If you fill up with bad gasoline | How to get your money back

You can identify bad gasoline at home by several signs: the acrid smell of exhaust gases, the color of the fuel, characteristic carbon deposits on the spark plugs and interruptions in engine operation. Let's look at how to identify low-quality fuel, what to do in this case, and the possible consequences and causes of the Check Engine light coming on.

How to determine if you have poured low-quality gasoline

If you fill up with bad gasoline, almost immediately the car will show all the signs of a poor-quality fuel mixture. It will become clear as soon as you set off and begin to accelerate, if you start at all, of course.

But you can determine these characteristic features only if you have been driving a car for some time, not yesterday, as they say, you bought it, then everything will immediately become clear to you.

What are the symptoms of low-quality fuel?

The symptoms here are almost always the same on all machines:

Firstly , the power will drop, the car will not drive normally at all.

Secondly , the car will have difficulty starting. You turn off the engine, try to start it, but it doesn’t start the first time or doesn’t start at all.

Thirdly , constant and deep detonation, the engine will shake very strongly, it feels like it’s tripping or even double

Fourth , fuel consumption will increase (sometimes many times)

Fifth , errors may appear, everyone knows CHECK ENGINE

Sixth , if you unscrew the spark plugs, red or black soot will form on them.

Bad gasoline, symptoms

It might not start at all. Or it will be more difficult to start
At idle speed, instability and obvious jumps become noticeable.
For no apparent reason, the car might just stall.
At the start of acceleration, we see weak dynamics
The engine starts to work worse, this can be seen when you press the gas pedal, we get an uncertain, stringy response
We start accelerating the car, it jerks in response
We see a sharp increase in fuel consumption
Darkening can be observed in the exhaust due to the appearance of soot - a product of incomplete combustion of fuel.
You will have to climb the hill at lower speeds, where you easily climbed in 3-4 gears, you will be forced to switch to 1-2

By the way, expensive, modern cars have an on-board computer with a fuel quality analysis system; the sensor will immediately start generating an error and show sky-high fuel consumption.

In general, if you manage to get caught by an unscrupulous fuel seller and fill up with bad gasoline, expect consequences in the form of disruption, or even complete failure of the automobile system.

General information

Low-quality gasoline can be offered at many gas stations in the country. This low octane fuel is brought to high octane fuel through an artificial route. Additives that can be used are MMA and MTBE.

This approach to diluting gasoline is quite dangerous. Calculating the octane number of the resulting product is practically impossible. Most cars react characteristically to the increased ability of fuel to detonate.

Bad fuel can be perceived differently by cars. Some will run without noticeable problems, while others may simply break down. Therefore, you should be very careful when choosing a gas station and gasoline.

What is low-quality fuel

Let's look at what good gasoline is. This fuel is characterized by a specific additive content. It has its own level of quality and a certain purity. Let's consider the basic concepts that will help determine quality fuel:

Octane number. In other words, this is the resistance of the fuel to self-ignition, which occurs during the compression process. For artificially created compounds it is quite low. This threatens a destructive detonation.
Water. It is quite often mixed into fuel. Of course, it’s better to sell 25 liters rather than 24 (if without water). In modern cars, the fuel filter mesh prevents moisture from penetrating the combustion chamber. In winter this is fraught with consequences. Water freezes, it can seal the filter. The water will need to be removed from the tank.
Sulfur. There should be a minimum of this substance in gasoline. The lower the indicator, the higher the quality of the fuel. Almost no one checks counterfeit liquids for sulfur levels. The combustion of this component inside the engine cylinders causes the formation of sulfur oxide. If you add steam from water to it, you get sulfuric acid. Even in a minimal amount (in which it is located inside the engine), it has a bad effect on all its elements with which it comes into contact.
Aromatic hydrocarbons. These substances are added to increase the octane number. This component increases the formation of carbon deposits inside the engine. Hydrocarbons have been recognized to have a negative effect on plastic due to their solvent effect.
Benzene. High levels of this substance increase the toxicity of gasoline combustion products. This substance forms increased carbon deposits inside the engine.
Alcohols, ethers. This additive is also necessary for “badyazhniki” to increase the octane number. In an amount of 3 - 5% they do not cause harm to the engine. If the figure reaches 10%, consumption will increase. In hot weather, there is a possibility of an air lock forming inside the fuel supply system.

