Uk hit by dodgy petrol mystery

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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:30 pm

Thousands have cars have ground to a juddering halt or started to misfire after filling up with supermarket petrol. the supermarkets involved and their suppliers say they can find nothing wrong with it. Garage forcourts are full of cars waiting for new O2 sensors.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007090743,00.html

Has this happened to anyone on here? They can call the drivers liars, but cars aren't very good at lying.

My car ground to a juddering halt last year, after I filled up with Tesco Unleaded petrol, had to be rescues by the AA and have its tank drained.

Mind you, it is a diesel... Embarassed

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:59 pm

I switched to a diesel car a month ago. Luckily too cos I always fill up in Tesco. I remember hiring a van to pick up some furniture just after I moved here and filling it at the pump with 4 star instead of diesel. It managed to get me from the petrol station to within 20 feet of the house before it died on me right at the turning point of the cul de sac Embarassed

Needless to say, the next time I hired one I made doubly sure to check what it took and put the right type in. No one I know has had it happen to them. Are they showing areas it's happening the most in on the news?

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:15 pm

I never use supermarket petrol, I always put Esso super in mine because it runs better on that.

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:24 pm

I like the way the super rich supermarkets are denying there is a problem!

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:29 pm

I haven't had it happen personally, but I do recall a similar sort of thing happening in the U.S. a while back, 2004 apparently. It was excess sulfur and it killed the gas gauge reading. The car "dying" was actually it running out of gas.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/05/19/loc_kygasmystery19.html

Might be too much of a particular additive.

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 4:50 pm

ive got a diesel so no worries here.
a similar incident happened in the north of the UK and nothing was
hardly said or reported.
wow the south gets hit with dodgey fuel and the country grinds to a halt,tv reporters everywhere,more coverage than a royal passing away.

tesco fuel again.
dont buy it

edit: on a green issue,all the cars that are not on the road now, think how much this is saving the environment.
well done

Wink

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 5:46 pm

Must admit I always use Tesco when I'm on the bike - it's the only place round here with a 'pay at pump' system. I can fill up without having to remove my helmet (& glasses). Dunno about anyone else, but I really object to being treated like a thief because I ride a bike. Mad

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:13 pm

Dunno if this is related but a mate of mine ran his subaru on a 25% ratio methanol/petrol for a week. Went like a rocket but stuffed the O2 sensors.

Are they experimenting with Ethanol biofuels over there?

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:33 pm

yes they are

some up to 15% ethanol

My car has been kille dby it, and cannot get a lambda sensor for love nor money

bastards teco's... only filled up there as was on fumes

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:37 pm

You get gas at supermarkets? Shocked

419Eater Admin Joined: 30 Sep 2003 Posts: 7469

I fill my car at Tescos every week (last fill was on Tuesday). It's the nearest place with a petrol station in my location. So far so good......

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:16 pm

Lotta wrote:

You get gas at supermarkets?

Of course. Most of the larger chains have petrol courts here, even in their smaller shops. I'd have to drive past a Teso and a Morrisons to get to the nearest garage.

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 9:48 pm

Quote:

You get gas at supermarkets?

thats not all - online can even buy a friggin car from tesco's

so thats 1 lb of ham, baked beans, bmw m3, jam, bread and loo roll.

seriously over here they sell everything and i go through the 5 items or less, and dizzy doris in front has about 3 baskets worth, and then looks surprised that she has to pay for it.... "oh my purse.. its here somewhere" and then invariably has about 30p vouchers for cat food ---- its always catfood ---- that expired in 2004.... across the isle the teenage mum of 4 with enough shopping for the third world is in and out in 2 minutes.... why oh why do I always pick the wrong queue

Disgrunted.
England
No car.
Fcuked off.

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:15 pm

@fengibbon, I heard they are resistave sensors - so I *guess* if you know someone from the same area with the same car, you could measure the resistance and just buy a common resistor to replace it with.

Caveat - I understand in a lot of countries it's a no-no to interfere with the engine and emission management system.

I don't really have any probs, I drive an older rover V8.... Carbies, a distributor, alternator and that's about it. And no catylitic converter either.

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:26 pm

Chip fat is the way forward....without the bits though.

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:35 pm

^^^^ Bio diesel?

Great with chip fat, especially with the bits:

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:38 pm

As someone who has the misfortune to work for Tesco, it doesn't suprise me that they've probably changed the type of petrol they use. In the staff propaganda - i mean staff info magazine, they're doing the we're going green bit, all our delivery lorries will be using this new petrol (biodegradable i think), so it wouldn't suprise me in the least if it suddenly arrives at their petrol stations.

It also don't suprise me that they're denying all knowledge of any problems this causes.

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:15 am

Actually the real mystery for me is why my local Shell garage has put their prices up by 3p today.

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:32 am

No mystery. They know people will go to them instead of Tesco and are going to try to captalise on it. Remember the fuel crisis a few years back? Remember the garages that put their petrol up to �2+ a litre?

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:07 am

[quote="Carrott"] all our delivery lorries will be using this new petrol (biodegradable i think), so it wouldn't suprise me in the least if it suddenly arrives at their petrol stations. [quote]

Wow, biodegradable petrol. No wonder it is shagging engines.

Why can't I ever get the sodding quote thingys to work?

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:16 am

When I was a lad (and dinosaurs ruled the earth) cars had simple carburettors, and would run on any old fuel.

Now, apparently, the sensor in the exhaust is getting clogged up (latest theory is that it's silicon, put in as an anti foaming agent), it thinks the engine is running rich, and leans out the mixture. worse case scenario results in melty pistons.

Too clever for their own good (as well as impossible to fix yourself) these modern fangled cars.

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:18 am

On Top Gear last week the lads decided it was time to go green.
They've planted a field with rapeseed and intend to grow there own fuel. In typical TG style though, they made a right mess of it, and will probably use at least ten times more energy than they get back.

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:37 pm

Trogger wrote:

Why can't I ever get the sodding quote thingys to work?

Because you're not doing the ending quote thingy properly. Like html, ending tags have a "/" in them.

To whit, your last tag reads

Code:

[quote]

.

It should read

Code:

[/quote]

.

Here endeth the lesson. And the tag.

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:35 pm

fengibbon wrote:

so thats 1 lb of ham, baked beans, bmw m3, jam, bread and loo roll.

Are you allowed to use the express checkout if you buy all that?

Anyways, the TV is saying that all this is being caused by silicon in the petrol. Learn to live with the foam, people! These breakdowns are mainly happening in the SE, but I think the furthest north case happened 'round about Falkirk...

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:45 pm

^^^^ 10 items or less so I guess you would. When I went past Tesco today it was just like normal, so no one's worrying around here.

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