She called me because she couldn’t get her car started after work. We had to get it towed out of the underground parking which is quite a pain in the ass apparently.
I spent a couple hours troubleshooting the issue (smoky exhaust, barely started, ran like shit) and I burned out the starter in the process and had to put a new one in. Starters in these little 3.7L engines are pretty pathetic.
At some point in all this she mentioned she had filled up before driving to work, so I figured out how to jumper the fuel pump and pumped out this piss-colored junk. Feels oily like diesel, doesn’t burn explosively like you’d expect with straight gas.
Fresh fuel and some Seafoam snake oil to maybe clean injectors. Since I didn’t drop the tank to clean it perfectly, she’s going to put small amounts in for a few fills and burn it off completely between fills because the solution to pollution is dilution.
Her receipt showed she uses the gas pump, not the diesel, so I’m wondering how many people got to deal with this bullshit since I’m guessing the station got an entire compartment contaminated. Haven’t bothered to talk to the company, since I did the work myself and they certainly aren’t going to reimburse me for my time.
Ah well, it’s an excuse to do a pile of other maintenance I’d planned anyway and had parts for.
Wife is happy she isn’t buying a new car. Happy wife, happy life.
underground parking which is quite a pain in the ass apparently.
Hey, no need to be calling names! 😁
I have to say - those “dull” posts have truly been the most interesting things to read here, lately!
Thanks for the write up!
I like to see things on here I relate to once in a while, and maybe learn some things. I’ve never actually dealt with this personally, which is surprising given the millions of km I’ve driven, but when I come across a mundane thing that might help others not have to spend thousands for someone else to fix, I like to write about it.
And sorry to be personally racist against you. You’re way cooler than the last underground parking I’ve encountered.
:blush:
I should probably write up my idle actuator hack, although all I did was follow others’ advice on the forums.
Man, at least publicise this more so that gas station goes down the drain.
They don’t deserve to be in business after ruining so many cars.
You have to fight for others that were also messed up. Don’t bend the knee.
Post this so your local community can acces it so they know and gather to sue the shit out of them.
I suspect this happened to my wife. Got gas at Casey’s in her Ford Escape and barely made it home. Of course, she didn’t bother to call the station and just accepted it was time to replace it.
little 3.7L engines
Ah, America… 😁
I assumed it was a truck, but OP refers to it as her car, so…
yeah, wtf is going on here
I assumed it was a typo and OP meant 1.7L 🤣
And it will still somehow only produce 180HP.
This happened to me a couple of years ago. I called the gas station and as soon as I described the issue the clerk said they knew about the problem and gave me the number direct to their insurance guy, who made sure all repair costs were covered. (Pumped the tank, flushed the system, and some other stuff I’m not a car guy.) It was a hassle, but as soon as the insurance was involved, it was smooth. I think they were trying to avoid a law suit.
What happened? Insurance guy said that the diesel truck driver had somehow put diesel in their unleaded tanks. I was dumbfounded. He said, yes, a person has to be both an idiot and a very determined one to make that mistake. Said the gas station tried to get all the diesel out, but of course couldn’t. So there we were.
My point is: it might be worth a call to the station she filled up at.
don’t they have different connector for different fuel?
Kinda like it’s done on diesel car to avoid mistakes
Yeah, the insurance guy said that, but I guess people find a way to still screw it up.
LifeStupidity, uh, finds a way.Could have been intentional sabotage. Maybe he had a vendetta against the gas station owner
Yah, I get that, but it’s done now. They aren’t going to reimburse me my time, and the tow was on CMA membership so it was covered. All I’ll probably end up with is a tank of gas that I don’t want to redeem anyway.
I see what you mean; sometimes it’s easier to just deal with it than jump through the hoops. In my case they also gave me something like 10000 of their customer loyalty points, which I had absolutely no interest in using.
No, you’re a freelance mechanic and send them the bills for the repairs. Make those fuckers pay you back.
these little 3.7L engines
Are 3.7L engines really called little in America or are you being sarcastic? 😳
They’re not little, but they’re super commonplace. It’s kind of standard for V6 Trucks and SUV’s.
Our more powerfull stuff is V8 closer to 5.5L or 6.2L
Until recently fuel was very very cheap.