Its signs

How can you tell if the gasoline you poured is of poor quality? Listen to your car. Poor quality fuel will manifest itself as:

Poor engine starting. This is caused by weak ignition of diluted fuel. There is a danger for the car in the form of a breakdown of the ignition system.
Wear of spark plugs. They wear out due to poor engine starting. The part is covered with carbon deposits (reddish in color). This is a clear sign of high iron levels in the fuel.
Clogged fuel pump and filter. These faults can cause the car to not start. Diagnostics of the pump and filter is required.
Detonation inside the engine. In car operation, this manifests itself in unnecessary knocking noises that occur during engine operation. The reason may be low quality fuel. A similar effect can also occur if there is a problem with the ignition system.
Black exhaust. A clear sign of bad fuel. Black smoke indicates incomplete combustion of gasoline and the formation of soot.
Reduced engine thrust. The car owner may note that his car has become “sluggish.” If there are no extraneous noises or movement defects, it is worth trying next time to fill the tank with higher quality gasoline with a high octane number. When the former strength returns, we can say that the previous gasoline you filled in was of poor quality.
High fuel consumption. This often happens when using questionable gasoline.
Intermittent car movement. This may occur during overclocking. Such jerks that appear when the gas pedal is depressed indicate fuel contamination with chemicals and water.
Defects of the ecological system. Initially, the sensor indicating the level of oxygen in the exhaust gases is turned off. The sensor is very sensitive to an increase in the level of additives in the fuel. Intermittency in movement may be added (with higher gears).

Bad gasoline - consequences

Immediately throws on the candles, they act primarily as indicators of shitty fuel
The coarse filters will become clogged, which will instantly lead to an increase in the workload of the fuel pump and, accordingly, the entire fuel system will suffer, which will significantly reduce its service life
The injection system is also under attack, its catalyst will immediately react to the flood of counterfeit combustible mixture
Well, the cylinder-piston group will get it
In the injection system, the injectors become clogged with various small, solid fractions; they will constantly need to be washed. And this pleasure is not cheap; it can only be done professionally at a service station

We filled a petrol car with diesel. What to do?

Despite the fact that at many gas stations in our country, diesel fuel nozzles have a tip diameter of 25 mm, and gasoline nozzles are somewhat thinner - their diameter is 21 mm, sometimes motorists manage to mistakenly fill diesel fuel into gasoline cars. Plus, of course, not all gas stations in our country use such modern equipment.

See also: How many types of fuel are there that cars can run on?

Well, now imagine that something similar happened to you. The first question in a panic: “What to do?” Pull yourself together. If this happens, you should not start the vehicle under any circumstances. If you discover that you have put in the wrong fuel while driving, stop immediately . Otherwise there is a risk of damage to the injection system and exhaust system. You can find out exactly what to do with your car in the vehicle’s operating instructions.

Or go to a car repair shop and bring the car there on a tow truck. Depending on the engine and the amount of incorrect fuel in the tank, you may be able to continue driving by periodically refilling the tank with the correct fuel at short intervals. True, this method is suitable if you filled in just a little of the wrong fuel. If a decent amount of unnecessary fuel gets into the tank, you will have to drain it.

What to do if you fill in with low-quality fuel

In general, for good reason, you need to completely stop your vehicle and call a tow truck. If the car is even more expensive, then you can actually end up with a huge amount of money in repairs.

You won’t be able to do anything on the spot; you’ll need to call the service center if the car is under warranty or your familiar technicians so that they can provide you with recommendations for further actions in order to avoid even greater damage to the engine and injectors.

On a domestic or older car, you can try to continue driving, but carefully without overloading in order to burn low-quality fuel.

If you know a proven gas station, you need to refuel there until the tank is full in order to make the filled surrogate less harmful and use it completely. But this is only if the car drives more or less normally. It just shows high consumption.

How to avoid refueling with bad fuel?

The best protection against bad gasoline is not to fill it up. But how to distinguish bad gasoline from good? First, you need to avoid untested gas stations. Bad gas stations immediately reveal themselves by their low prices or very strange licenses. As a rule, sellers are reluctant to show papers for the fuel they sell.

Secondly, bad fuel has a pungent and unpleasant odor. We have already talked about this. If the exhaust smells bad, then the gasoline itself will smell accordingly. So refuel only in trusted places and there will be no problems.

The Right Action

You need to rinse the tank, naturally draining all the gasoline from there
In this case, the fuel line requires cleaning
Injectors are removed and checked

And it is recommended to do all this work in your service station. In addition to these procedures, they will be able to identify other damage.

Well, and most importantly, no matter what the cost of the work, after the examination you have appointed and if low-quality gasoline is identified, the gas station is obliged to pay you all your repair costs.

Let's summarize: Yes, you can fill the tank until the tank is full and get rid of the bad gasoline, but you should remember that even if you filled it up to full with 98, it still will not get rid of impurities in the total mass.

And it’s not yet clear whether this will save money or add problems in the future.

Or follow a different algorithm. Tow the car to a service station, pay for repairs, but try to prove the purchase of low-quality gasoline and return all expenses at the expense of the unscrupulous gas station.

It's up to you to decide, but it also happens that assumptions about problems in the car due to low-quality fuel are not confirmed. In this case, be prepared to pay for the examination.

What do we have to do?

