Stopped last week and filled up with Sunoco 93 octane gas. Always use 93! After leaving station I drove about 6 - 8 miles when it began to miss significantly and then nearly shutoff briefly until I pulled off the road and it stopped completely. After some trying it fired up again and I headed home but it did not run right. When stopping at a traffic light it would idle really rough and the smell of gas was very vivid.

Finally got it home and it sat for 5 or 6 days. Met my wife for lunch and when we exited the restaurant it took a long time to get it started and when it finally fired black smoke poured out. Got it home and parked it and today decided to take it out since it was so nice.

It ran so poorly I nearly turned around and came back home. At a traffic light I would have to put it in neutral and keep feathering it in order to keep it running. When it did stall it was hard to start and again black smoke and rich smell.

Finally pulled into another station and filled up again - it was down to 1/4. For another 8 - 10 miles same scenerio but then it began to smooth out and after a while it idled nearly perfect and ran without any problems.

Think it was a bad batch of gas?? Don't know that I ever had any problems with Sunoco before but don't think I will using it again soon.

 

I have had similar symptoms from bad gas. It doesn't mean something else was not at fault. I would probably avoid that station, more than the brand. Most gas comes from the local refinery as standard fuel, then the brand's additive package is added. How it is treated by the retailer can vary.

 

I too live in Florida, largest sand bar on earth, with a very shallow water table, and have bought 2 tanks of gas, years ago from two different stations at top of my hill, and so both of them were water in the gas....one time the car needed towed home only a mile or so....

both of those stations had their tanks dug up and replace not so long after one was a BP the other a Shell.....we buy gas at discount from local food store promo from the Shell all the time.... the BP, rare if at all.....BUT I did note that they have alky free pure GASoline....

So YEH, water in the underground storage tanks is a huge problem, they get old and decay/corrode/break and maybe the station itself has a leak in the filler caps the trucks use to deliver.....and if the station ever floods....it's OVER rover.....

 

after the hurricanes a few years ago i got a bad tankful from the corner sunoco. thats about what happened ran like crap till i ran it all out. about the second fill up it was back to normal.

 

A friend had a V12 E type jag many years ago, filled it up with gas one day (held a lot) and barely made it home, got half a bucket of water out of the tank and then had to add some meths to mop up what was left. Bad luck if you happen to fill up when the stations tank is nearly empty, not uncommon for there to be some water at the bottom. I was wondering if this was such an issue with the blended fuel you have there as the alcohol would mix with the water to a point?

 

Could also have been that the ethanol had stratified in the holding tank and you got a higher percentage of ethanol then 10%.

Also, just because the pump says "up to 10%" ethanol doesn't mean you aren't getting more. It can happen.

 

I drive my car and race it using either Sunoco, Exxon or Hess, all 93 octane. It performs the same on all of them.

 

you mean I might be getting something I am not paying extra for???????oh wait

 

The smell of fuel makes me think you had some crud in the needle and seat that wasnt allowing it to seal so it was overflowing the carb.

 

e85?

 

FWIW, I've been driving for over 50 years and have never had a problem with gas. There have been times when I thought a problem may have been gas related, but such problems always turned out to be something else.

 

Hey all, I'll update you all - sorry its been awhile but as you will see I think the method was wise-
So I contacted my local chevy dealer for pricing, they gave me a $175 price for the oem battery. And now that the situation has changed since I bought the car and was adamant about staying oem, I went to NAPA and got a $80.00 replacement. Oh the dealer also wanted $90.00 for installing the battery - I did it myself of course and easily.

