I got bad fuel at Sunoco !! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Hip001 · #1 02-01-2012, 10:32 PM

I've owned diesel Mercedes for 5 years now and twice in the last 3 months I've gotten poor fuel??

Is the 240d more picky than my 300d or my TDI's? When the 240 gets bad diesel it pings, spits, sputters, and is hard to start! I had to drain the tank and start fresh both times!!

Not sure where I fueled up the first time it happened, but the last time it was noticeable 1/2 mile from Sunoco!!! I'll NEVER buy there again! I've only bought diesel at HESS since then.

Anybody else experience this? Is there something I could or should be doing to prevent this?

Thank you for any advice or recomendations,
Hip

compress ignite · #2 02-01-2012, 11:46 PM

Has always delivered top grade fuel.

"In the Day" Pre 1995 they even offered a Premium Diesel of higher Cetane!

Ryan Z · #3 02-02-2012, 08:01 AM

Probably a problem at that station. Did you stop back and tell them?

connerm · #4 02-02-2012, 10:19 AM

"Did you stop back and tell them?"

It may just be the way of the world now, but if I stopped at any one of half a dozen stations where I buy diesel,

a: they wouldn't understand English
b: they wouldn't know the difference between diesel and Dr. Pepper
c: they wouldn't care enough to listen
d: they would tell me to go stuff myself
e: they would lie and say they're working on it.

Kind of like taking bad fruit or veggies back to the guy at the grocery store who stocks the shelves.

Sad commentary considering how careful so many on this forum are with their cars.

Phillytwotank · #5 12-22-2012, 08:57 AM

Not trying to name any brand names but I'm thinking that I too have gotten bad fuel yesterday day at, coincidentally, the same place mentioned by the OP.

Can't say that this has every really happens to me before so I'm working though the problem hoping that it indeed bad fuel and not something else.

Whata Y'all think??

Filled in about 8 gallons on top of a mostly empty tank, spished in a proportional dose of PS fuel additive and hit the road. Up the interstate I go, cruise set at 73, Rollin 60 miles non stop. All good until I hit the off ramp and then.... Chugged a little bit as came to a stop and an acute onset of pre-combustion nailing.

But just that.... No power loss, No smoke, no other symptoms to speak off really except for the nailing. At any rpm, any load conditions.. Nailing!

strange that the symptoms first developed after that long haul but then I didn't really hear anything for the next 20 miles of "country roads" driving to the house.

After I got to the house I checked all the vitals and shut down. Everything seemed to be normal.

A couple trips later in the day and the symptoms were back big time. Pre combustion city!
Until she was up to FULL operating temp then it mostly went away. Bad fuel would be the least problematic of the potential causes of this I think. So, I'm actually hoping that it is just bad fuel.

Any ideas??

Diesel911 · #6 12-22-2012, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hip001

I've owned diesel Mercedes for 5 years now and twice in the last 3 months I've gotten poor fuel??

Is the 240d more picky than my 300d or my TDI's? When the 240 gets bad diesel it pings, spits, sputters, and is hard to start! I had to drain the tank and start fresh both times!!

Not sure where I fueled up the first time it happened, but the last time it was noticeable 1/2 mile from Sunoco!!! I'll NEVER buy there again! I've only bought diesel at HESS since then.

Anybody else experience this? Is there something I could or should be doing to prevent this?

Thank you for any advice or recomendations,
Hip

If you think the Fuel has Water contamination installing a Water Separator would be a big step towards prevention.
If it is some chemicial issue from the refinery there is no way to prevent a problem.

charmalu · #7 12-22-2012, 12:14 PM

Doesn`t sound good. maybe you are getting the new winter blend and the refineries are cleaning out some of their trash and mixing it in the fuel. You might have plugged the tank screen.

You might have picked up a good dose of water if it is an isolated case from one station. Has this station been a problem before?

There has been some threads on installing better fuel filtration and water traps. I have a Racor on my 240 and the Datsun Diesel PU and you would be surprised what is found in the sediment bowl.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/325340-2-micron-fuel-filter-cat.html

Roy Whunter has put up some threads about bad fuel in the past........

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/309367-warning-all-diesel-owners.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/94728-bad-smelling-fuel-gag-gasp-choke.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diy-links-parts-category/142399-fuel-delivery.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/331800-check-fungus-tank-seeing-if-hand-pump-creates-vacuum.html

This is a pic of the Racor I use. not our car.

Charlie

TnBob · #8 12-22-2012, 01:37 PM

Its always nice to get fuel at a high volume location.

Truck stops are a good option too.

charmalu · #9 12-22-2012, 01:55 PM

Knock on wood, so far I haven`t really ever had bad fuel. maybe I shouldn`t brag.

I did have the Racor 2 micron filter shut me down last yr on the 240. I had 22k miles and she started to loose power. Pulled the filter out, and it was black, and the sides sucked in. pulled it off, replaced the lid and off I went. didn`t have a replacement with me as the spin-on was picking up after this one.

It wasn`t alge in it as the fuel looks clean. I replaced the 17 gal tank (that is what mb used in the 80 + 240D`s) with a 21 gal tank. the 17 gal was squeeky clean as well as the screen.

Charlie

sgnimj96 · #10 12-24-2012, 01:40 AM

maybe drain the tank and pour it through a " Mr Funnel " to get the water out. Mix in some fresh

Phillytwotank · #11 12-24-2012, 05:39 AM

Definitely "bad" fuel y'all! What exactly is wrong with it is a mystery.

Went out Saturday afternoon to try to get it sorted out. Fired it up and she was running rough as hell. Barely running! Pulled it apart and run it of of a bottle of new fresh D from under the hood and wow. Nailing, stumbling, chugging, all gone. Even went for a drive on the bottle tank for good measure and she was definitely back to normal.

So, safe to say that something is wrong with the fuel in the tank right now. Weird because I fuel up at this spot frequently. It's the only station around with D so I'd say that it's farly high volume. Could of just caught them on a bad day I suppose. I will definitely go back there or online or something to see if there's any recourse for my troubles or at least the $30. Doubt it tho unless there has been mass reports of problems on that day.

Probably not much of it left in there so I plan to just drain it and chech the tank screen for good measure. I just put a new tank screen in there back in the spring so I don't think that's a problem now.

Any ideas out there on a good way to flush out the tank in vehicle??

barry12345 · #12 12-24-2012, 09:47 AM

Wise to dump bad fuel sometimes rather than dump additives in and continue burning it. Three of us locally got bad fuel from the same place on the same day.

I drained the tank as soon as I made it home while my friends burnt theirs with additives. Cost them both their engines while mine survived with no resultant issues. They were not compansated from the oil company for their losses either. I told them to provide a sample of whatever was in those tanks to the distributor. To this day I have no ideal what it was other than the engines would baely run.

This was a long time ago. Today small claims court would be used.small claims court allows working people to sometimes get redress without breaking the bank from a legal perspective.

I got 190.00 once to drain gas from my daughters diesel years ago. The attendent put gas in even though he was told diesel. They checked with the local volkswagon dealer for their rate and gave me that.