Jump to content
CaddyInfo Cadillac Forum

75% water in gas tank


AUSTINCTS1

Recommended Posts

Under a quarter tank of gas, so bought gas at a Shell station, within 3 miles started stalling (check engine light), called road side, car towed to dealer. Dealer tells me that there is a lot of water in the tank. Has to remove tank, empty gas (and water), change fuel filter, dry tank and reinistall. A lot of hours work, not under warranty. $750 later i get my car. Seems to run nicely.

Contacted Shell corporate, Shell Solutions Center, and reported the incident. Got a referenc number and faxed them a notarized letter explaling the incident, and receipt for the gas/water purchase, and repair receipt. Shell told me they will investigate and get back on my claim.

What is the chance of recovery? Do you think my car will have any long-term issues? Dealer told me everything is ok.

Thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Under a quarter tank of gas, so bought gas at a Shell station, within 3 miles started stalling (check engine light), called road side, car towed to dealer. Dealer tells me that there is a lot of water in the tank. Has to remove tank, empty gas (and water), change fuel filter, dry tank and reinistall. A lot of hours work, not under warranty. $750 later i get my car. Seems to run nicely.

Contacted Shell corporate, Shell Solutions Center, and reported the incident. Got a referenc number and faxed them a notarized letter explaling the incident, and receipt for the gas/water purchase, and repair receipt. Shell told me they will investigate and get back on my claim.

What is the chance of recovery? Do you think my car will have any long-term issues? Dealer told me everything is ok.

Thanks in advance.

My bet Less then 1 in 10... Unless you are really lucky and find a bunch of other customers with the same problem.. Welcome to the internet...

caddy.jpg

Easin' down the highway in a new Cadillac,

I had a fine fox in front, I had three more in the back

ZZTOP, I'm Bad I'm Nationwide

Greg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Under a quarter tank of gas, so bought gas at a Shell station, within 3 miles started stalling (check engine light), called road side, car towed to dealer. Dealer tells me that there is a lot of water in the tank. Has to remove tank, empty gas (and water), change fuel filter, dry tank and reinistall. A lot of hours work, not under warranty. $750 later i get my car. Seems to run nicely.

Contacted Shell corporate, Shell Solutions Center, and reported the incident. Got a referenc number and faxed them a notarized letter explaling the incident, and receipt for the gas/water purchase, and repair receipt. Shell told me they will investigate and get back on my claim.

What is the chance of recovery? Do you think my car will have any long-term issues? Dealer told me everything is ok.

Thanks in advance.

I think you've got a good chance of recovery. You also got off easy. That happened with a Pilot station around here a few years ago and I overheard the dealer tech where I was buying parts mentioning that Pilot was "on the hook for a $3,000 bill." If they don't pay this with little hassle, take them to small claims court.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You might think of contacting the EPA. A little condensation might result in enough water to force removing and drying the tank and changing the fuel filter, but 75% water in full tank when you started out with a quarter tank is just about all water, and close to 15 gallons of it. These guys had massive ground water leakage into the underground storage tank. This doesn't happen overnight. This very likely is something that the EPA didn't know about. In fact, you may find that the station is engaged with the EPA, which would provide information that would strengthen your claim.

CTS-V_LateralGs_6-2018_tiny.jpg
-- Click Here for CaddyInfo page on "How To" Read Your OBD Codes
-- Click Here for my personal page to download my OBD code list as an Excel file, plus other Cadillac data
-- See my CaddyInfo car blogs: 2011 CTS-V, 1997 ETC
Yes, I was Jims_97_ETC before I changed cars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep. contact the EPA - they look for stuff like this to start an investigation. you might want to casually talk to another shift worker to see if he "knows of anything" or the local newspaper to see if anyone else called them to complain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is not THAT uncommon, and is generally caused by two things, phase separation due to bad source tanks or a flooded station lot with an open filler cap. Phase separation is usually seen in station tanks that have not been adequately water freed just prior to a delivery of E10 (10% ethanol + 90% gasoline). The first station delivery is a critical time for switching to E10 for exactly that reason.

If there were heavy rains in the area and the tank location has a history of picking up water from the surface, ethanol enhanced E10 will make the problem worse than before. In other words, when straight gasoline was in the filling station's tanks, a little water would collect in the bottom and go unnoticed. Add ethanol into the equation, and ALL of the ethanol (yes all 10% of the tank capacity!) will combine with the water, increasing the volume greatly. NOW you've got a problem.

The car will most likely be fine, only small amounts of water would have entered the cylinders and injectors before it stopped running. Generally any damage, such as hydrolock, would have been immediate and irreversible.

The EPA won't get involved unless you can tell them that you suspect subsurface water intrusion. This means a possible ground water contamination situation, and REMEDIATION of that ground water. It will cost the station owner, if independently owned, his entire 401K to comply with remediation efforts mandated by the EPA.

Go to the station owner first and get an explanation, he will know of any water intrusion problems in the past. Go to the Shell corporate next in order to rule out the delivery terminal. THEN the state EPA, division of water pollution, if you fully expect groundwater intrusion.

If it was a bad delivery, in the rain, a bad batch of ethanol, a terminal source issue, or a groundwater issue, you need to know before you ask for compensation.

Never underestimate the amount of a persons greed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...