Dirty Diesel

snlynch

I have a 2011 jeep - bought in January
I have been told i need a new diesel filter, dirty diesel
Diesel tank has to be drained, lines cleaned & filter replaced!
I get my diesel in the same garage every week in Tralee - we all know the one, fuel reduced every weekend! It will cost me €250 to replace filter, €50 of diesel has to be thrown away & i'll need to refill! Where do i stand with garage? Can anyone help?

MugMugs

snlynch wrote: »

I have a 2011 jeep - bought in January
I have been told i need a new diesel filter, dirty diesel
Diesel tank has to be drained, lines cleaned & filter replaced!
I get my diesel in the same garage every week in Tralee - we all know the one, fuel reduced every weekend! It will cost me €250 to replace filter, €50 of diesel has to be thrown away & i'll need to refill! Where do i stand with garage? Can anyone help?

Do you keep receipts ?

I'd get your mechanical issues in writing from the Garage. Gather your receipts and copy them and take a sample of the Diesel.

Then have a chat with the owner and see what comes of it.

Prove your loss and prove his negligence and he may pay you to go away.

It will be hard work finding a mechanic to stand over the Diesel being crud though.

snlynch

I have most of my receipts since january - missing a few
Got a sample of the diesel today - goin to give it to customs & excise tomorrow.
Its visabily full of grit on the bottom of the container.
I'm calling to the garage owner in the morning - i dont see why i should be out of pocket because of this - my jeep is only 8 months old.
I probably wont get anywhere with him but i will def go further with this - im savage angry

The Nutty M

Make sure the sample of diesel is in a glass jar.

exador

Send away sample for examination and get written report

vetstu

Cheap diesel and reductions in price would be enough to keep most sensible people out of a station

cadaliac

vetstu wrote: »

Cheap diesel and reductions in price would be enough to keep most sensible people out of a station

Huh? Not really.
"Most" people will buy fuel where it is cheapest.

Diesel from around your part of the country is a different story however. Well, people with diesel cars have your attitude (and correctly so) around the boarder counties to stay away from washed diesel.
Generally people in the south/east/west just go with the cheapest fuel.

billbond4

im orignally from Tralee and living in athlone when I go down at the weekends, I dont buy diesel in that garage but in other more popular branded garages as they all have the same price for the weekend.
Filled up in athlone during the cold snap in a cheapo place and had to get the fuel filter replaced due to diesel going to jelly, had to get honda mech to look at glow plug flashing light.

So my lesson learnt is to buy in the more popular branded garages as the cheapo place keeps the prices down

Master and commander

€250 to replace a fuel filter????? sorry mate but that garage is lining you up to ride ya. A fuel filter costs about a tenner and takes about 10 minutes to fit.

won't be covered by the warranty as it wasn't a fault with the jeeps materials or workmanship so don't expect miracles from the dealer. Its up to you to make sure the fuel you use is of a suitable quality, its not the manufacturers fault you put dodgy diesel in yer tank.

Best you can hope for is to sue the petrol station for damages and make them pay for repairs. (in this case if you win, get the garage to quote you an exorbadently inflated price and then pay them the "real" price of repairs in cash" that way you'll make a profit.)

I know someone who was in a tip recently and got a repair quote for €850, got the money form the man who hit him, and then got his car fixed for €200 cash at the garage -made a cool €650 off the whole thing.

leonidas83

An unusually cheap price and it being an independent station are big warning signals usually.

If the branded stations who are often working off completely different economies of scale and margins can only do it for say 1.40cpl, how the hell will one guy on his own be able to do it for 134.9cpl.

Its happening all over the country at the moment as they are alot of desperate station owners out there trying to get in as much business as possible due to bad debts and banks putting pressure on them

DublinWriter

As a warning, a friend of mine bought his Diesel from the same branded station every week.

The engine in his 2 year old Passat completely went haywire and cost in the region of €4K to put right.

