Questionmy wife has an '01 XC AWD wagon.
the other day it suddenly started running really rough, but she managed to limp it home the last 2 miles. That night when I tried it, it was so badk I wouldn't take it on the road.
Dealership traced it back to a tankful of bad gas, which they gave us a sample of.
My wife always uses the same station, but this time used mid-grade. it's ethanol containing (e10 or e15) and my question is if it's possible this caused the problem? I Called the station, they haven't had any problems reported.
The dealership first replaced the electronic throttle body, which was a recent recall. When that didn't take care of it, they did the mass air sensor. They then did standard checks - compression checks, then checked the fuel and said they'd never seen fuel this "bad" before.
In a jelly jar it's about 90% lighter colored liquid sitting on a heavier honey colored fluid that sloshes more slowly.
Ultimately I'm looking for some way to recoup the $1000 we've spent on repair, and now we have 15 gallons of junk fuel to dispose of.
AnswerI have seen this before and I have never found a good way of explaining how the bad fuel got in there. The honey fluid is the stuff that causes the problem, it won't burn and it clogs up the fuel system. The only fix is to empty the tank entirely (usually be removing the tank and cleaning out the inside to get it all). I don't know what it is exactly or how it got in there but it is not because of what kind of gas you buy. You are not alone though with this problem. If you want to recoup some of the repair costs, maybe you can get the gas station to compensate you the repair or partial repair costs if you take them the sample.
James
