Water in the gas tank...

[michaelbd]

Hi guys, this is my first post and i have horrible news already...
Saturday night, i was running really low on gas (i think i had about two litres of fuel left). I stopped at the gas station to get my tank filled up. Everything ran fine as i left the station, but after 5 minutes my car died. I thought i had a failed fuel pump or a clogged up fuel filter because the car wouldnt turn so i had it towed to my local garage. After waiting an iously for them to call me today, i finally got a phone call from them... Where i was told that 70% of the fuel in my tank was not fuel, but was water!!! I raced to the gas station and saw that the pump i used was now 'temporarily out of service'. I know now where the water came from and im am pissed.... I know i will have to take legal action about this, but i would like to know first what kind of damage can i expect on my ea888? will it be deadly to my engine? Will it perform the same?
Im dying here guys...

Thanks in advance
Michael

[skippy]

Oh dear, that is so unlucky, I have heard of this happening before in rare cases.

I would suggest the same components as per filling with the wrong fuel would have to be replaced, ie fuel lines, fuel pump and the tank would have to be flushed.

Of course, despite the massive inconvenience the garage will be liable for the cost of the damage. It may also need new fuel injectors, damage may not be as bad as feared but depends on how long the engine was run after the symptoms started.

Sounds like the garage let the underground storage tank get too low, maybe the measuring equipment was faulty, I am it sure how they monitor it.

I hope you get it sorted soon, but yes - hopefully it should be straightforward getting the garage to acknowledge fault and pay for repairs ASAP.

[Cuprabob]

Sorry to hear tbis.

I know if an engine in hydralocked by the air intake drawing in water it causes major issues for the engine and it's normally damaged, in some cases beyond repair. I can't imagine how this would be any different as water is much denser to compress than the fuel/air mixture and not designed to do so.

[Sincs]

Unlucky mate, sorry to hear this.

It's a bit of a lottery when it comes to the damaged caused by this happening.
If your engine stalled at low speeds then you may be lucky enough to only need a drain etc. But if it happened at a higher speed then you could've bent all sorts of internals and, as mentioned, need a new engine.

Did the engine just die quietly, or did you hear any sort of funny/harsh noise when it happened??

[michaelbd]

I wasn't driving fast at all when it happened and the engine started to stutter, jerked abit, and then it died....

[Sincs]

I wasn't driving fast at all when it happened and the engine started to stutter, jerked abit, and then it died....

Just pray that it stalled due to fuel starvation rather than a mechanical failure.
Impossible to know without someone having a look though.

Good luck.

[maisbitt]

Contact the filling station immediately and ask them what they're going to do about it. If they refute responsibility it's time to either cop the damage costs via your insurance to get it resolved quickly or tell them you're taking legal advice and contact the legal cover of your car insurance if you have it, or maybe a legal advice service run as a perk through work. If the pumps are still out of action get some photos of them out of action, keep a hold of your receipt etc. VW won't pay up under warranty on this - completely the garage's fault.

How full did you fill the car from having approx 2l left? If you filled it right up and the receipt supports this then there's no way they can claim you added the water into your tank yourself when the car literally died moments later. They probably can't anyway if your car made it's own way to the garage and dieed shortly after filling. You'll be wanting the breakdown firm/garage's report too. It would be handy to put the word out to contact any other affected users of the garage too. If a number of you suffered the same event it will be much harder for the garage to brush off responsibility. If the engine tried to compress a meaningful volume of water then your engine could be goosed. If the experts looking at your car suggest a new engine then make sure you push the garage for the right option, not the cheapp option. Maybe they could fix it but it would never be quite right again - that wouldn't be acceptable to me. Might be worth contacting the local police station and maybe even the national breakdown firms to ask if they had any other callouts to the area that night? They shouldn't give you other people's details without their prior consent but they could help in setting up contact with others who had the same issue if the others are willing to share details to bolster their claim also.

[rm0rgan]

How full did you fill the car from having approx 2l left?

The OP says he stopped at the gas station to get his tank filled up...so guess that brimmed to the top

[michaelbd]

Yep I filled her up with a full tank of W70
I just filed a police report and will have a lawyer contact the station in a couple of days. Will see how it goes from there!