How long does 'petrol stretching' take to damage the engine?

antomack · 28-10-2014 9:59am #1

Just got told on Friday that my engine is wrecked due to petrol stretching and needs replacing. I'm just wondering how long it would take to damage the engine?

Driving consists of Roscommon to Dublin and back once a week and then maybe 40 to 60km at the weekend short drives. Car is a 2006 Toyota Corolla 1.4l petrol.

MarkR · 28-10-2014 10:05am

Are you trying to find out when it happened, or how much longer you can get out of the engine? According to this news article the damage can be caused with just one or two fills.

antomack · 28-10-2014 10:18am

Trying to track back how many fills ago I'd have got the bad fill. 90% of my fills over past 6 months have been at same garage other than 2 at 2 seperate garages quite some time ago so just trying to determine if it's likely to be my regular garage that's the problem. Not expecting an exact answer just a ballpark of within a week, few weeks or are we talking months.

smcgiff · 28-10-2014 10:25am

MarkR wrote: »

Are you trying to find out when it happened, or how much longer you can get out of the engine? According to this news article the damage can be caused with just one or two fills.

"All major marques with mainly smaller petrol engines including Toyota, Volkswagen, Opel, Nissan, Skoda, Hyundai, Kia, and others have been hit."

From the article, is the suggestion that smaller petrol engines are more susceptible?

BoJack Horseman · 28-10-2014 10:35am

What is it about the border counties that makes fueling a car so nerve wracking?

MarkR · 28-10-2014 12:49pm

smcgiff wrote: »

"All major marques with mainly smaller petrol engines including Toyota, Volkswagen, Opel, Nissan, Skoda, Hyundai, Kia, and others have been hit."

From the article, is the suggestion that smaller petrol engines are more susceptible?

Does sound like that. Maybe less tolerant of bad petrol, or just that a lot of petrol cars are small engined? That actually sounds lame when I write it, doesn't it? If most are small engined, they're not really small, they're just not as large as the largest ones?

Small in comparison? I'll get me coat.

ION08 · 28-10-2014 12:53pm

It would depend how how far the petrol has been stretched wouldnt it!!??

if it has been stretched 50/50 then your engine is a goner in less than a mile!

antomack · 28-10-2014 1:45pm

I first noticed an issue on Sunday, October 19th when driving to Dublin with odd noises and slight drop in acceleration for a second or so. Driving down from Dublin on Thursday 23rd it got much worse and left in to garage on Friday to be told it was banjaxed. Last five fills were at the same service station as on Sunday 19th so wondering if I could validly claim it was that service station that sold the tainted fuel.

k_Damaged Car · 08-12-2014 4:21pm

has anyone been successful in claiming repairs through your insurance company?
I have a fiesta which has been effected and i have been told drive it until it dies - not exactly comforting - but i am looking for some constructive help on how i can keep my car on the road and if possible get payout from insurance.
We pay high insurance rates for this reason to help when an incident that isn't your fault damages your car! please help!

How long does 'petrol stretching' take to damage the engine?

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