Washed (green) diesel!

thenashlegend

So after getting the car serviced last week, the mechanic told me the filter contained washed diesel. (Green with the colour taken out, I'm told)
I make it a point of buying diesel in a local garage and never had any problems before this. But the week before the car was serviced I put €30 in from a garage, for the moment lets say it was on the N17 from Galway to Mayo.

From what I can see it must have been this garage, I don't have any problems with the car but I just wanted to see what ye guys think and let ya'll know to watch out for it! Is there anything I can do? Should I report it?

So what do ye think?

MidlandsM

Yes, report it to customs.

Washed fuel can wreck a cars fuel system costing thousands to fix.

mikemac

Customs will be interested to hear of this and will act on it

Atlantic Dawn

How the hell could he tell the filter contained washed diesel?

kildare.17hmr

sounds like another opiniated mechanic to me

Fey!

Get the filter off him and pass it on to customs; if he's right, surely customs can test it and then check the garage.

Otherwise fill a jerrycan at the garage and give that to customs, voicing your suspicions.

How did your mechanic know that it was washed diesel? And was the diesel in the garage cheaper than in other garages?

Ev84

Was the fuel filter inspection part of the service or had the mechanic reason to do this?

They wash the green dye out with an acid, then neutralise the acid with an alkaline but illegal levels of sulphuric acid still remain... I would imagine that it would be harmful to your cars fuel system alright. Report it quick before the supply source depletes. Read this:

http://www.independentlaboratory.ie/fuel_spin.html

It contained washed diesel :pac:
ffs that's a looney comment to make, what sort of eyes does the man have

sanbrafyffe

did you give anyone the loan of your car recently

bonzos

Same thing happened in <snip> a week ago.Local depot was checked by customs after washed was detected in a car and the owner didnt know where it came from....judge fined the depot owner (<snip> fuels) €10k,which is a total joke considering 25% of 100,000 L tested was green. Not the first time questions have been raised over this depot.

deaglan169

a friend of the family who is a mechanic said that they know straight away if a car has washed diesel in it, if when there working on the fuel system/lines their rubber cloves melt, cant be good for a car living in monaghan with 2 laundering plants found only last week very close, who knows what were buying....

Kristopherus

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

How the hell could he tell the filter contained washed diesel?

I'd like to know that too:)

OP, you will have to implicate the mechanic if you report the allegation to customs, as he is your source of information. And if you and he are wrong, then you will definitely be no legend:)

Stinicker

Washed Diesel is very bad for the car, it eats away at the rubbers and really is not good for any sort of engine, old or new. You'd be better off with Straight Green than washed. The criminal gangs at this are making a soft buck at the expense of peoples cars. For many years lorry drivers up around the border ran green only for the simple fact is they knew what they were getting and the engine would not be damaged.

If the gangs had any proper scientific knowledge they would distill the Diesel under vacuum to remove the dye leaving a purer product, this would cost more and if done wrong could see the resulting explosion wipeout half a town!

I wonder is it possible to buy the dye pouch test kit like the Custies use? That way the end user could test his own fuel before pumping, as the end user could end up getting fined for using MGO even if they were unwitting pawns in the whole charade.

Stinicker

Stinicker wrote: »

..........

If the gangs had any proper scientific knowledge they would distill the Diesel under vacuum to remove the dye leaving a purer product, this would cost more and if done wrong could see the resulting explosion wipeout half a town!..................

Most of them would be far from thick, cost is king for them
They would have some very smart dudes on board too in most cases.

David09

RoverJames wrote: »

It contained washed diesel :pac:
ffs that's a looney comment to make, what sort of eyes does the man have

I was told by someone that black residue in the filter housing is a sign of washed diesel being used. I've no idea whether it's true or false.

12gauge dave

is green diesel cars lads?

-Chris-

bonzos wrote: »

judge fined the depot owner (<snip> fuels) €10k

Link please

Bandara

-Chris- wrote: »

Link please

I'd be very curious (and very surprised) to see if there is a link for this.

(In the meantime I think I'd remove any trace of that companies name Chris)


imho of course.

Bandara

And in regard to the general topic

load of crap being spouted by your mechanic, they tend to do this a lot I notice, its a bit of a industry joke, I've had loads of instances of a mechanic telling a customer they have dirty diesel etc, at which point we offer to send the fuel sample to be analaysed in an independent lab with the cost €190 paid by us if its a dirty sample and them if its clean. We commit BEFORE the test that if it is a dirty sample we will do whatever needs to be done etc, new engine, whatever.

NEVER EVER has one mechanic EVER been willing to submit to it.

Christ they won't even put it down on an official sheet of paper that "the reason this car is not running/running bad is because of dirty/contaminated fuel", lost count of the number of times I requested this and never heard anything from them again

Matt Simis

David09 wrote: »

I was told by someone that black residue in the filter housing is a sign of washed diesel being used. I've no idea whether it's true or false.

Its the job of the filter to catch residue and "dirt" generally tends to be black. If you cut open any long term used filter (petrol or diesel) it will have "some" black residue... thats the point!

thenashlegend

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

How the hell could he tell the filter contained washed diesel?

The filter was replaced as part of the service! Taking the man at his word, the sample he showed me in the jug, was the diesel that was in the old filter.