Laws were put in place to make passenger cars get at least 38mpg (16.15 km/L) All of a sudden Sport Utility Vehicles and Light Trucks became a thing to get around the limits.
Well, in that model, 2006 Grand Cherokee, that was the small engine. There was also a 4.7 and 5.7 Hemi. Engines have come a long way in 20 years.
And maybe America if you mean North America.
North America? are also common in Canada the small penis cars?
He lost me at “parkade”
Idk what tf that is. And I’m also American. Sounds like some made-up flatlander thing I don’t need
I’d guess this is a mustang and that would make it the “small” engine (~305hp) for that car, the other option being a 5.0L.
Still quite a big engine.
I guess when compared to a small 1.2l motorcycle engine
Calling a 1200cc motorcycle engine small is like calling a 3.7l car engine small lol
I suppose it is, when compared to a tiny 1.1l lawnmower engine. Heck - my power wheelchair has a 1.2, and I bought the smallest one.
When I’m cruising the frozen freedom fries lane at the Super WAL*MART Pro Plus Platinum Extreme™️ at 2AM on a Tuesday and I roll coal onto a couple of the local crackheads (they’re on so much adulterated crack, they always seem to forget their power wheelchairs at home, it’s hilarious!)
Hang on, it says I have to do something, one sec.
cracks verification can
… uhh, where was I ? Oh yeah…uh, pro extreme wally world™️… freedom lane… in muh wheelchair… grab some fries… crackheads…
Oh, that’s right! Haha!
When I roll coal…
at those funny crackheads on legs…
my chair only produces a tiny little cloud of black diesel exhaust smoke!
Isn’t that the darndest thing?
FWIW my last two four door cars were 1.6 and 2.0, and I’m in the US. (Although they were both kias.)
And how exciting was it getting on the throughway?
Edit: whys everyone butthurt? My Subaru makes maybe 150hp these days and merging in is terrifying. I didn’t think kias were so well known for their acceleration.
I’ve never owned a car over 150hp, and I’ve never felt like I lacked the power to get onto the interstate.
My current car is 117hp. Never been a problem.
Come to Maine, short feeders onto a 75mph speed limit where the right lane does 85
The fastest car I have owned was a 2.0T. The slowest was a 7.2 L V8. The 2.0T had over 200 Hp in a smaller car and the V8 had all of 290Hp in a land Yacht. I swear displacement has north america drunk with stupid. And I had no issues with 1.6L cars on any Canadian highway.
My 1.6L engine had around 200HP when it was new. It’s now a bit older so it’s probably lost a bit. And the tyres I have aren’t really optimized for acceleration. But it’s more than fast enough to get around any public roads. It also helps a lot when the car only weighs 1400kg and not over 2000kg like most American cars.
Just making everything bigger does not make it better, in fact it often makes it worse in many if not all ways. But this is a lesson Americans have yet to learn.
Try doing 190 kph on the Autobahn in a car the size of a rollerskate, it’s plenty exciting (i.e. scary as fuck).
I don’t think lemmy populace is travelled well enough to grasp what you’re on enough.
Had a pleasure myself to drive an e60 5-series - it’s something magical!
It’s certainly not “large” here
Many new ICE gas cars in EU are sold with 1.2L or 1.5L engines. Less people buy 2.0L ones. I know some modern diesel cars are also around 1.4L.
~3.7L here is pretty much 350Hp Autobahn speeding car.
Yeah I twigged on that too, and I’ve owned a 7.0L at one point. It seems like 4.2 is “big” these days but idk since leaving the ICE world.
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Small thing, but you sound like a nice spouse.
Some partners are quick to pin blame on spouses, in a hostile way. For example, they might quickly blame the other for a car breaking down, and make an issue of it, when the issue at hand is fixing the car. That kind of stuff rubs me the wrong way.
“The solution to pollution is dilution.” Muthafuckin mechanical Dr Seuss. An engine and word smith.
I’ve heard so many engineers giggle as they say it to each other simultaneously. But it’s fair, who doesn’t like rhyming.
I pull cable for a living and it’s my first time hearing it. I’m impressed and also stealing it.
Rock it, fellow cable dawg
Pulling cable and laying pipe
I’m happy until I hear “There’s no replacement for displacement”. Because the objective truth is that there is; It’s called quality.
