Bad Gas in my tank, it wont start, dealership asking $$$. What to do? Help please
 

Got bad gas at a Shell gas station (- - - - - & - - - - -) this past weekend, pulled onto the highway, a mile later, all dash lights came on, especially the engine light, had to pull to the side, the RX got towed to the house. The next day, towed it to the dealership and they confirmed it was bad gas. I have water in the tank!:mad:

The dealership wants $600 to drain the tank, flush the lines, filter, fuel rail, etc. They said after all of that, they will go from there and inspect if there is further damage. My car was already empty when i put "gas". I only pumped 4-5 gallons and that was it.

I can start the car but it dies a couple of seconds afterwards.

What should i do and is it possible i can incur more damage which means more $$$ to spend which i dont have and i have a pregnant wife who's freaking because of our finances.

The gas station, i will deal with them later:mad: In the meantime what is my best bet?? It's hard to trust mechanics today and not sure if the repair is reasonable? i do know 1 or 2 mechanic's but im not sure if they're willing. Please, need your help everybody

Can you prove you bought gas at the station on the date and time you said (credit or debit card receipt)? If so, have the dealership do the work and have them document everything that was done. If the station won't pay for the repairs, sue them in small claims court for the work, towing, court costs.

Correct. Proof is key. If it did it to your vehicle it would have had to have done the same to dozens of others.

Only way to properly deal with the problem is to drain the tank. A small amount of water can be dealt with by using dry gas and a full tank of good gas. Without knowing how much contamination, or even what the contamination is, you are left with draining the tank.

i wonder if it would be worth it to fill the remainder of the tank with known good fuel, and go from there, maybe it will spit and sputter, but as long as you get the bad stuff out, that is the key.

I would siphon as much of the fuel out of the tank as possible. Fill it up as much as possible and then start it up. If it dies I would do it sever times to give the clean fuel a chance to go through the lines.


If the engine didn't start at all yeah you would need to get some kind of flush done. I think you should be able to get the lines cleaned up with just replacing the fuel and a few starts.

If the known contaminant was water I would be with you here. However, if the contaminant is something else then you may do more damage such as ruining all the O2 sensors. If the gas station is truly the source of the problem then hopefully it is just water. If not, then it could be most anything.

couldnt much sleep from the past days, especially last night. On top of this, i have an auditor throughout the week at work. Trying my best to not worry. After talking with my wife, we will let the dealership empty the tank, decarb. txment, flush the system, fill gas and run a diagnostic test to see if everything is fine. This is what the SA said last night.

The techs' document it is indeed water in the system. I told them to document everything so i can have enough documentation if the last resort is going to small claims court.

I do contact the local news station and they gave me advise for taking it to small claims court. There is several others who are complaining so i am 150% sure of this. Not to sound religious, just asking for little prayers for the RX-350 community. Pray that this is the only issue. Thank you

Probably would be a good idea to save a sampling of the gas that you siphon, just in case it needs to be analyzed or tested later. Otherwise, you will have no evidence.

Oil floats on water. If you want sample, you probably need to reach the bottom of the tank?