[Tcoat]

Bad gas is a risk at ANY station or brand not restricted to just one. It happens. Your best chance of reducing that risk is to use stations that see a lot of traffic all the time.


70% Water? Really? I would like to see how they determined that. You wouldn't have got a block from the station so it would have had to be really really close. Clearing the system would be relatively easy since they could just pump out the tank and disconnect the lines to drain out the rest. Obviously you had a water issue but I am not convinced that the tech didn't over state the severity of it.


I can not speak for NC but most places have some pretty strict requirements for checking the fuel in their storage tank so for them to say it was checked 2 days before was probably accurate. Believe it or not every State/Province will have a legal limit of how much water is allowed to be in the gas. That is how common it is.


Gas pumps are exactly that, pumps. Some are slower than others for many reasons and none of those involve scams. I have never in my life seen stations with different prices for the same level of fuel on different pumps. It would be a very poor scam to try this as people would figure it out in a hurry.


To the best of my knowledge and a quick search through official sites there is no water detection system in existence that slows down a pump if there is water present. What would the practical application of slowing down the pump even be?


Purposely diluting gas with water would just be plain stupid. The water can cause more expensive issues with the pumps than any slight increase in profit would warrant. Yes, water happens and yes a certain amount is even permitted but to add water for the pennies made a gallon would not be worth the risk. No matter what an issue is you can find somebody on the internet that says it is a conspiracy and can make their point seem very convincing unless you read around what they are saying.


You may have a tough time going after Shell. Most gas stations are independently owned and operated and even though they sell Shell gas that does not mean that Shell is responsible for them nor their actions. If the station can produce inspection records (real or not) and a test of the fuel in their tanks comes up OK then you are pretty much screwed as far as action goes.