Urgently get rid of this fuel - pour everything out of the tank (rinse it) - flush the fuel system - clean the injectors - unscrew and inspect the spark plugs (clean them if necessary).

Moreover, if the car goes into overdrive, as they say (you start the engine, and it detonates like crazy), you shouldn’t torture it, it’s better to call a tow truck, or a friend with a tow, and go straight to the service station.

Many people mistakenly believe that they can dilute low-quality gasoline with normal gasoline by simply driving to a branded gas station and filling it with normal fuel - BUT THIS IS NOT SO! Gasoline can often fail to mix and the bad gas will remain at the bottom. Still, I advise you to rinse and clean it, it will be MUCH BETTER, the car will run longer.

Now we are watching the video version.

I’ll finish here, in conclusion I would like to say - DON’T SAVE ON PETROL, SOMETIMES IT’S BETTER TO FUEL UP AND OVERPAY A RUBLE THAN TO REPAIR THE ENGINE OR FUEL SYSTEM THEN. That's all, sincerely yours, AUTOBLOGGER.

( 8 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

Similar news

Cost of gasoline. Let's look at the example of 1 liter in Russia and the United States.

Gas for cars: pros and cons. Let's look at propane and methane + video

Which gasoline burns faster, longer and better? 92 – 95 – 98 or 100.

Add a comment Cancel reply

Good day everyone, I decided to write my review of the 2010 Toyota Avensis. Just want…

How to get money back for bad gasoline

After the above symptoms of car malfunction, you stopped driving.

Call a tow truck
Deliver the car to an official, certified service station (a license and the necessary specialists are required)
It’s easier here for owners of new cars under warranty (call and make an appointment and diagnostics)
After delivering the car to the service center, make sure that the service specialists have sealed the engine compartment and gas tank, drawing up the necessary reports, this is a mandatory procedure

Cases among drivers

Once I filled up with low-quality gasoline at a well-known good gas station. When I drove away, I immediately realized what was wrong - the car didn’t want to go, it stalled and wouldn’t start. Although I used to always fill up at this gas station, and so did all my friends. So it was just bad luck this time.

After this, I had to go to a car service and wash the injectors. At the same time, I replaced the spark plugs. It’s bad that you didn’t keep the receipt – you can’t prove anything. After that I refueled there several times, everything was fine.

Pulsar gasoline from Rosneft - good fuel or a scam

Claim for low-quality gasoline

In this case, you must have a cash receipt; always save it. And you have already stocked up on a written report from the service station on the foreseeable cause of the breakdown. As well as documents indicating the entire cost of work performed at the service center.

The next step is to agree with the gas station on the date when, in the presence of a gas station representative, you will take samples from the gas tank.

To do this, make a claim in 2 copies; it is advisable to send it by mail to the legal address of the gas station where you were “lucky” to refuel.

The claim must include a reference to the law, indicate the date of purchase of gasoline, the type of gasoline, brand, and quantity of the volume filled.

And also, along with the claim, send an invitation for a representative from the gas station to take gasoline samples from the gas tank, in this invitation you indicate the time and date of taking the samples.

It is advisable to send all this in the form of a valuable letter with a list of the attachments and with a return notification that the opposite party has received this correspondence.

You have in your hands an inventory of the contents of the sent letter and a cash receipt from the post office.

How to claim compensation from a gas station?

In many cases, it is difficult for the client to prove that he is right. For example, the company's management may deny its involvement in a car malfunction, convincing regulatory authorities that the driver cannot prove that his car was in good working order before.

The Consumer Rights Service has a 24-hour hotline. The car owner can at any time clarify how to obtain compensation from the gas station for the sale of low-quality fuel.

Before filing a claim, the driver must have a receipt in hand. Once he has discovered a malfunction, under no circumstances should you try to fix everything yourself. In such a situation, you need to contact a specialized service station, which will also provide you with a receipt.

The service station specialists must first carry out diagnostics, as a result of which it must be indicated that the breakdown occurred precisely because of the use of inappropriate gasoline.

Having a receipt after refueling and the conclusion of an independent examination is a guarantee of receiving compensation from the gas station. But even in this case, the chances of falling on unjust people are high. For this reason, it is better to play it safe and refuel at trusted gas stations.

In conclusion, a couple of tips from an experienced motorist:

5 SIGNS OF BAD GASOLINE

Gasoline examination

The appointed time X has arrived, you are waiting for a representative from the gas station.

If he doesn’t show up, you can remove the seal from the gas tank and collect the fuel.

The fence is made in 3 copies, you can use new plastic containers in the form of 0.5 liter bottles.

Once you have filled the container, it should also be sealed.

The 1st sample is in the car service center
2nd to you for delivery to the laboratory
The 3rd one is picked up by a representative of the gas station, in his absence, hand over the container in person with the preparation of a transfer and acceptance certificate

After all these manipulations with the intake of gasoline, the gas tank should be sealed again. And with the samples you are sent to a specialized laboratory that has a license for admission to conduct examinations.

