Question about Bad Gas (Fuel I mean not the human smelly kind..)

[Bloodlust]

Hi, I have been having problems with my car lately. My engine hesitates alot and engine light comes on and sometimes stalls on me. It all happened when I filled my tank up with gas that I usually dont put in it but it was the nearest gas station. I was wondering what symptoms water in the gas or "Bad gas" could have on your car? Thanks.

-Bloodlust-

[79EK1]

Bad gas has those symptoms. If it's just water in the tank, you can try a bottle of water remover from the autoparts store. Don't use too much, because most of them contain methanol (methyl alcohol), and that can attack rubber fuel lines. If you follow the recommendations, you'll be ok. Check your fuel filter for sludge. If there's a lot of it, replace it. If it clogs again right away, you may have to have the tank flushed.

If you're sure it's bad gas from that one particular station, you should go back and complain. You may be able to recover the cost of any repairs. Maybe.

[Bloodlust]

Thanks 79EK1! I really appreciate it. I should go back and complain, it was plus too.... I usually just get regular. I will take your advice and get some water remover. Once again, thank you very much.

-Bloodlust-

[NXRacer]

If it was plus, that shouldnt make it run worse. I try to run plus in my Lxi whenever possible. My g/f was having similar problems in her old couger and i thought maybe the spark plugs were bad or the fuel filter was clogged. I replaced the sparkplugs and there was almost no change. Before i got around to replacing the FF she went and got gas at Chevron and the problem vanished. There are rumours that some of the cheaper gas stations put water in their gas. I really doubt thats true, but some stations around here make cars run like SHIT.

You could probably fix it by adding some octain booster and go get gas at a good station (like chevron or 76).

[Justin86]

I'm not to sure about the water in the gas myth, but it is true that the cheaper gas station don't sell as high quality as Cheveron or Shell do. They use unbranded gas so that no one can be held at fault. That is why it's cheaper. For the big companies like Shell they only sell branded gas, which is the gas that came from there own refineries. You pay more to have the reinsurance that you are getting good gas.

[anchovies]

Just check your ecu code first. Look under the driver's seat for a little flap/window to open and turn the key to ON position and count the number of blinks. Then check in the FAQ for the ECU code meanings.

[Bloodlust]

Update on my gas problem ( I know that sounded bad )

It wasnt gas at all. It was my O2 Sensor screwing everything up! Thanks for all of the advice!