Contaminated Fuel!!

[Drifty1]

The last fuel I bought was Arco in Aberdeen. I only put on about 10 gals as I wanted to fill up in Olympia as I am not sure how the fuel is at Arco. I usually fuel at Pilot or out at Little Creek. I called the Dept of Agriculture to complain about getting bad fuel and they were going to send someone to test the Arco station so will have to wait to get the outcome of this test.

[Rondo]

Larry keep us informed on what you hear from the Dept of AG!

[Drifty1]

I heard back from the DOA and was told they have taken 2 samples from the station where I bought my last fuel. They are sending the samples to a lab in Vancouver Wa. to have analyzed and would be hearing back from them in a few days. He also said got copies of their shipping invoices to check and see how many tankers of fuel had been dumped since I was in to fuel up. There has been 3 loads dumped so I am not sure they are going to find anything unless they are getting it from a local suppler that has a large tank for storage.
I am at least impressed that they even took samples even if there is most likely not any monetary recourse for me. After I receive any input back I will post.
I will try and post pictures of the sample taken from my tank after I get my truck back from the shop.

[mlh]

I wish you luck.
Lynwood

[richfaa]

That is a horror story Larry and perhaps a reminder to the rest of us to use extra caution when refuling. We stick to FJ's and large truck stops because we think they have good fuel.

[Drifty1]

I have a little more info on my truck! So do you want the bad news or the worse news! The latest update is the could not get the DPF filter to clean up after they did the cleaning of the fuel tank and lines. So that means they need to replace that and the egr valve needs to be cleaned or possibly replaced. All this because of bad fuel! The funny thing is I never seen a light or anything to tell me the filter was plugging. This truck would hiccup before and the filter 80% plugged notice would come up on the console. I am going to have them force a error code on something to make sure the control unit is working correctly. They also are going to service the tranny and replace the front brakes while the have it in the shop. With the tranny they need to replace the gasket and a seal but I can't remember which one. The bad part of this is I had the tranny serviced and the EGR valve cleaned 15,000 miles ago at Kar Mart Dodge in Mt. Vernon Wa. but it seems they used sealant when they reinstalled the pan. Rainer Dodge is going to contact they about this but I am sure it will fall on deaf ears instead. So now for the damages worst case scenario is $9,200 if the need to replace the cooler and the EGR valve. It seems I have had the 2nd worst case of bad luck in my lifetime. The first been my knee replacement that is not working out as planned!

[richfaa]

that would do me in...

[bighornram]

Warranty is gone, I would do the egr/cooler delete kit.

[hazmic]

After reading these posts I would like to know of what you had was algae in the fuel? I had it in mine and it knocked out the ' RAIL PUMP'Algae grows in the tank at a fuel station and you don't know where you got it. There have been posts on this and you can buy a bug killer and put it in the tank. You Rich should remember this when I posted about this. Some fueling stations do not and the bug killer or maintain their under ground tanks and algae grows and then you pump it into your tank and it grows in there. It is previlont in the marine area. Service stations that have dirty tanks could be where you got it. If you would like to PM me with your phone number.Google alage in diesel fuel. Your filter probity covered with a black like junk. Looked like tar.

[Drifty1]

hazmic, I think it could be algae also by the way the service rep described the filter. I can't believe I am the only person in this area that has had this problem. I talked to a sales person of the phone this morning and asked him about fuel requirements for the truck and was told not to put any bio diesel in the dodge. Ya right!! Try and find a station that does not have bio diesel.

[bighornram]

The manual says we can but B5 in them. I ran 100% biodiesel (B100) in my 05 Ram from late April until mid November which I just got rid of. I never had a problem with it.

[simonsrf]

While in California, I ran 100% Biodiesel in my 2006 without any problems.....liked that french fry smell!

[Tom S.]

quote:Originally posted by Drifty1

hazmic, I think it could be algae also by the way the service rep described the filter. I can't believe I am the only person in this area that has had this problem. I talked to a sales person of the phone this morning and asked him about fuel requirements for the truck and was told not to put any bio diesel in the dodge. Ya right!! Try and find a station that does not have bio diesel.

Really? I wish I could find one that had bio diesel! A lot of them have bio fuel, as in ethanol (I hope you didn't use that!), but not bio diesel. Nothing around here but plain diesel. A bio diesel mix of at least 5% would be perfect. Bio diesel is MUCH cleaner and will clean out all the crud in your lines and tank from dunning pure diesel. I wonder if that is what your problem is. Perhaps you got some contaminated fuel a while ago, and the bio cleaned it out, plugging up everything?

You've almost got me thinking you filled up with ethanol by mistake, though the dealer should have caught that right off. Not all diesel pumps are marked correctly. I've seen them with yellow, green and even black handles, and I've seen ethanol pumps marked with both yellow and green handles, so you must beware.

[Drifty1]

I am sure it was not ethanol as I make sure what the pump says before I pump anything. As for availability of bio fuel around here here most stations have a minimum of 5%. The last fuel I got is about 1.5 miles from the largest bio diesel refinery in the US. They can put out 100 million gals a year of fuel. Most of this product had been exported to BC Canada and overseas. When the company I worked for built the plant they run 20% bio diesel in all their equipment and we always had problems with plugged filters as it would clean out all the buildup.

[steelpony5555]

I have used Bio diesel in my old truck several times from Willie's truck stop and have never had a problem. As was said it is very clean and the only problems I have heard of is if you use it in an old truck it could give you problems cause it cleans the internals real well and will clog filters.

[Mudchief]

Algae in the fuel will do you in. In one of my trucks they wanted 7K to fix it. The person living next door worked on big diesel trucks and told me just to add a jug of algae kill to my tank and keep changing my filter until I did not see any black tar looking stuff on my filter. It worked.

[hazmic]

Mudchief you are so right. It knocked out my rail pump before I realized that I had a problem. I got some algae killer and changed filters after the new pump and add it about ever 3 fills and watch where you get fuel.

[Drifty1]

I am going to be on the algae killer routine starting tomorrow after I get my truck back from the shop. I was going to look at trading up to a 2012 Dodge but that has not worked out as I am about $10,000 apart on a price. The other problem is the closet truck that I would be dealing on is in California. Road trip!! As there are no 2wd Laramie's in the NW. Oh well at least my injectors and high pressure pump are checking out all right but $9,200 will hurt.

[mlh]

Larry if I were you I would get rid of all the pollution controls. It would be far cheaper for you and you would have a better truck, but then again I live in Virginia and you live in Washington and you may not be able to do that.
Lynwood

[HamRad]

I don't know what the regulations are in WA but in CA if you mess with the pollution controls and it is detected (odds are you WOULD be caught) you will pay huge penalties. Besides costing you financially you may even end up in jail! I would not recommend anyone remove any of the pollution devices.

Drifty1,
What, exactly, did they find? Was it dirt? Was it algae? I am astonished at the cost of repairs. Would it not have been cheaper to simply put in another engine? I believe it would cost me about $6k for a new engine. But I don't know if that includes all the stuff that "hangs" onto the engine. Just thinking out loud! You are having to pay a huge price for something as simple as bad fuel! And it wasn't even your fault! Sorry you're having to deal with this. Thanks for sharing. Dennis