Water in Diesel Fuel from Flying J Pilot Knoxville, Tn

[Star_Gazer]

Hi All,

I just returned a day late after having my fuel tank removed, drained, new pump, and new sending unit. Tech found plenty of water in my tank, as in a couple gallons.

Long story but I need opinions and will try just giving facts.

I pulled in to this place Saturday evening after driving 300+ miles with no issues. Next morning I top off with 19.6 gals, about 1/2 of tank, in the RV lane. Get on the road right away, and stall out 25 miles up the road. Drain lots of water our to seperator. Had to get towed.

Was on Sunday so they towed me, and my Casita to a pep boys where I was hoping filter change would help. No luck. Yesterday morning I was towed to the local Ford Dealer.

Spent all day there while they did their job. He showed me the pumped out fuel and water, locked up pump, sender, etc.. Filled a gallon jug with the fuel out of the fuel rail and line(?), it had about 1"+ of water in the bottom. He said the rest of the tank had about the same %. This was well above the intake line of the sending unit. Had some junk and crud in the tank but he said normal for this age of truck and had nothing to do with the water issue.

This is about the extent of my knowledge of how these things work.

I called the corp office of this well known company and started a complaint. I actually called the store immediately after I broke down along the hwy the day before too. They researched the time and pump according to my receipt. After a couple hours they called me back and said they indicated no water was was saying my water problem did not come from them. I called back and talked to someone else, they said the same thing. Not their fault even after I explained I drove in with no issues at all.

This corp office just happened to be 1 mile from this large Ford Dealer and I offered to bring a sample, they said don't bother as the front doors are locked! Seriously he did say that! At that point I hung up and made a factual post to their facebook page. Soon after someone from there wanted my contact information but I have heard nothing yet.

I want to give them an opportunity to do what I think is right before I publicly put the name out. Hope they do but after getting blown off by 2 customer reps on the phone I doubt it.

So they said if I had bad fuel I would have not even been able to drive off the lot even. However I had half a tank of good stuff, plus what was already in the fuel system. The gal jug showed that it holds about that so I know I had at least that much clean fuel. Then it probably took a few minutes for the contaminated fuel to mix with the good stuff too, and the water to sink, fill up my seperator, and stall me out? So driving 25 miles seems likely? I am only guessing as I am not a mechanic.

Before I left on this trip, which was about 1200 miles so far, I drained the seperator, and used Sea Foam in the tank. Always do this before a trip, or when letting the truck sit between trips.

So anyone care to comment? Do I have a right to complain and get some help from them? After counting my towing, repair, new fuel, I have over $2500 in this experience. Not even counting my lost day of work yesterday.

Thanks for listening.

Dean

[j-d]

CA Traveler wrote:

chevor wrote:
When Pilot bought them is when I started disliking FJ.

I had less love for FJ when they discontinued their fuel card and went with the GS card.

Me as well. GS has become way too predatory lately. A new card "when you renew"? What about the benefit they offered when we signed up for several years? We're used to price skimming with airlines, hotels, rental cars. GS built its reputation by taking a high road. No longer.

[TOOBOLD]

Can't you call the Department of Weights and Measures and have them take a sample of the fuel and see what they find. Don't they regularly inspect the fuel? this might help your case.

[tsetsaf]

There was a thread on here last year with a similar topic. OP had the receipt and eventually the gas station paid. If I remember right he filed a claim with his insurance and they went after the station. The story was nearly identical.

[B_O__Plenty]

I was always led to believe they have water sensors in their tanks at the stations and those are linked to their headquarters through those big satellite dishes on their roofs. If there is any trouble they are automatically shut down...Just sayin.

B.O.

[zedd]

Airstreamer67 wrote:
It is examples like this that have caused me to test every drop of fuel that goes into my diesel tow vehicle.

I do this by having a glass jar that holds a gallon of fuel in the rear of my pickup's bed. Before I begin fueling, I pump about a half-gallon of diesel into that jar. I then observe the diesel for a few seconds. ...

Sounds like a good idea. Just curious...how often have you found water in fuel? I drain the water filter on my F250 pretty religiously but I've never found a drop of water it.

[peaches_cream]

CA Traveler wrote:

chevor wrote:
When Pilot bought them is when I started disliking FJ.

I had less love for FJ when they discontinued their fuel card and went with the GS card.

They could care less if you "love' them or not. Just keep spending your money there and they will be happy. :S

[CA_Traveler]

chevor wrote:
When Pilot bought them is when I started disliking FJ.

I had less love for FJ when they discontinued their fuel card and went with the GS card.

[chevor]

When Pilot bought them is when I started disliking FJ.

[Airstreamer67]

It is examples like this that have caused me to test every drop of fuel that goes into my diesel tow vehicle.

I do this by having a glass jar that holds a gallon of fuel in the rear of my pickup's bed. Before I begin fueling, I pump about a half-gallon of diesel into that jar. I then observe the diesel for a few seconds. That's all it takes for any substantial amount of water to settle into bubbles in the bottom of the jar, or to see if the fuel is full of sediment matter.