The reason? Laundered Diesel - the whole engine stunk of paraffin - again, bear in mind that this was from a major branded station, I won't mention which.

Bandara

DublinWriter wrote: »

As a warning, a friend of mine bought his Diesel from the same branded station every week.

The engine in his 2 year old Passat completely went haywire and cost in the region of €4K to put right.

The reason? Laundered Diesel - the whole engine stunk of paraffin - again, bear in mind that this was from a major branded station, I won't mention which.

Branded stations come in two types. Company owned sites or dealer owned sites.

Company owned sites are bullet proof

Whereas dealer owned are less so as the dealer has just signed a deal with a oil company to trade under their brand and buy fuel off them. If he starts to sneak cheap derv into his tanks its only a matter of time before the Oil company find out and he'll be dumped by them. A lot of the time its been done under duress though. Lots of nasty stuff going on out there.

Saying that you still about 100 times safer than buying off an independent garage, you'd have to be off your rocker to do so these days imo. There's ABSOLUTELY no such thing as a bargain in an industry where 2% margins are the norm. People need to wise up and think about it, the big boys always crush the small operators in any industry, except for 'some' reason in the current fuel industry the little boys are somehow able to be cheaper than the big boys. Doesn't take a genius to work out how.

Bandara

I cut this from a reply I gave someone else with the same issue a while back, hope it helps.

First off, mechanics and car garages ALWAYS blame anything like this to 'dirty diesel', 'washed diesel' etc etc etc

However seeing as you've bough off a spurious garage your at high likelyhood of having got contaminated derv

The procedure is normally as follows: you agree with the garage owner to have the fuel checked, the way it is done should be that you pay for the test, its carried out by an independent lab, if the test comes back that the service station is not at fault then you are left responsible for the bill, and if it comes back that the station is at fault they pay for the bill, and for everything required to get your car repaired/replaced etc.

What you should do is ask the car mechanic to put down in black and white that the cause of the fuel issues is definitely as a result of the fuel being either washed/contaminated/dirty, in 7 years in business I have never ever had any mechanic or garage prepared to actually back up their very quickly made statement.

Seeing as your not long since you bought the fuel its quite easily checked from the service station point of view, you get a clear bottle, dispense a liter or 2 into it and simply look at it. It should be pretty much crystal clear, even if they got a delivery in the mean time it wont dilute it enough to render it clean. The evidence will still be there.

As a general rule, once you get the fuel from a big brand outfit Topaz etc etc its very very very highly unlikely that there is a contamination. If its from one of these credit card only 'discount fuel' places then its highly likely that it is contaminated.

Good luck with it, if you want to pm me the station I can tell you if its selling contaminated fuel or not.

good luck
HT

Padraig Mor

Quick question: is it only diesel that's at risk of being 'dodgy'? Never heard of any problems with petrol and I guess there's no marked petrol to 'wash'.

The Guvnor

AFAIK - diesel is the issue.

There is IIRC no margin on the petrol. No agri-petrol etc.

I don't think the laundered diesel is just a border issue.

I've heard lots of horror stories recently on diesel - one in a large garage that is part of a company and not owner operated.

You can get issues if you fill up just after the tanks had been filled which can sometimes happen and is most likely imo to be the case above.

I've also heard reports of 'known' dodgy diesel being sent to Belfast for testing and it coming back clean.

If the garage has cameras - get the owner to watch the footage with you so he can see you filling up - that and the receipt should be more than enough for him to give you the cost of the repairs.

Does he or you for that matter want the hassle of a long drawn out publicity grabbing story - not really imo.

Be calm and clear and direct and not aggressive.

Best of luck.

Padraig Mor

Another thread on Cork county forum re potential dodgy diesel in East Cork - complete with pic of what came from the tank!

Builderfromhell

Master and commander wrote: »

€250 to replace a fuel filter????? sorry mate but that garage is lining you up to ride ya. A fuel filter costs about a tenner and takes about 10 minutes to fit.

won't be covered by the warranty as it wasn't a fault with the jeeps materials or workmanship so don't expect miracles from the dealer. Its up to you to make sure the fuel you use is of a suitable quality, its not the manufacturers fault you put dodgy diesel in yer tank.

