Hopefully, your gas sample is actually from your tank. I'd have it independently checked.

 

I think this statement and the one you were refering to in your Quote about water intrusion from the ground simply add's fear of unknown to the argument. It's sounds nice to someone outside the oil business but in reality would be a major exception to the rule.

I could argue your statement but in the interest of keeping this to simple facts its very safe to say the chances of

1. Water intrusion from the ground
2. Absolute carelessness and intentional disregard for safety mechanisms.
3. Your explanation of those safety systems.

Are far fetched at this Valero station. The OP has already stated he filled up there for years without incident. If #1 and #2 had been going on... It would have occured long before today and numerous customers would be affected.

I hope Valero makes an adjustment of some kind out of customer service if not true at-fault. If they do admit responsibility then through there own internal processes they have identified a problem of some kind.

I hope the OP has filed a complaint with the state regulator of fuel products in addition to the paperwork filed with the Valero corp.

Here is how to file a complaint in Texas.

http://www.agr.state.tx.us/agr/progr...channelId=5362

Here is a link to the not so mom and pop Valero Energy company.

http://www.valero.com/

 

Thanks for the link. As stated in a previous post, I have filed the paperwork with Valero. My service tech at the dealership that I've been going to for the last 2 years has always done a great job taking care of my car and I have no reason to doubt him or the techs there.
I do have a sample of the comtaminated fuel and will have it tested if need be.

 

Great!! And your not being mean calling the State. In Fact they save Valero money by doing some of the expensive testing if need be. They also put your complaint on record incase theres repeat problems.

I'm thinking my #1 suspect is the Ethanol %

Hope you get your $$ back.

 

Testing the amout of ethanol in the gas is pretty easy. Testers can be found on-line for about $20.00..... They are pretty silmple to use. I have been testing all of my gas for the last few months. In most cases it has tested between 6% and 9%....

I go out of my way to avoid ethanol blended gas, but its getting harder to find all the time. So far I have only had ethanol in the Vette once....It was an instant 10% loss in mpg's....

 

If I were you I would call your State Agency and they will probably test the sample you have in your possession. I would do this asap. Good Luck. Paul ...

 

Any resolution / word from Valero yet?

 

As of yesterday:
Thanks. Your claim has been forward to Valero Claims Management for action.

 

ooh thats a fancy title.

Be civil when they call (friendly will get you $$ in most cases).....Mention you are a 4-5year patron of that Valero station. Explain your mechanic is a reputable one. Explain Vette is garaged so noone would tamper with tank...

They will hit you with the fact noone else complained.

Hopefully you get something.

Bob

 

I found this in a search because I pumped some bad 93 octane gas tonight into my 05 C6 M6, dyno tuned for H/C/I. I had this happen a couple months ago also at a different station too. My car was running both times and about when the tank was full, it started running poorly, tonight it really smoked a lot and I got in and shut it off. When I restarted it, it ran a little rough and I had to push the accelerator to open the TB up to get it to run, but the smoking was gone and I guess something in the computer reset to the bad gas.

Does anyone know when the computer identifies bad gas to switch to the 87 octane tune? I'm guessing at startup since that seemed to correct my bad gas problem, and the car seemed to run fine after that. What is oddly strange is that the car got really good gas mileage after this incident, a noticeable 4 or 5 mpg better average. I was watching the instant fuel economy on the DIC and it was running 30 to 35 mpg at 65mph on a M6. This gas station had ethanol in the fuel also.

 

what is ridiculous here is not so much the bad gas ( not good btw ) but a car that is so complicated that a single bad fillup costs you a thou to set right....maybe.

Oh, how I long for the OOOOOOld days when cars had carbs and little floats in the tanks to tell you the gas level.....and that was IT.

too complicated , way too complicated

sit tight folks.....you know that you can get more low octane gas from a barrel of oil than higher octane right?

one thing the future has in store is LOTS of bad gas sold in the name of energy savings and less oil dependency. Like a fault tolerant computer system car's should be built nowadays to "forgive" a tank of bad gas without costing a significant sum of money.

just my opinion.....

 

You are running the car when fueling it up?????

This is so wrong. The fuel cap must be securely tighten or it will set a check engine light. I think you are seeing the results of the computer not liking it at all having the car run with the gas cap off.

 

I filled up with bad gas from a Sunoco station. My Z was only 1 month old. The local chevy dealer replaced two o2 sensors and both cats under warranty. The car ran like sh*# for weeks until those parts were replaced. Now its fine. I real inconvenience though. Multiple trips to the dealer.

 

Everything was takin care of, I'm not allowed to disclose anything per our settlement. Car is running great now, had Z51 suspension put in and Z06 NPP exhaust last week.

 

Lots of good information here. I run a small chain of Valero (and a few Cenex) gas stations and truck stops. Valero is a major company. Just a few years ago they bought out Diamond Shamrock and started branding their stations as Valero.

As Bob pointed out, the pump is several inches off the bottom of the tank. The likelihood of getting water in your gas is very slim. We also use "Hydrosorb" filters on all of our pumps as an extra precaution, but they are a little more expensive than normal filters so not all stations use them. Also, with the ethanol influx, older stations are having to clean their tanks of crud and water so no problems arise with the ethanol usage.

I run a truck stop that sells about 11,000 gallons of diesel and 5000 gallons of gas per day. It's always funny when we get a call from an irate customer who blames us of having gas in our diesel, diesel in our gas, or water in the gas as per the mechanic at the local dealership. I calmly explain to them that we go through a tanker and a half of product a day and several large trucking companies charge fuel with us. That their complaint is the only one kind of tells the story. Nine times out of ten they call back an hour later and say something along the lines of "Oh I'm sorry, I let my daughter take my new Duramax out for the night and turns out she put gas in it isntead of diesel."

I do try to steer clear of filling up my car when a station is getting a delivery. Not sure if it would slosh stuff around enough, and with the filtration it's unlikely, but if you were to pick up any contaminants, I'd say it would be most likely at that time.

 

Glad it all worked out

 

Something is not as it should be???

 

what does this mean?

 

Personnaly, I cross reference the "top tier" list with those companies that import the least amount of oil. If memory serves, Texaco is on both lists.

 

Why cant you disclose what happened? That doesnt sound right, why you cant disclose the outcome. They sworn you in to secrecy?