Usher's Quay service station - contaminated/stretched petrol?

rickyjb

My wife pulled in to the (infamous) service station on Usher's Quay (currently Topaz I think) with an almost fully empty tank on her way home from work this evening, around 5pm and bought a full tank. Immediately on restarting the car after filling up she noticed the engine was running really roughly, loss of power, the engine light came on and there was a really strong smell of fuel coming from the exhaust. Barely made it home basically.

The car was serviced just before Christmas and has otherwise been running fine, it's a mini cooper. I can't think what else it could be if not the petrol she had just put into the car??

So. Has anyone else bought petrol there recently and had a similar issue? And how dangerous is it for her to continue driving the car, should I try and siphon the petrol out? I've never come across this before so not sure how dangerous it is for the engine. The car sounds horrendous when it's running, can't be good for it.

Finally how do you go about reporting such an issue? I have a feeling going back to the guy behind the counter in the garage is not going to be very successful, is there a regulatory body or something that tests petrol? Would like to report them to someone.

meercat

didnt fuel up with diesel by mistake?

DrumSteve

Would the standards office be able to help here? NSAI.ie I think is the site. They'll be able to tell you if they tested the pumps.

ScouseMouse

If she was driving on a VERY low tank, she may have stirred up whatever crap was in the bottom of the tank.

JohnBoy26

meercat wrote: »

didnt fuel up with diesel by mistake?

With a full tank of diesel it would hardly make it out of the petrol station.

rickyjb

meercat wrote: »

didnt fuel up with diesel by mistake?

That's the first question I asked her She's confident she put petrol in and has the receipt to prove it.

DrumSteve wrote: »

Would the standards office be able to help here? NSAI.ie I think is the site. They'll be able to tell you if they tested the pumps.

Thanks will try them. Edit: Doesn't look to have anything to do with fuel, just VINs and reg plates.

ScouseMouse wrote: »

If she was driving on a VERY low tank, she may have stirred up whatever crap was in the bottom of the tank.

It was very very low she said, so that could be a possibility. Would it not clear out a bit after the 40 minute drive home through traffic though? And would that cause the really strong smell of fuel from the exhaust?

Atlantic Dawn

Have you tried smell the fuel from the tank, diesel should smell different to the petrol.

Getting the engline light code read would give best indication, could be non related to the fuel and be coil pack failure.

pa990

The diesel pump nossel won't fit into a petrol tank,
So you can rule that out.



+1 on a coil pack suggestion

Special Circumstances

What year mini?

Cabaal

pa990 wrote: »

The diesel pump nossel won't fit into a petrol tank,
So you can rule that out.



+1 on a coil pack suggestion

I've come across tonnes of pumps were the noise for diesel and petrol are the exact same size

R.O.R

If it started running rough as soon as it was restarted then it's nothing to do with the fuel that was just put in.

At that point it's still going to be running on the fuel that was in the line from the tank to the engine. Would take a few minutes to start running on the new Fuel.

I'd guess coil pack as well, BMW petrols have a habit of blowing them.

ellobee

I use that station all the time and never had an issue, the pumps are relatively new and I would be fairly confident that all the diesel nozzles are the larger size and wont fit into a petrol fuel tank, the fuel price is very good and I notice a lot of taxis in there and they would be the first to know if there was any sort of issue with the fuel.

ironclaw

ellobee wrote: »

I use that station all the time and never had an issue, the pumps are relatively new and I would be fairly confident that all the diesel nozzles are the larger size and wont fit into a petrol fuel tank, the fuel price is very good and I notice a lot of taxis in there and they would be the first to know if there was any sort of issue with the fuel.

Considering the amount of taxi's I regularly get with engine lights on, I wouldn't put any faith in what a taxi driver says. In fact if a taxi driver says its great, I'll probably go out of my way to avoid it. Likely the cheapest and easiest solution to a problem.

pa990

Cabaal wrote: »

I've come across tonnes of pumps were the noise for diesel and petrol are the exact same size

Then tonnes of petrol pump nossels won't fit into petrol cars made from the 90's onwards.because the nossel will be too big.

And tonnes of diesel pump nossels won't fit in bmws and VW s that have the anti misfueling lock on the fuel tank, because the nossel will be too small.

rickyjb

R.O.R wrote: »

If it started running rough as soon as it was restarted then it's nothing to do with the fuel that was just put in.

At that point it's still going to be running on the fuel that was in the line from the tank to the engine. Would take a few minutes to start running on the new Fuel.

I'd guess coil pack as well,  BMW petrols have a habit of blowing them.

Would it really take that long for the new petrol to get through? It's an 06 mini, as I mentioned serviced fairly recently. I guess you'd expect someone else to have had an issue, that's why I posted on here. Seems like a huge coincidence if it's the not the fuel though.

Kimbot

OP it could be anything tbh, fuel pump could be knackered, injector knackered, maf sensor fecked etc. Best bet is to get it to a mechanic and get them to have a look asap.

NUTLEY BOY

rickyjb wrote: »

SNIP Thanks will try them. Edit: Doesn't look to have anything to do with fuel, just VINs and reg plates. SNIP

I think that this may come under metrology.

Harry Palmr

Might be a good idea for a mod to nuke the thread title and OP as we all know which garage this is and their fuel is almost certainly not the issue here

Gumbo

rickyjb wrote: »

Would it really take that long for the new petrol to get through? It's an 06 mini, as I mentioned serviced fairly recently. I guess you'd expect someone else to have had an issue, that's why I posted on here. Seems like a huge coincidence if it's the not the fuel though.

Yes. My ML had an issue where the fuel pipe from the pump would pop off. I wouldn't notice it until the car died.

I drove from Charlestown in Finglas to Na Fianna GAA club before it cut out on me. There's plenty of fuel in the lines before the fuel from the tank would have been used.

TheAnalyst_

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Might be a good idea for a mod to nuke the thread title and OP as we all know which garage this is and their fuel is almost certainly not the issue here

They have a deserved reputation.

mickmmc

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/dublin-service-station-fined-14k-for-fuel-overcharging-26789954.html

Fined €14,000 in 2011 for selling short measures.

Harry Palmr

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

They have a deserved reputation.

mickmmc wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/dublin-service-station-fined-14k-for-fuel-overcharging-26789954.html

Fined €14,000 in 2011 for selling short measures.

Sure but is Hugh Farrington (or related persons!) still the owner?

pa990

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Sure but is Hugh Farrington (or related persons!) still the owner?

I don't think ownership changed, just the brand.

Here's an interesting read.

http://www.newsscoops.org/?p=795

mickmmc

Tom Farrington is still a director of QEC Ltd (trading as One Oil, Ushers Quay) per solocheck.ie

TheAnalyst_

I had been using htem for a few years when I found out about their ongoing scam. I did a few sums and took out 20 euro of fuel the next day and drove off. 
Never heard anything from anyone and I've never been back.

TheAnalyst_

I had been using htem for a few years when I found out about their ongoing scam. I did a few sums and took out 20 euro of fuel the next day and drove off. 
Never heard anything from anyone and I've never been back.