Exactly. Engine displacement is just one number, and there have been major paradigm shifts in designs to squeeze way better performance and efficiency out of those engines across a wide range of RPMs: switching from carburetors to fuel injection, developing variable valve timing, better transmissions/traction control systems for actually get that torque and power on the ground.
Plus, like, the rise of EVs, or even performance hybrids, has shown that you can have ultra high performance without any displacement at all.
Looking back at the muscle cars of the 1970’s, where the idea came from, it’s crazy how huge those engines were, compared to 0-60 and quarter mile times that just weren’t that impressive by the 90’s, much less today. The 1970 Chevelle SS 454 had a 7.4L engine at 450 hp, but only got a 5.4s 0-62 and a 13.8s quarter mile. In 1995, the Toyota Supra put up similar performance with a 3.0L, 280 HP engine (although back then the Japanese manufacturers had some kind of gentleman’s agreement not to exceed 280hp in a way that tended to understate their overall performance). Today, Tesla literally manufactures a family friendly 3-row SUV that blows those numbers away. Scrolling through a list of cars that have sub-10 second quarter mile times off the factory floor, most of them have at least hybrid drivetrains where electric motors boost the overall torque and power.
Relying on displacement these days is just giving up.
it’s called quality
Robert Pirsig has joined the chat…
Precision manufacturing, bay-be
Maybe Ford will discover it one day
you can be certain that GM and Stellantis won’t
Man that sucks.
There was a tiktok prank where the wife calls the husband with this exact complaint and says it happened after filling up a new gas station that had yellow pumps. Then they record the husband’s realization the wife means diesel in the gas. 😥
My wife called me from work and gave the spiel about being stranded, and we got to the yellow pump part. And in my head I’m thinking aww crap. But I said no problem, go to the nearest store and grab a coffee/snack, I’ll get a tow truck to come.
After a while she said LOL, just kidding. And she asked why I was so calm about it. And so I explained that she has done quite a few things to/with the car that I can’t waste energy on being frustrated and instead just deal with the logistics of these things.
She said she wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing…means its happened too much. LOL
Your wife played a TikTok prank on you? Personally I would be far more upset about that than the car.
one is a joke you don’t like, the other is hundreds of dollars or more
Actually pumping the wrong fuel into a car by accident is a mistake. “My Corolla takes regular and I hit the regular button without thinking” or “it looked like a normal gas pump. I didn’t know the handles were color coded.” That’s called being human.
Calling you at work with a fake problem intended to piss you off for fun isn’t good person behavior. “haha tiktok funny im gunna hurt MY spouse like that and put it on the internet” With friends like that, who needs enemies?
A lighthearted prank which is revealed before any negative consequences occur is harmless, unless it’s understood a joke like that is unwelcome, which is how I’m interpreting you or OP feels. Humans make jokes at others’ expense sometimes, and sometimes, it’s ok.
I don’t see interrupting your spouse at work, with the intention of telling them a lie, intended to raise an anger or stress response, for the purposes of posting their reaction on the internet for clicks, in any way “lighthearted.” Walking around the corner, phone in hand, asking “Hey babe, why’s six afraid of seven?” is lighthearted. If you can’t tell the difference, stay single. Only Satan wants you.
Totally understandable if that isn’t your vibe and you communicated this already. Otherwise it’s really truly innocuous. Depends on the person. Happily married btw ♥️
Only one my wife did was the one where you throw your husband onto the bed without warning like apparently these tiktok girls have partners throw them onto the bed to initiate intercourse and uh…well it may or may not have awoken something in me. Apparently that’s not the reaction it’s supposed to illicit based on the tiktoks she’d seen
As if pranks from other sources are merited any higher? No one got hurt and while I can’t say I particularly recommend trying this, the partner’s reaction might be a major red flag as to how they’re going to react sometime else with a real, more serious issue.
See, I like pranks where the “victim” laughs too.
Give you an example, Apollo astronaut Wally Schirra was a bit of a practical jokester, he once delivered a urine sample to his flight nurse in a 1 gallon jar.
Going in for knee surgery, writing “This knee” on the correct knee and “Not this knee” on the other knee and both elbows, that’s a prank."
Combine seafoam snake oil with some premium higher octane shit, anecdotal maybe… but less ethanol is definitely going to help you get through this with fewer hard starts and sputtering takeoff.
