$1300 to repair FRS for bad gas, does that sound right?
 

Bought $20 worth of gas yesterday afternoon at a Mobil station, went to a car meet about 12 miles away, and then after the meet the car would not start. Had it towed to the Toyota dealership, they said the problem was bad gas and would cost $1300 to fix. They said they would have to "raise the motor and the fuel tank" because the spark plugs and other parts were affected by the bad gas and would have to be replaced. They said they saved a sample of the gas I could take to the gas station and ask for reimbursement.

I'm no car expert, but does this sound right? We have bought gas from the same Mobil station for years with no problems. Which parts require lifting of the motor and fuel tank and is it clear they would need to be replaced? My neighbor accidentally put gas in his diesel car and all they did was drain the gas and run some additive through the system, cost him about $400.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
p

I'd act quick and get compensated from the gas station. If it really was the culprit, then there are going to be more along with you.

Lifting the engine is what the shop manual says to do for changing spark plugs, so that's what they are saying. I'm not entirely sure anything that causes a need for plugs to be replaced can even be called gasoline, so you might want to get an explanation for why plugs need replacement.

On the other hand, if you aren't paying for it, :iono:

Maybe water in there and then replacing plugs if close to 60k miles while it's out since they need to be taken out anyway?

Man that sucks. I hope you kept the receipt.

Does look like the price isn't far off though.

If you would put some of the fuel in a glass jar, contaminates like water or diesel should settle so you could see it.

If it is contaminated with water, it could be absorbed by adding alcohol to the tank.

Bubba says to drain/syphon out as much gas from the tank as possible, then fill the tank with some good gas and a can of HEET.

Then spray starter fluid in the intake and crank on the engine till it clears the contaminates from the fuel system.


humfrz for Bubba

Sounds a little strange to me.


Usually with bad fuel the car will run pretty crap and you know something wrong.


By car meet do you mean track/autocross ?? did it run ok during this ??


When you say car would not start after the meet, did the starter crank motor or just nothing, did motor fire up then die ??


might be just failed battery.

Well kind of sounds in the ball park with that price.
$600 for spark plug removal
$100ish for new spark plugs
$300 for new fuel pump assembly
$300 for dealer ass rape fee with out lube obviously.

Then again if you can get the gas station to pay for it, it might be worth a shot. If you where to pay for it out of your own pocket then I would call a few shops to compare prices.
Or you could try and do it yourself. That's if you are handy with tools.

Are you sure someone didn't slip you a micky at the car meet ?

Now someone define "bad gas"? There's lots of ways gas can be bad and lots of different price points we could discuss all day

By car meet do you mean track/autocross ?? No, we just meet up and look at each other's cars.

did it run ok during this ?? The car was not turned on during the meet.

When you say car would not start after the meet, did the starter crank motor or just nothing, did motor fire up then die ?? It cranked but the motor did not start.

"Well kind of sounds in the ball park with that price.
$600 for spark plug removal
$100ish for new spark plugs
$300 for new fuel pump assembly
$300 for dealer ass rape fee with out lube obviously."
Guess that's the big question, does it need all this work or is it enough, as some others have said, to drain the tank and then fill with some good gas and a can of HEET.

They did save a sample of the gas and I will make a claim with the gas station.

I would call your state's department that checks gas pumps. In michigan all pumps have to have an inspection sticker, that has their phone number.

Interesting that you had some bad gas from Mobile. I also had a bad batch from Mobile here in Jacksonville FL. Not bad enough to cause the car to not start but I was getting knock and my IAM was dropping which never happens in my car. After running that tank out and getting new gas my IAM is back up to 1 and no more knock.

I think I'm staying away from Mobile from now on.

Anyways, about your car. It seems odd that simply draining the fuel and putting good fuel in isn't all that you would need to do. Seems odd to me that you would need new plugs too.

Edit: To clarify. When I say bad gas I mean it was sold as 93 but clearly wasn't.

Wait, you guys mean to tell me that the engine pretty much has to be removed to change plugs on this thing? And that it is going to cost $600 in labour.

If so, one more reason why I consider the boxer to be a ridiculous design. I also wonder at the lack of a fuel tank drain if it does not have one.


As for the OP's question, yeah, if they have to drop the fuel tank and unbolt the engine in order to do the work, I can see it costing that much easy at dealer rates.

You don't have to remove the engine. Just remove the header and unbolt the 4 bolts on the engine mounts and then jack it up about 4 inches. But you can actually do it without even raising the engine but the "official" way says to raise it. I wouldn't be surprised if the dealers do it without raising the engine but still bill it out as if they did.

Bad gas is to an engine as bad dirt is to a plant ..... now, do you get it .... ??