You wait for the results, at this time you can search through the Internet or in another way for victims in the same way - just like you, from this gas station.

After the conclusion of the examination, if the fuel was found to be of poor quality, you should notify the car service specialists about the results.

From this moment it is already possible to remove the seal from the engine compartment.

And start repairing. All parts that need to be replaced are stored at the service station in the proper manner.

There is another claim from you demanding reimbursement of expenses for:

Poor quality fuel
Tow truck
If you got from the place by taxi yourself, then for taxi services
Expertise
Repair and replacement of machine spare parts

All copies of all receipts should be attached and sent to the gas station in the same way as previously stated, via mail or in person.

Waiting for an answer

In person 10 days
Via mail 20 days

And if you don’t get an answer, you go to court with all the collected documents. You fall under a consumer protection dispute; there is no state duty for this application.

What is usually used to dilute fuel at gas stations?

In pursuit of a long ruble, some sellers resort to deception, which brings them up to 200% profit. A variety of methods are used to improve the “quality” of gasoline:

Use of water. This is the simplest, but also easily revealed, method of deception. The fuel mixture is simply mixed with ordinary water. However, if the car owner refueled an empty tank, then he will not travel even a few kilometers on such fuel.
Use of lead. In cheap mixtures, the detonation resistance is quite low, but if you need to create 95 or 98 gasoline from nothing, then it is enough to add additives to it. As a rule, tetraethyl lead is used for this. This component has been used for many years as an anti-knock additive for motor fuel. But today, so-called leaded gasoline is prohibited in the Russian Federation (it was abandoned in 2002). This is explained by the fact that tetraethyl lead is extremely toxic and negatively affects the operation of the car.

Use of ethanol. To quickly increase the octane number by 10-15 points, just add a few grams of ferrocene. It is usually added to straight-run gasoline, the octane number of which is about 64 units. Ferrocene costs a penny, but the effect, as they say, is immediate.
Use of gasoline (gasoline). In fact, it is gas condensate, which costs 3 times less than normal gasoline. But it is not sold in its pure form, due to its rather pungent odor, which can immediately confuse the car owner. Instead, the gasoline is mixed with gasoline.

Other tricks are also used. For example, instead of diesel fuel, some unscrupulous sellers sell stove fuel. From the name it’s easy to guess that this liquid is not intended for cars at all. You can also find diesel fuel and many other impurities in gasoline. Some of them can be detected with the naked eye, but the presence of other additives can be proven only after an examination.

conclusions

If you fill up with bad gasoline, then remember, unfortunately, no one is immune from this. Especially in distant regions, the situation with the quality of fuel is unfavorable.

Entrepreneurs make huge profits and do nothing to improve the quality of the product they sell. In the regions, residents who are not so picky do not want and do not know how to check the quality of gasoline. It also happens that they drive a small car with a fuel consumption of 12-14 liters in mixed mode.

I wouldn’t like to give banal advice, like refuel only from a well-known manufacturer and seller, only with proven fuel. Of course, all sorts of situations happen in life.

And if this happens, you need to understand the algorithm of actions and not deviate from the intended goal, to reimburse all expenses from purchasing poor quality fuel at the expense of an unscrupulous gas station.

What is your opinion about the quality of fuel at gas stations in our large country? It’s interesting to hear your personal opinion about the fuel situation in the comments.

With this I say goodbye to you, dear readers. I wish you never find yourself in such situations. Good luck to everyone on the roads.

You can subscribe to receive new notes. There is still a lot of interesting things ahead. With uv. Valentina

Fuel test at home

The tests described below allow you to detect water, high levels of tar and kerosene in gasoline at home. A detailed assessment of the octane number and physical and chemical composition of the fuel is possible only after laboratory analysis.

Test for determining kerosene. Drop 5-10 ml of fuel onto a clean paper sheet and wait until it evaporates completely. If a distinct oily areole remains on the leaf, there is kerosene in the gasoline. As an alternative method, rub a few drops of gasoline between the pads of your fingers. The feeling of a greasy film also indicates a high kerosene content.
Determination of increased resin content. On a clean glass surface, light 5 ml of gasoline. After the combustion of high-quality fuel, a barely noticeable spot with a white tint remains on the surface. A large number of yellow spots indicates a high resin content.
How to determine water in gasoline. Add a little potassium permanganate to a small transparent container with fuel. A color change to red or crimson is a reliable sign of the presence of water in the fuel.

Gasoline grades AI-92, AI-95 should have a yellowish tint. A slight difference in color between gasoline from different gas stations does not indicate poor quality of the product. A clear sign of low-quality fuel will be a bright brown/red color, cloudy consistency and the presence of sediment at the bottom of the container.