I finished syphoning as much gas as I could with a soft flexible hose out of the tank, bought some mid grade (pricewise) injector cleaner, octane booster, and fuel conditioner (all in one), six gallons of fresh premium and gave it a try; She fired right up and ran smooth as silk. I couldnt believe it. But I also remembered the last time I drove her it died after warm up. Looking at the temperature gauge needle - just as it got past the last 0 of the 100, it went into a high idle and starting running rough. I tapped the accerlerator and it coughed and died. It did not restart but there was plenty of electrical power to try. I only tried it two short times before giving up. Next day after a night of cooling down, exact same thing happened. And the day after but it didnt run as rough when it went into high idle.
Now not to confuse the issue, but the forth time I sat inside the cockpit and ran the AC and radio and lights just to see if anything seemed wierd. As soon as she went into high idle (about 1100 to 1200 RPM v the normal 6 to 700 at idle) the AC quit and started blowing hot air. It did this the next 3 times I ran the car like this.
So as she runs fine while cold, I knew I could drive her in the cul de sac until hot, so I did. put abput three miles on her this way, and I would alsways get it back in the driveway before she hit high idle as if you tap touch the gas in that high idle she imeadiately coughs and dies.
This Friday I decided to just not do anything when it went into high idle and see what happened. It went just over 100 degrees, went into high idle and stayed that way for about 5 minutes then it kinda slowly started rpming down. real close to normal idle. I tapped the pedal and it responded instead of dieing! I let her idle and revved it up and down for about 5 minutes, shut it off and imeadiately tried starting it again, and it did - started right up. I took it on a extended short drive after doing thiis a couple times and she drove good in the bigger slow neighborhood loop. But when I brought her back and shut down it wouldnt restart right away. But did after cooling down and now its not going into high idle. So today I'll put in some more fresh gas as the first six is almost gone and some more injector cleaner. Man I am sure hopefull - It was so good to drive it again!
Thank you for all your replies I read them all. Ill let you know how this goes....

 

oh and I dont know what was up with the AC issue, that went away and all seems normal. I still have a cel on but its running again seemingly!

 

I know, I thought the same. But understand this was gas sitting in the tank for about 3 years and had stabil stabilizer in it. What I siphoned out was a sick yellow color and had a turpentine smell and was cloudy a little.
What I put in had fresh fueel smell and a blueish tint to it besides being extremely clear.

 

I don't think your problems are gas related. Sounds like your carb needs a basic rebuild (your pic shows a C6, what year is the car having problems?). Have you checked the fuel filter to see if clogged?

That being said, living in the humid southeast I regularly put a can of Heat (methanol) in my tank to combat water.

 

OMG Hess gas what memories it brings back bc I used to manage Hess station on the Media Bypass in Pa back in the day!!!
I did not know that they were still in business???

JJ78

 

I was just surfing and saw this and wanted to post because I have a Holley 4160 with an electric choke and I have had to fiddle with that stupid high idle arm more than I want to. When I fire up my 69 cold I give the gas pedal 3 solid presses to the floor. The first one sets the high idle arm, the other two just add gas. It instantly fires and will stay at high idle until the choke opens or more often, when I blip the throttle after a couple of minutes. I was a little confused by your description of your high idle - maybe I didn't read it right.

Before you go too nuts - and sorry if I missed this - how about a new fuel filter and a couple of cans of Seafoam?

I am skeptical about additives of any kind but my brother is a retired heavy equipment mechanic who told me about Seafoam. He used to have to deal with different types of machinery and one particular fuel island that sat for very long periods of time and got used infrequently. He told me that stuff will actually GROW inside gas inside fuel tanks. News to me. He was doubtful about Seafoam but said it worked so well on equipment that just sat for a long time he told me about it and yup, he's right. You're not going to hurt the car by dumping a can or two in a tank of fresh gas. They're only about $8 or so at Home Depot.

Don't let any gas sit that long. Why? This isn't Road Warrior territory, plenty available.
I can only get the 10% corn liquor ethanol stuff around here. I use 93 in the 'vette and and Wide Glide and 87 in everything else. Never let the gas sit more than a year, I cycle it through our daily drivers. I don't use the bike much so it winds up getting siphoned, Seafoamed and refilled with fresh each winter. The 'vette gets used and when done for the season I just dump a full can in.

Never an issue with ethanol, it doing anything to hoses to carbs, zero. I usually dump a half can of Seafoam in each 5 gallon can.

 

This thread is from 5 years ago. Hess was in business then. That's not the only problem with this thread.

 

The guy who just posted in this 5 year old thread originally posted in the C4 forum. He is lost.

 

Yes, it's old but still salient.

water in your gas tank is primarily because gas stations' owners/operators failure to do due diligence to ensure their storage tanks contain minimal water.

rarely, a station may receive a load of water-laden gas; quite rarely.

old steel storage tanks rust-through and leak gas out & water in.

newer polymer storage tanks don't rust but water can still get in thru connections.

tanks can be fitted/retrofitted with water detectors but those systems require periodic QC checks & maintenance; no good if not monitored with a clear action-plan.

then there's ol' reliable Kolor Kut water finding paste; it's smeared onto that long gas-level stick; but it doesn't work at all if no one uses it or reports it or cares.
https://www.jmesales.com/kolor-kut-w...caAnltEALw_wcB