Quote:
Originally Posted by BuilderBob
I agree with Michelle & Ann I haven't seen any thing I think some one may have done it to them self's but we will never know!
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I posted about this incident on four different RV forums when I became aware of it. I realized that there were thousands of snow birds starting to make their way south and I wanted to have the information out there. This could have been any station, but it happen to be a Pilot. Since then (as I already posted) we moved to our final location in SW Florida and I stopped at a Pilot and then a Flying J for fuel.
My buddy arrived in our CG yesterday and was thrilled to finally arrive from Ohio, although 9 days late. I will run through a quick summary if anyone is interested.
He is low on fuel after Nashville and knows he needs 5 to 6 gallons of DEF. Pulls into the Pilot and since he isn't familiar with his new CG/Pilot card he can't use it at the pump (we figure out he was missing putting in his control number). He goes inside and has them put $200 initially on a different credit card as a prepay.
The clerk cautions him that he should pump his DEF first to insure he gets that full before pumping the diesel so that if he runs to the $200 prepay everything will shut off. He ignores that advise because he pretty much knows how much of each he will be taking on.
He returns to the island and pumps 25 to 26 gallons into his truck. It holds between 30 and 32, he wasn't sure. He then pumps the rest of the diesel, totaling 48.511 gallons into his aux bed tank. He hangs up the diesel pump, pulls the DEF nozzle out and pumps 5.020 gallons of DEF in his DEF tank.
He pulls away from the pumps to the stop line and his truck is running like crap. He goes in to get his final receipt plus informs them he needs a mobile tech because he truck is barely running. They suggest someone. At this point there is not a truck behind him in the island and he is pretty sure no else fueled at that island because they would have had to just sit there.
Mobile tech arrives and changes filters, telling him it looks like there was maybe water in his fuel. Before he is on his way there is another short conversation with the fuel desk and they are aware that he thinks he had some water in his fuel. Truck runs good and away they go. When he leaves this Pilot his truck tank is full and his DEF tank shows full.
100 miles or so down the road they stop, I think at a rest area. He figures while stopped he will go ahead and top off his truck tank with fuel from his aux bed tank. He pumps in 9 or 10 gallons and away they go. Shortly after that he starts dropping rpms, limps off and get behind a Shell station, and they are done. Gets both units towed the next day, truck to Dodge dealer and TH fiver to close by CG.
Dodge dealer tests fuel from truck tank and aux tank. Both samples have DEF contamination.
Thanks to suggestions on RV forums he finally contacts his insurance carrier. Progressive sends an adjuster/investigator to dealership. They inspect samples and damaged parts. The $9,000 plus claim is paid in full except his $100 deductible. Progressive overnights the check to dealership so a couple hours after the work is completed they are paid and away he goes.
I don't know how Pilot controls what underground tank pumps to what fuel island. I suspect it is plumbed so they can switch things around so when a tank is about empty they can pull from another one. This fuel desk was well aware of his issues after fueling. Did they switch some valves to stop pumping from the underground tank he pulled from? I have no idea. What I do know is what he has now told me in person and what his actual receipt shows.
There will always be folks out there that will just assume that somehow my buddy pumped DEF into his own tanks. That's fine. I'm not going to be upset about that and I'm not posting additional information to defend him. I'm just providing a final summary so maybe most of the other RVers who pump diesel will be more cautious and aware in the future.