what advice would you give after fuel company fiasco?

jhea

Would really appreciate your feedback here as I'm not sure where I stand.

I drove from the midlands to spend Christmas in Dublin. Our car, a bmw 316 which was well maintained started shaking, loosing power and misfiring shortly after leaving a well known branded service station in swords. There was also a sulphur smell like rotten eggs from the exhaust. It happened within 5-10 mins having filled the tank which had about 30miles left.

The next day (st stephens day) I had the AA look at it as we were due to return home. He checked as much as he could but failed to find a cause. Plugs, injectors, air and electics were all fine but still the same 4 fault codes reappeared and he advised not to drive it home.

We were stranded till the 27th when I was able to return to Leitrim by train, borrow a car and collect the family in swords only to return the same day. I emailed the fuel company on the train and the reply was not to do anything with the car till they were able to take a sample.

The car sat till the following Thursday waiting for them. I had been told to expect the regional manager and a rep from a company to take the sample for testing. The sample would be witnessed by their company manager and placed in a sealed container with my details...........but they forgot to organise a lad to withdraw the fuel!! ?...just one to watch and one to take the sample away!!......wait it gets better.

The following day the same people were expected but only 1 guy turned up.He had no tools to extract the fuel and used my fathers tools but ended up getting my father to extract the sample and handed him a used red wine bottle?? He joked saying it was the only thing he had left over from christmas dinner!!

Since then the car was towed to leitrim and fixed. The problem cleared up but it was not established exactly what the cause was.

I had rung around asking for info re sampling and spoke with a guy who sampled fuel. He advised the company should have been there and the sample should always be placed in a jar with a metal lid and marked. Ironically he happened to be testing a sample which had been handed to him in a wine bottle but said it was compromised and had no integrity. Strangely he became very quite when I asked if a certain person had brought it in as it sounded like my fuel sample! small world.

So where do you think I stand? All we wanted was a car repaired and paid for if they were at fault, we asked for a rental for 2 days to get kids to school since they advised not to get it repaired till they were there but they refused. Can the sample be trusted? In a wine bottle with no name or witness? What should the company do? Should I take it further?

Thanks in advance....sorry about the length.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

If the car was repaired, what was the nature of the repairs? Surely the mechanic told you what the faults were.

D3PO

this. Somebody cant fix something and not know how they did so. It would be very easy for the mechanic to advise on this.

either way the fact you let somebody extract fuel without using their own equipment and using a red wine bottle means that the whole thing of getting a sample taken is now essentially pointless.

There is just no way at all now you are going to be able to tell one way or another the outcome of that sample.

If the mechanic has attributed the fault to the fuel then by all means pursue it with the garage but my gut is your going to have to chalk it down to experience and move on.

emeldc

Is it a 316 petrol. If it is the symptoms could equally point to a dodgy coil pack which would have nothing to do the fuel. Surely the mechanic knows what he did and what parts if any were needed to 'fix' it. Can you be a bit more specific.

jhea

Totally agree and thanks for the time. As far as the fuel sample is concerned, the fuel company organised the whole thing and only that I found out about the container they were happy to, and I quote...."clean up the sample by extracting the impurities and test the rest"

The mechanic like the AA guy were left scratching their heads. Mechanically everything was fine. Fuel was suspected but now the sample was useless. The old fuel was removed but even running on new fuel the car still struggled but there were moments between misfiring that it idled fine. As soon as I reved it, it shock and returned to misfiring. So everything from the tank to the engine was checked and cleaned. Now it runs fine.

So I suppose the question is, if the fuel can't be used then we can't be sure whether it was fuel or not? So where does the responsibility lie? Should I put it down to experience and perhaps they will tighten up their procedures to safe guard their product? Or should they put it to experience and offer to cover the costs of repair, travel, tow from dublin and the wasted fuel? I think we all know what we would lkke but how realistic is it?

jhea

Coil pack was replaced 2 years ago with oem parts. Yes it is a 316i petrol. Nothing was replaced which was refected in the price he charged. Fixed an airbag light, removed error codes assosiated and whatever was removed was replaced after cleaning. Whatbwas most frustrating was being told I could getbit repaired till they sent a team to extract but send a guy with a wine bottle. In that time I could have had it fixed and not have had to rely on trains, borrowed cars and friends goodwill since the 25th dec till 13jan. Not as bad when your in a city but try doing christmas with a 2 &3 year old in the countryside.

emeldc

Was it petrol or fuggin' diesel :rolleyes:

LOL got back there before me

D3PO

I think its unrealistic tbh but unless you ask you wont get.

If you cant prove liability then why should they volunteer liability. I think you need to just chalk it down to experience and move on tbh.

jhea

Petrol.......and only filled with petrol!!

doublej

Most likely this problem was following "churn".
There is always a build up of water,rust, impurities etc at the bottom of service station tanks.
If a tanker has delivered fuel into a tank, it is best to close off sevice of fuel for a period following the delivery to allow the churn or vortex created by the delivery to settle.
When a customer gets fuel shortly after a delivery, any churn may be lifted up through the pipe that is positioned near ( but not on) the bottom of the tank.
This would explain why the OPs car was affected but other customers from the same pump/ tank at the site may not be.
Had the site received a contaminated delivery , more cars would have been subjected to problems.
Some cars are more sensitive to fuel impurities. In my experience, the more technically different and sophisticated the fuel pump and filter system, the higher propensity to problems!
BMW, MB and Audi have all got very advanced filtration and pumping techs.
Seek a water dip report from the service station and also ask to see if the tank from which the fuel that went into your car was filled just before( within 1 hour) or you filling up

jhea

Sorry it has taken so long to post the outcome of the fuel issue but I'm happy to say it was all paid for by the fuel company including the tow from dublin to leitrim. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.