:popcorn:


humfrz

Contact the state ASAP as others have said. If it was bad gas you shouldn't have to pay for it so doesn't matter what the dealer wants to do as long as they get it running.

And yeah, hope you kept your receipt.

I have contacted the state. Mechanic now says there was diesel in the tank. If so, there have to be other people affected.

That’s interesting. How low was your fuel before filling up with bad fuel?

The tank was 1/4 full when I stopped at the station and I only pumped $5 of gas, which moved the needle to just under 1/2.

In that case, I would just go with the "Bubba" solution ....... just flush the system.

Now, are you sure that you didn't pump the diesel in there by mistake .....:confused0068: (your receipt should clear that up). Or is that even possible at modern day pumps ....??

I remember back a couple of years ago (yes, Tcoat, I've told this story before...;)), I was at an off the wall gas station in Missouri, about to top off a rental car before I turned it in. A girl next to me looked over and asked me if I was sure that I wanted to put diesel in that car.....??

I said no. She explained that this was the only station in the area that the diesel pump handles had black boots on them and the gasoline nozzles had green boots on them.

Hey, Missouri ....what can I say ....... :iono:


humfrz

my bad gas repair ran $1,800, but my insurance covered it as vandalism so my total out of pocket was just $500

I think by law they have to be green and have a bigger nozzle that will not fit in our car. So basically if you got diesel in our car it’s because the gas station made a mistake.

There is no law that says they have to be a certain colour. There isn’t even a standard that applies. It is up to the consumer to use the right pump and since different stations can have different colours even on there own pumps it requires paying attention. Sucks but that is the reality.

Well in the states all the stations I've seen have a nozzle that will not fit in our hole. There must be some sort of standard. At least in the states. Maybe not a law though.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_2IXEmpEZc"]Diesel vs Gas fuel nozzles - YouTube[/ame]

Nope. As dumb as it sounds there is not.

False alarm, now they are saying it was not diesel, just "bad gas"

well atleast they covered most of the bill

I doubt 5 dollars of diesel would cause the issues youre describing. That's like 1.5 gallons mixed with 5-6 of premium. :iono:

Judging by the needle it was probably around 2-3 gallons of diesel with about 3 gallons of premium. 5 dollars of diesel isn't the same amount of fuel everywhere.

Sure, but I have not seen diesel be "cheap" for a long time now. It's always around the same as regular it seems like, maybe slightly above.

It sounds to me like they're actually trying to do a thorough job of decontaminating the fuel system and making sure there are no lingering issues (or any serious ones from injecting imcombustable material into a high compression engine), rather than shortcutting it and hoping for the best.

And yea it's somewhat labor intensive. That said, unbolting the mounts and jacking the engine up a bit isn't super difficult or time consuming it you have ready access to lifts and jacks in a shop with all your tools sitting within arms reach. Sure fiddling around with extensions to get the spark plugs out might make more sense in your driveway, but if you have the equipment that may change.

No one has covered any part of the bill.

I heard back from the state inspector today. He found no problem with the gas and said no one else had complained.

$5 in gas if you have a 1/4 tank shouldn't be enough to really do anything unless it was straight water which sounds highly unlikely. Even if it was diesel it should still start and even run a little bit. 5th gear did a test where they put diesel into an almost empty tank and the car still started up, drove for a couple miles before misfiring and stuttering. They emptied out the diesel, put in normal gas and the car started up and was fine again.

Sounds like your no start issue might not be fuel related at all and your dealership is taking you for a ride...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL9-i9tcESU"]Putting Petrol Into A Diesel Car #TBT - Fifth Gear - YouTube[/ame]

I would then find a different shop and/or escalate to Toyota corporate. Get everything form the dealership and the state inspector in writing.

So, has the work been done .....??

If so, who has the bill ... ?? or has it been paid..??

Ya, know, pauldz ....... I just got this feeling there is a ...... "the rest of the story" .....:confused0068:

:popcorn:


humfrz

The work was done and I paid the bill. Apparently that's the end of the story. Don't think I can make a claim against the gas station since the inspector found no bad gas. Guess I could complain to Toyota, although it seems unlikely they will do anything.

Hate to hear someone getting taken for a ride like that!

Could you post up the invoice? See what they actually "did."

The car had to be towed in and it left the shop in working order, so I'm not sure I was taken for a ride. Something was fouling my fuel line, only question is whether they did more than was necessary to fix the issue. They gave me the old spark plugs and a sample of the gas. Invoice says: "Technician found that the fuel is contaminated causing the car to shut off. Drained fuel and cleaned fuel tank." Labor $1121.85, parts $161.59, misc. charges $25.00, tax $78.51, total $1386.95.

Well, at least you got a new set of spark plugs out of the ordeal.

I'd steer clear of that gas station from now on.

Good to hear you're back on the road ...... :thumbsup:


humfrz