Source: someone who’s dealt with bad gas on multiple occasions.
say what you will, but seafoam made my lifter tick considerably less noticeable after a light application through the intake.
it may not do everything it claims to do, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
Oh no, I agree… I was quoting OP. I’m a bigger fan of marvel mystery oil, but seafoam has its place in applications like this.
Form a small business and write up an invoice to yourself for your work. See how far that goes.
*Edit not legal advice
I do have a corporation but sounds like more work than it’s worth in order to maybe get in a pissing match with an oil company.
Fuck em, they’re on the shit list now anyway. Not like I’d redeem a free tank of gas from them for obvious reasons.
Shell, just to name and shame.
Assuming their gas indeed is contaminated, go buy 1 gallon of gas, in a spare gas jug, and check it out yourself to confirm. If it’s contaminated, well there’s your proof. If it doesn’t look contaminated, but perhaps you don’t trust it anyways, well run it through a lawnmower…
Honestly, this happened a week ago, I only got around to looking at it this weekend since we finished up seeding and I haven’t been dropping into bed after 16 hours straight of sitting in a tractor or pulling wrenches on way heavier equipment.
So I’m sure it’s long sorted out now.
You could run that in a mower without it damaging the motor? I’d never have guessed!
Lawnmowers, especially simple basic push mowers, are much cheaper and simpler than vehicles. No fuel injectors (carburetor), no oxygen sensors, hell most don’t even have a fuel line, the carb pulls gas straight out of the tank.
If the gas actually is contaminated with diesel or oil, it wouldn’t actually damage the engine, it would just run like shit and blow out more smoke than usual, until the gas tank is drained and fresh gas put in.
Now on the hypothetical other hand, if the gas was contaminated with something way more flammable than gasoline, such as acetone, then yeah that engine is probably gonna go BOOM!
Damn, I love learning new bits of info like that :)
Thank you for the response
Gas stations are usually franchises, owned by small businesses
Depends on where you are from. Where I am from most of the gas stations are owned by the local refineries.
Shell, just to name and shame.
Yep. That tracks.
this happened to my mom years ago, sometime in the mid 80s. she never pumped her own gas unless she had no choice. the culprit was a full serve station. they put in diesel instead of regular (car was from the 70s).
nowadays that couldn’t happen unless the tanks at the station were wrong (tanker delivery screwing up). unleaded-only cars (the norm now) have narrower openings and pump nozzles to match. diesel and the old ‘regular’ pump nozzles literally won’t fit.
Neighbour of mine told me that they had broken down because they put diesel in their petrol car. My first question was about the nozzle not fitting. They said they thought it was odd that it didn’t, and it took ages to fill the tank because it kept overflowing. So I wouldn’t say it can’t happen.
true. “this shouldn’t happen” would be a more correct phrasing.
what kind of vehicle? racing? farming? troop transport? I’ve never heard of a 3.7L engine
It’s 225 cubic inches which was a very common Chrysler engine.
06 Grand Cherokee.
I am sorry you got into the trouble, and I do believe the gas station company MUST pay for your priceless precious life time, your and wife’s time, and worries… They have camera videos showing the wife used the correct pump, but the essence you paid for was not provided, and also damaged your property - your car, and likely yours wife worktime.
One thing I can also tell is that you are a great man, a good husband, and just a freaking marvelous person I appreciate you for…
Thank you… dear @ikidd@lemmy.dbzer0.com … for being a miracle…I hate when the only pumps available are ones with a diesel option. I always preferentially use the one with the e85 options instead. Im so paranoid about it.
I mean the pumps are just pumping from the same tanks located under the pavement, whether it’s a pump with diesel or e85 it’s not going to make a difference if the tank itself is contaminated
yeah its more im really paranoid about having some sort of brain fart and doing the wrong one. I kinda thought though they had a few tanks underground and the isles were seperate or something. I guess just one tank for each would make sense. Now im going to be looking for stations that just don’t have diesel.
That’s fair! I suppose it’s entirely possible that some stations would have multiple tanks (but it’s also entirely possible for the truck to still mess up even at a station without diesel too! They typically have compartments on the delivery truck so only one truck is needed to deliver all types/grades of fuel)
see I did not know that too. I just assumed each truck did one substance because I assume doing multiple would mean more regulations and paperwork and such.
