Advice on "Dirty Diesel"

surfmaster

Hi Guy's,

Purchased Diesel in Clare on Sunday (can't name station). By the time I got to Charleville there was a knocking sound out of the engine. When I tried to restart my car it wouldn't budge.

BMW organised a tow truck / rental car etc...all going good so far. Today I have learned that the probable cause is cloudy diesel - Which is not covered under the 3 year warrenty and the bill so fat looks like €5,000. (Injectors, cam shaft sensor, fuel pump etc....

No idea what to do now so any advice would be welcome....

R.O.R

Get a sample of the Diesel from the tank which caused the problem.

Get in touch with the fuel station, they all have signs to say that your reg is recorded so will have a record of when you filled up. Speak to the manager and let them know you will be making a claim against them. They might be OK and settle with you, they may already have been notified by other drivers.

Similar thing happened recently to one of our fleet cars (water in the diesel). Became a bit of a fight with the fuel company, but we eventually got them to pay for the new engine required.

Henry Ford III

Any warranty with the sale?

surfmaster

Thanks for the help guys.

I call the distributor who has told me that this is the first compliant and that under normal circumstances they would have received 10 by now....not looking good


I then called the filling station and guess what - they also told me that they have not recived any calls re dirty diesel (eventhough I called them on Sunday???)


Warrenty is not available on dirty fuel

R.O.R

surfmaster wrote:

I call the distributor who has told me that this is the first compliant and that under normal circumstances they would have received 10 by now....not looking good

I then called the filling station and guess what - they also told me that they have not recived any calls re dirty diesel (eventhough I called them on Sunday???)

Hmmm.............They said the same thing to us but paid up eventually - was Esso but can't remember which station.

surfmaster

R.O.R wrote:

Hmmm.............They said the same thing to us but paid up eventually - was Esso but can't remember which station.

How long did it take for them to pay up?

did you get your own tests done?

surfmaster

Should I contact a Solicitor at this stage - If so can anyone recommend someone that has dealt with this type of case in the past (I really hope it won't go that far)

R.O.R

surfmaster wrote:

How long did it take for them to pay up?

did you get your own tests done?

Took about 3-4 months but we weren't pushing for the first couple of months.

Told them we were going to get the fuel independantly tested but they paid up without us having to do it.

maidhc

1) GET THE FUEL IN THE TANK TESTED BEFORE BMW THROW IT AWAY!

2) Make a good written record of everything

3) Get the injectors tested (there is a guy in tipp does this)

4) Talk to a solicitor straight away about getting the CCTV footage in the filling station preserved.

Then, and only then might you have a chance of getting something though the courts. Believe you me there are a lot of people like you, and trying to prove who caused the damage is a nightmare.

surfmaster

maidhc wrote:

1) GET THE FUEL IN THE TANK TESTED BEFORE BMW THROW IT AWAY!

2) Make a good written record of everything

3) Get the injectors tested (there is a guy in tipp does this)

4) Talk to a solicitor straight away about getting the CCTV footage in the filling station preserved.

Then, and only then might you have a chance of getting something though the courts. Believe you me there are a lot of people like you, and trying to prove who caused the damage is a nightmare.

Thanks a mill...

1) Fuel getting tested today in Belfast - results in tomorrow
2) Wroking on it (I am also talking to http://www.consumerconnect.ie)
3) BMW are taking of this
4) Excellent idea - anyone know of any good solicitor?

Fey!

Also keep a log of all calls/actions taken/made by you, BMW, the filling station and their distributor. Get a full report from BMW including a synopsis of why they narrowed it down to bad fuel.

bushy...

surfmaster wrote:

Injectors, cam shaft sensor, fuel pump etc

Out of interest why would they replace the cam shaft sensor ?

surfmaster

bushy... wrote:

Out of interest why would they replace the cam shaft sensor ?

I have no idea. This was the initial diagnostic made by the BMW garage, apparently it worked fine in the garage when it was replaced.... But when I drove it 3km down the road the noise was back and the disgnostics then discovered that 2 x fuel injectors were bust and it would cost €1,300 a piece to replace plus a fuel pump. They took the sample of Diesel and they said that it looked cloudy and hopefully tomorrow I will have the results..

surfmaster

Fey! wrote:

Also keep a log of all calls/actions taken/made by you, BMW, the filling station and their distributor. Get a full report from BMW including a synopsis of why they narrowed it down to bad fuel.

Great plan...nearly finished the documentation and will probabbly forward to the guys in www.consumerconnect.ie - does anyone have experience dealing with these guys?