Best you can hope for is to sue the petrol station for damages and make them pay for repairs. (in this case if you win, get the garage to quote you an exorbadently inflated price and then pay them the "real" price of repairs in cash" that way you'll make a profit.)

I know someone who was in a tip recently and got a repair quote for €850, got the money form the man who hit him, and then got his car fixed for €200 cash at the garage -made a cool €650 off the whole thing.

I presume advocating fraud is against forum rules.

leonidas83

[QUOTE=Master and commander;73998090[B]]€250 to replace a fuel filter????? sorry mate but that garage is lining you up to ride ya. A fuel filter costs about a tenner and takes about 10 minutes to fit.[/B][/B][/B]

Thats bull, the going rate is what was qouted above if you want it to be done properly otherwise your going to end replacing it soon again


I know someone who was in a tip recently and got a repair quote for €850, got the money form the man who hit him, and then got his car fixed for €200 cash at the garage -made a cool €650 off the whole thing.[/QUOTE]


This kind of thing pisses me off big time, had a tip with another car before where I ended up slightly scratching the bumper of the car, it wasnt even noticeable and I ended paying 400e to keep the insurance company out of it. Disgraceful behaviour in my opinion

MugMugs

leonidas83 wrote: »

This kind of thing pisses me off big time, had a tip with another car before where I ended up slightly scratching the bumper of the car, it wasnt even noticeable and I ended paying 400e to keep the insurance company out of it. Disgraceful behaviour in my opinion

Off topic much ?

In the same breath, I got whacked from behind two years ago. Small bit of damage done to the bumper. Took it to a buddy and he quoted about 300 for a new bumper as it was punctured, spray and new impact bar. Not bad I thought. Third Party went ape sh1t when I told him and accused me of everything under the sun. So I went to his Insurance company with a quote from VW (as they wouldn't accept my mates quote) and got myself a nice 1700 repair job done.

Karma Karma Karma Karma

Master and commander

Thats bull, the going rate is what was qouted above if you want it to be done properly otherwise your going to end replacing it soon again



This kind of thing pisses me off big time, had a tip with another car before where I ended up slightly scratching the bumper of the car, it wasnt even noticeable and I ended paying 400e to keep the insurance company out of it. Disgraceful behaviour in my opinion

Ok 250 might be including draining the tank and lines and flushing everything out. Thats not bad. maybe i read wrong.

But simply changing a filter is a simple 10 minute job, and filters are cheap. If it was 250 to do the filter only, then that a pure rip off.

Do it properly?? what are you on about? sure theres only one way to change a filter, remove old one and seals,remove and gunk, insert new one and seals, bleed out air, off you go.

OP please confirm what was included in the 250, just a filter or full clean up of fuel system.



OFF TOPIC: A guy i know told me a true story where someone who had a tip and settled for cash fix up between themselves. Then a few months later the guy decides he wants to sue for personal injury, whiplash and all that. The guy who hit him then finds out his insurance will not cover him as he never declared to them he had an accident for which he was responsible. He tells the guy sueing him to no avail, he goes on with the lawsuit and wins 87,000. The other poor shagger has to pay out of his own pocket and has to sell his house and everything to pay him and is in debt for ever more. Now thats fecking bad form i tell you. Now people are saying that if your settling in cash, you should make the person sign a waiver to say they will not be claiming PI down the road.

-Chris-

Builderfromhell wrote: »

I presume advocating fraud is against forum rules.

As is back-seat modding. Report a post if you've an issue with it.


(Please don't report master and commander's post - I don't feel it's advocating fraud).

snlynch

it cost me €246.07 for tank to be drained completely, blow & clean out fuel lines, fit a new diesel filter & €20 diesel
sample sent to customs & exise

Master and commander wrote: »

Ok 250 might be including draining the tank and lines and flushing everything out. Thats not bad. maybe i read wrong.

