bad gas?

450 Views 18 Replies 12 Participants Last post by briann510, Nov 20, 2004

wantsaZ

Discussion Starter · Nov 19, 2004

is it possible to get bad gas from the gas station. on the way home from filling up my z stalled and now i can't get it to fire up at all. i think i got some bad gas because i have fuel, ignition, compression, good fuel filter, good fuel pressure, brand new plugs and still no start please help. and if it is bad gas how do i dispose of it. oh yeah and i have one of those clear fuel filters and the gas is crystal clear looks almost like water.

Post Edited (Nov 18, 7:40pm)

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1 - 19 of 19 Posts

blue

· #2 · Nov 19, 2004

Was the gas station a quiet, old, back water one that is not maintained or was it a busy modern one that turned over a lot of gas due to busy sales?

Were there floods or heavy rains in the past week?

Sounds like bad gas if you have a spark.

Him

· #3 · Nov 19, 2004

Gas can be bad and water will obviously not run, but usually bad gas comes on slowly or in winter freezes in line.

Well a quick test would be to spray a small amount of ether or gas into engine and see if it fires. If it doesn't check for spark by removing a plug and holding it grounded while engine is cranked.

That way you should quickly have it down to either a fuel or spark problem.

Good luck

Hybrid77Z

· #4 · Nov 19, 2004

Very, very, very, very, rare. I will have to say it's something else.

77 260Z

· #5 · Nov 19, 2004

entirely possible, especially if a truck has just filled the underground tanks or is in the process of filling them. All the stuff on the bottom of the holding tanks gets mixed with the new gas. I always go to a different station if I see one filling the undergrounds.

blue

· #6 · Nov 19, 2004

great tip 305240!

bubbleguinea

· #7 · Nov 19, 2004

Him, this does not make sense...
"Gas can be bad and water will obviously not run, but usually bad gas comes on slowly or in winter freezes in line. "

are you saying gas freezes in the lines in winter? i do hope you know that it takes around -100 degrees F to freeze gas, IF there is no water in it...technicaly it can freeze at 32 degrees IF water is mixed in it , and there are not alcohols mixed in with it...

theres your high school chem lesson for the day...
actually i think its -97degreesF....

so anywho, gas wont freeze under normal circumstances at a gas station

dragoontwo

· #8 · Nov 19, 2004

but if you have any water whatsoever it will freeze independently of the gas, and if the water happens to be in the lines......

wantsaZ

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 19, 2004

HOLY S*** it was bad f'ing gas. i live in southern cali. this was a gas station on PCH and crown valley in the monarch bay shopping center and it was a pretty busy gas station. i now it was bad gas because i went out and bought some 91 octane from a different station hooked the supply line up to the can and walla fired right up.

whitezster

· #10 · Nov 19, 2004

best get a refund on ur gas....

Daeron

· #11 · Nov 19, 2004

you sure you didnt get some crud out of your own tank clogged somewhere? this is a common problem, and i cant believe no one has mentioned this yet.

KEINoze

· #12 · Nov 19, 2004

Similar thing happened when I burned out the points in my old distributor.
I thought it was bad gas because I filled up in a remote area I usually didn't go to.
When I changed the points and checked the gap, it fired up like before.

77 260Z

· #13 · Nov 19, 2004

If you suspect water in the gas, get a few bottles a gas line dryer/antifreeze. Heet comes to mind. If you are running fuel injection, make sure you get the isoproponal (sp) It's really abundant in the northern states, but was kind of hard to find in the southern and western states. When I moved from Michigan to Oregon I got a tank full of water/gas. It took me around a hundred miles before I found an auto parts store that carried any. I bought them out. I put in two cans and the jerking and bucking stopped.

califaz321240z

· #14 · Nov 19, 2004

KRAGEN AUTO PARTS SELLS IT FOR 1.29 HEET

briann510

· #15 · Nov 19, 2004

hooking and running out of a can doesnt prove anything wrong with the gas in the tank itself. you might have a clogged line.

bad gas is extemely rare and the station would be shut down pretty quickly as you most likely wouldnt have been the only one. call the station up and ask them when they sticked their tanks that morning if they water cut pasted the stick to check for water. up to about 1-3 inches of water on the tank stick is common as their suction lines are about 8 inches off the floor of the tank.

Him

· #16 · Nov 19, 2004

Way to go

Him, this does not make sense...
"Gas can be bad and water will obviously not run, but usually bad gas comes on slowly or in winter freezes in line. "

1. Water does not burn.

2. I have had water in gas, and performance degraded (Engine missed). The water made the car run poorly not stop running. It could cause it to stop, but that has occurred to me ONCE, and not a common experience.

3. I had fuel line 'FREEZE' in Buffalo NY (probaby water in gas). Buffalo gets cold, but even in my memory it NEVER got to -97F. Up North, Heet and other products are commonly used. Also many stations advertise 'you go or we pay the tow!'

4. In many years of driving it has happened to me a TOTAL of once! So as many have said this is not common, and unlikely the cause of his car not running.

My post was poorly worded. Thanks for pointing it out, you bring a unique perspective to a conversation.

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bubbleguinea

· #17 · Nov 19, 2004

heheh sure thhing...i loved chemistry...somthing about my really hot teacher....

Hybrid77Z

· #18 · Nov 19, 2004

I'm 100% with Daeron and briann510.
If it was junk in the fuel, it probably is that 33 year old gas tank on your car. When YOU fill it up YOU disturb all the rust and accumulated collection of gunk in YOUR tank.

It's much more possible that the problem is in your tank than at a gas station. Sure it's easy to blame the gas station, but drop YOUR tank and have a look. Rusty 1971 Z gas tanks are common, but truely bad gas from a station is not.

briann510

· #19 · Nov 20, 2004

well on the local news tonight there was a gas station that had a delivery of diesel that all ended up in their unleaded storage tank. several hundred cars were effected and stalled on all the local roads within 5 mintues of leaving the gas station. all had to be towed to shops to have their tanks flushed etc.

it wasnt a major gas company, but one of those bigger self serve places.

so crap does happen....unbelievable some tank trucker actually did that!

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