claimed it wasn't possible, just that it was unlikely.

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1 hour ago, Cyclone said:

I don't think that anyone claimed it wasn't possible, just that it was unlikely.

I've certainly experienced 'dodgy fuel' at a UK supermarket forecourt before.

 

Morrisons Bramley, had filled up the Impreza on 98Ron, engine misfiring by the time I hit the A57 between Anston and Worksop, and carried on doing that (irregularly) until tank was half-full (I topped up then). It was many years ago, admittedly. Car had never done it before, nor since. 

 

Which is why I'm never quick to dismiss 'dodgy fuel' stories/claims, notwithstanding the objective fact of single-source good quality supply.

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