If no bubbles or sediment appear in the jar, I then proceed to fuel up the 91-gallon auxiliary tank in the bed. All of the diesel that goes into my truck's factory tanks comes from the auxiliary tank, through sediment and water filters installed on the tank.

All this may seem paranoid to some. But experiences like the OP reports prove that sometimes, paranoids are right.

[C-Leigh_Racing]

.

[C-Leigh_Racing]

Give you a little tip.
Dont know where that station in Knoxville gets their fuel & gas from, but here in the east, ours come from the several name brand storages at the tank farm, which are supplied through the four pipe lines coming across county from Dallas Tex.
Three are for gas & one for kero & Diesel. When the product is switched from kero to diesel, theres a long block of water put into the pipe line to seperate the two different products & that water travels through the pipe line & goes right into the large storage tank at the end of the line, so there is water in those huge storage tanks.
The water inside these tanks are pumped off once it gets up to a level & carried to hasmat, but its not impossible for water to get into the underground tanks at a station.

Things like the fitting for the underground tank, where the delivery tanker will hook their drop hose to, if the fitting should be lower than the parking lot pavement, like a low spot where those fittings are located, then when it rains water can puddle in that low spot & if the sealing cap not put back on good, that rain water can drain right into the underground tank. Where does it end up, you guessed it, mixed as your filling your tank if your filling while the tanker is dropping.

It is every delivery drivers job, to measure the amount of gas/fuel that is in that underground storage tank before & after they drop that load & those measurements recorded on their delivery paper work. At that time, they are normally suppose to use that paste (like mentioned earlier) on the end of the measuring stick to indicate the amount of water in the underground tank.
Also as noted earlier, when a load is being off loaded, it will in fact stir up the water in that tank & mix it with the gas/fuel along with any dirt/trash until it settle back to the bottom of the tank.

Every pump at a station you fill up at, has a screw on filter at that pump, at what time it will stop flowing like if water or trash enters I do not know, but I have seen some rusty outside of filters before, so they must have been on for a long time.

I dont think your insurance company, will have to hard of a time recooping their loss, because they can find & dig up details the general public never thought of about that company.
Neil

[Star_Gazer]

I was parked in a small end slot that would have been hard for anyone else. I was pulling my small Caista. Plus it was on the end facing the pumps with a light directly overhead. I got in about midnight and was up at 7:30. Fuel filler was facing the pump side as well. Doubt I was on anyone's hit list.

When I filled up the next morning my mpg calculations where completely normal so again I don't think someone else messed with it. I have never had a problem with FJ before but understand problems happen. Like when a contractor drilled into one of the underground tanks at this location a few weeks earlier. Tow truck driver told me that as he was bringing me in.

I know it was water because I personally drained the seperator myself a couple times before getting to the dealer. No doubt what the problem was so I don't suspect the dealer had anything to gain by doctoring the drained fuel.

FJ says the tanks reported no other problems that day so could not have possibly happened from them. They acted like I set this up to get money from them! Sure I sabotaged my own fuel???

Anyways just spoke with my insurance claims adjuster and they will take if from here, and will go after them.

[nevadanick]

I have gotten alot more water than that in a tank of fuel so its believable. We had a load of fuel delivered to a tank and filled 2 pickups and a stock truck and all 3 stopped ner each other about 10 mi from ranch. The fuel supplier pumped over 200 gal of water from the tank and that was after filling the 3 trucks. I rescued a freind that was within 100 ft of another pickup that filled up where he did and when we drained the tank it was nearly all water. So believe it happens.

[Likes_to_tow]

I have a really deep distrust in anyone servicing anything I own! My entire working life (40 years) was in service, I know the games and tricks some of them play. If I go to a garage I always stay within sight of my vehicle and watch every move they make. They made some really big money on you and that amount of water in fuel is just hard to believe. You may have been snookered !! Older folks who look like they have more money to spend because of the big rigs we travel in can be taken advantage of really easy.

There was a segment a few years ago which aired on 20/20 TV. Somewhere in the mid west a couple of guys running a garage were trolling the Interstate for motorhomes. When they saw an older couple tooling along they pulled up beside them and frantically flagged them to the side of the road. They would then say that smoke was coming from the rear differential and it was obviously overheating. They would then crawl under there and make like hot oil was everywhere. A tow truck would be called and the rig was towed to their garage where they would immediately remove the differential. Then they "would make fake calls to distributors" and just so happens they had one in stock..... but it was a couple of thousand dollars EXCHANGE for the old one. They would leave to pick it up, somewhere stop and clean up the old one and box it as new, and return to the garage to get the "gratefull old couple on their way."

Repair bill was thousands of dollars but the trip was not ruined because of these two mechanics who just happened along at the right time. These guys were eventually prosecuted.

You run 25 miles with two gallon of water in the tank is just hard to believe!!