But simply changing a filter is a simple 10 minute job, and filters are cheap. If it was 250 to do the filter only, then that a pure rip off.

Do it properly?? what are you on about? sure theres only one way to change a filter, remove old one and seals,remove and gunk, insert new one and seals, bleed out air, off you go.

OP please confirm what was included in the 250, just a filter or full clean up of fuel system.



OFF TOPIC: A guy i know told me a true story where someone who had a tip and settled for cash fix up between themselves. Then a few months later the guy decides he wants to sue for personal injury, whiplash and all that. The guy who hit him then finds out his insurance will not cover him as he never declared to them he had an accident for which he was responsible. He tells the guy sueing him to no avail, he goes on with the lawsuit and wins 87,000. The other poor shagger has to pay out of his own pocket and has to sell his house and everything to pay him and is in debt for ever more. Now thats fecking bad form i tell you. Now people are saying that if your settling in cash, you should make the person sign a waiver to say they will not be claiming PI down the road.

Bandara

snlynch wrote: »

it cost me €246.07 for tank to be drained completely, blow & clean out fuel lines, fit a new diesel filter & €20 diesel
sample sent to customs & exise




[]

I don't get why are you sending a sample to customs?

I can't imagine they will test it or do anything about it. It's not like it isn't blatently obvious who is and is not selling washed fuel.

They've been informed multiple times by the industry exactly what stations are selling washed fuel. They do nothing about it, it's "not in their remit"

Why are you not getting the fuel sample tested by a Indy lab? You have zero comeback whatsoever without a report, and the longer it goes on the weaker your position is. Have you agreed on a sample with the station in question?

From experience of seeing this kind of thing many times your going to struggle to get satisfaction here. You need to move fast

good luck

snlynch

Fuel tested - came back "suspect" - Customs dealing wit it
Got my full money from garage - happy days!!

Hammertime wrote: »

I don't get why are you sending a sample to customs?

I can't imagine they will test it or do anything about it. It's not like it isn't blatently obvious who is and is not selling washed fuel.

They've been informed multiple times by the industry exactly what stations are selling washed fuel. They do nothing about it, it's "not in their remit"

Why are you not getting the fuel sample tested by a Indy lab? You have zero comeback whatsoever without a report, and the longer it goes on the weaker your position is. Have you agreed on a sample with the station in question?

From experience of seeing this kind of thing many times your going to struggle to get satisfaction here. You need to move fast

good luck

-Corkie-

Well done... Cowboys..:mad:

doctorchopper

I know someone who was in a tip recently and got a repair quote for €850, got the money form the man who hit him, and then got his car fixed for €200 cash at the garage -made a cool €650 off the whole thing.[/QUOTE]

Can you not go through insurance and pay them out and still keep your no claims bonus?

Bandara

snlynch wrote: »

Fuel tested - came back "suspect" - Customs dealing wit it
Got my full money from garage - happy days!!

Hammertime wrote: »

I don't get why are you sending a sample to customs?

I can't imagine they will test it or do anything about it. It's not like it isn't blatently obvious who is and is not selling washed fuel.

They've been informed multiple times by the industry exactly what stations are selling washed fuel. They do nothing about it, it's "not in their remit"

Why are you not getting the fuel sample tested by a Indy lab? You have zero comeback whatsoever without a report, and the longer it goes on the weaker your position is. Have you agreed on a sample with the station in question?

From experience of seeing this kind of thing many times your going to struggle to get satisfaction here. You need to move fast

good luck

That's a great result, well done !

Voodoomelon

snlynch wrote: »

Fuel tested - came back "suspect" - Customs dealing wit it
Got my full money from garage - happy days!!

How did the garage owner react?

JJJJNR

Slightly off topic, would it be good practice to get your tank and lines cleaned every 100k or thereabouts.?

patrickflynn26

Hi snlynch. I'm in a similar situation (same garage). Just pm'd you.