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Hello! And thank you for all your help. Let me preface this by saying I am not really knowledgeable about cars. I am a professional computer repair man, as well as a general handyman (I repair ACs and washing machines and such) so I am not at all afraid to get my hands dirty. I just don't even know how to start.
Last Saturday evening, I was driving my elderly mother's 2000 Lexus gs300 (94k miles). Not 194, literally 94 thousand miles. This car was purring and driving better than newer cars I drive. But it was super low on gas, so I took it to fill it up on the way out at the local Texico. The pump was SO SLOW, I basically got half a tank or so (of premium, only premium fuel for this car) and decided I would just fill up again later. I attempted to accelerate into traffic, and the car just completely died on me. Like I had no gas in the car at all. I coasted it into a parking lot not a quarter mile down the road and had it towed to the local repair shop.
What happened with the repair man is a long story, but I lost ALL faith in him. I finally had to demand he just drain the tank and lo and behold, there was A LOT of water in the tank. So he pumped the system, used some magic sauce to "clear" out all of the water, then filled it with premium and sent me on my way. Texico acknowledged the problem (bad tank, number of people had problems that rainy night, they fixed the problem, going to pay me for the repair and tow, the end). The picture at the end was a gallon they drained out of the tank. You gan see how bad it was.
However, all is not well. The aforementioned repair man told me my problems would go away after a bit of driving, but over the last week, I have been putting through town, and pushing it hard on the freeway, and the problem has NOT gotten better. Maybe even gotten worse. The symptoms: rough idling. The engine revolutions dip, and the car "shakes". My niece describes it as "hiccuping". 0-35 or so is pretty bad, one every few seconds-30seconds, and if you take your foot off the brake and let the transmission push you along, the lurches are less than a second apart. The linked youtube video is 15 seconds, where you can just watch the engine revolutions dip while I am just sitting in a parking lot. Weird thing is, though, if I am above 60 mph or so, the car is PERFECT. I was driving 75-80 last night on the freeway, and it was smoother than my own 2015 Ford.
The autoshop said the problem will go away, but I am going back home across the country after christmas, and I am a little worried to leave my mother with this car if she ends up having a bigger problem.
What do you guys suggest I do? Does it sound like something that will clear up? Do I start using fuel injector cleaner a lot? Could I have a bad spark plug? Does that even make sense?
Up here in Alberta we always put some gas line anti-freeze in COLD winter months and always fill the tank when it's about 3/4 empty to prevent water condensation
problem. Maybe if you put some to the tank, the problem will go away sooner. Check with local parts stores to purge the water from tank and gas lines.
I agree with the comments from both PatrixUSA and HTony.
BTW, just as an aside tip....Shell and Chevron, if available in your part of the country, are probably the two best brands of gas you can use, not so much for the gasoline itself (which is generally the same regardless of brand), but for the excellent detergent and additive packages that those two brands use. Also, much of the gas sold in the U.S., per EPA regulation, has 10% ethanol alcohol (or E10).........if so, it will be labelled that way on the pump. The alcohol in the gas, over time, will help evaporate any remaining moisture in the tank or fuel lines. Most fuel-line anti-freeze treatments are also alcohol-based. In fact, I'd bet that the "Magic Sauce" that shop put in your tank, to clear out the water, was either alcohol or strongly based).
12-11-16, 12:09 PM
Water in Gas Tank