As for the price, it was actually 1 cent higher than where I normally buy.
I realise a lower price would look suspicious on behalf of the garage!

sanbrafyffe wrote: »

did you give anyone the loan of your car recently

Nope, hasn't been done thankfully!

Bumpstop

I often wonder about these things, I reckon the average mechanic wouldn't notice if whale spunk ran out of the fuel filter, as long as the car could drive out of the premises.

I am not slagging off mechanics, we all just want to get the job done and move onto the next one.

bonzos

-Chris- wrote: »

Link please

..Attachment not found.

bonzos

I cant understand why people get so defensive of garages over this. I dont think that it is very unbelievable that this goes on at some of the stations. Every business has it cowboys,why should the fuel business be any different?

radioshuk

I was in cork on a job and on way up monday i stopped at a garage in portleish wont say where just now but filled up to the neck €110.00 and bought a nice packet of toffeepops OUT OF DATE BY A MONTH AND A HALF B?!$+/*S
Anyway on the motorway and if i wasn't wearing my seatbelt i'd have been catapulted out the windscreen (major exageration) but ye know what i mean chug chug
I bought bottle of dipetane fooked it in (advice from mechanic) but still chugged so
cut a long story short got back to my yard got the tank syphoned this evening and it was greenish (very slight tint to all contents of my tank in the container and i wonder if anyone would know does washed diesel still retain a percentage of the hue?
i out of curiousity rang the customs but they state leave a message but never bothered(suppose they flat out at the min so am thinking of taking it to an independant lab for analysis but they asking €260 (i think thats wha they said) for to perform full analysis (RIPOFF) do the customs charge or can i simply drop it into them if i have a concern?

L1011

radioshuk wrote: »

I was in cork on a job and on way up monday i stopped at a garage in portleish wont say where just now but filled up to the neck €110.00 and bought a nice packet of toffeepops OUT OF DATE BY A MONTH AND A HALF B?!$+/*S
Anyway on the motorway and if i wasn't wearing my seatbelt i'd have been catapulted out the windscreen (major exageration) but ye know what i mean chug chug
I bought bottle of dipetane fooked it in (advice from mechanic) but still chugged so
cut a long story short got back to my yard got the tank syphoned this evening and it was greenish (very slight tint to all contents of my tank in the container and i wonder if anyone would know does washed diesel still retain a percentage of the hue?
i out of curiousity rang the customs but they state leave a message but never bothered(suppose they flat out at the min so am thinking of taking it to an independant lab for analysis but they asking €260 (i think thats wha they said) for to perform full analysis (RIPOFF) do the customs charge or can i simply drop it into them if i have a concern?

Diesel at this time of year is naturally "greenish (very slight tint". The green dye used for agri is VIVIDLY green and its unlikely any would be left in acid washed product.

shawnee

MYOB wrote: »

Diesel at this time of year is naturally "greenish (very slight tint". The green dye used for agri is VIVIDLY green and its unlikely any would be left in acid washed product.

It's pretty obvious that the customs are not suceeding in stopping garages selling this stuff. Recent figures showed a huge amount of diesel sold in the South was smuggled . This is disgraceful really when you consider they set up checkpoints to check for Paddy burning a few gals of agri diesel in his car and use loads of manpower on it. The real commercial end is the garages and they are also damaging the vehicles of innocent motorists.

L1011

shawnee wrote: »

It's pretty obvious that the customs are not suceeding in stopping garages selling this stuff. Recent figures showed a huge amount of diesel sold in the South was smuggled . This is disgraceful really when you consider they set up checkpoints to check for Paddy burning a few gals of agri diesel in his car and use loads of manpower on it. The real commercial end is the garages and they are also damaging the vehicles of innocent motorists.

At this stage, I'd consider anyone who assumes that diesel that is significantly cheaper than anywhere else locally is actually legit to be a bit ditzy. Its not a few years ago, its well known about washed fuel.

cadaliac

shawnee wrote: »

It's pretty obvious that the customs are not suceeding in stopping garages selling this stuff. Recent figures showed a huge amount of diesel sold in the South was smuggled . This is disgraceful really when you consider they set up checkpoints to check for Paddy burning a few gals of agri diesel in his car and use loads of manpower on it. The real commercial end is the garages and they are also damaging the vehicles of innocent motorists.

+1 on this.

If they can swab your exhaust or injectors in a truck to see if you have been running green within the last 6 months, they should be able to do the same with underground tanks - in Garages.

As Hammertime says, or eludes to, is to keep with a reputable brand that will stand over their product.

The problem is nationwide and not just limited to the boarder counties.
I find it difficult to believe that Customs cannot convict the garages that are caught. Maybe they can, and are, but we shall not speak of them around here:rolleyes:
There also should be massive fines. Espically if the garages are making thousands per load.

-Chris-

Isn't Dipetane green coloured? Could it be due to the addition of that?

-Corkie-

-Chris- wrote: »

Isn't Dipetane green coloured? Could it be due to the addition of that?

It varies from each brand in my experience. Slightly off topic but I pulled into a filling station in longford today and was waiting in the queue thinking isnt it weird the pump is not under the canopy. As I reached the pumped it read Marked gas oil and not DERV. I was shocked that everyone before me was using it..:eek: