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Diesel Contamination


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Whilst driving from Aberdeen to Newcastle today, I stopped in Dundee to fill up and put in around 47 litres of diesel into my 2.0tdi, around 20 miles down the road the car began to stutter and drop speed, it also lost loads of power so I pulled in fearing the car was broken.

A call was made to the aa and I was fearing something was wrong with the turbo, when he arrived he started the car and gave it a rev, a massive cloud of blue smoke was emitted and the car struggled to stay at idle eventually conking out, the aa guy then removed one of the fuel pipes and placed it in a clear bottle whilst I turned the engine over straight away he spotted that there appeared to be water mixed with the diesel in an alarming amount, around 6 parts cloudy water to 1 part diesel.

I was towed to a local garage when the fuel system was emptied and flushed through, the car seemed to be ok, although further down the road the car started to stutter and loose power once more, happening regularly until I arrived in Newcastle, the car was even stalling when I was slowing down for junctions and roundabouts.

Could the contaminated diesel have caused any further damage to the engine?

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Sounds like there is still some water left in the system. Get the fuel filter changed and get the garage to check for water in the fuel. Send the bill to the garage who sold you the bad diesel.

Make sure everything is as documented as possible.

I am wary of a local garage because all the trouble with my last car started 200yards after filling up at our local garage and 2 other family members also had problems that they thought related to fuel.

Fuel suppliers (Shell in my case) do respond if you ask them to test and have the receipt showing the pump number etc.

The vehicle agents couldn't prove contamination and Shell said the fuel in their tanks was OK, so I didn't pursue it after the initial response, but it was interesting to see that the petrol station had the forecourt up twice in the weeks afterwards for work on the tanks and they now have a planning application in to replace the fuel storage arrangements.

The end result in my case was that I ended up trading in the car for the current Octy. My son's old auto diesel Merc seems to have recovered. The third car involved has been traded in for other reasons since their problems.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just thought I would make an update on how I got on with my fuel contamination case.

I contacted BP's Careline and provided all the information as to where I purchased the fuel, when the fuel was bought, the amount etc, I also gave details of the AA report from when I broke down as well as the details of the visit to the first garage to have the fuel system flushed through, like I said in my first post the car was still not running right after this, so I also informed BP I would be booking the car into the main Skoda dealer for them to have a look. The response I received was pretty scarce on details, they mentioned that they would call back me in 2-3 working days once they had contacted the fuel station in question, in the mean time I called my local trading standards office to report the case to them.

True to their word BP called back within a few days and informed me that the garage had confirmed they had contaminated fuel and that BP were going to cover the cost of repairs, they asked if I could provide them with all of my receipts and I would be reimbursed, at this point I also asked BP to provide a hire car not wanting to drive the Octavia whilst it is not running properly, the response was quite disappointing basically saying they didn't usually do that but they would look into it and get back to me.

Again a few days later I received a call from BP, although this was not about getting a hire car, they wanted me to go through their insurers HSBC rather than just sending copies of any receipts to BP themselves, which wasn't too much of a problem as long as I get my money back, I then asked again about a hire car to which I couldn't get an answer, this had been nearly a week since I had originally purchased the fuel and was proving to be a big inconvenience.

The car was booked into the Skoda garage for the 22nd and was dropped off first thing in the morning, unfortunately they didn't have any courtesy cars available so I had to get from the garage which is in the middle of an industrial estate back home, this involved a long walk and then a 40 minute bus journey followed by another walk home, luckily I wasn't feeling great and had decided to work from home that day rather than go into the office.

The next day I received a call from Skoda telling me the car was ready to pick up, they had flushed the fuel system again as well as fitting a new fuel filter and had checked the injectors which they believed to be ok. When I picked the car up the repairs seemed to have worked, the car was running much better but I was soon to find all was not well, the next day when I tried to start the car to drive for work the car just kept turning over without wanting to fire, eventually after about a minute or so the engine slowly fired into life, once running though it was fine, I thought I would give it another day and see if it would clear up but this never happened, any time I tried to start the car it would just turn over without attempting to fire, this car has never had any starting problems prior to this.

So again I called Skoda to have the car booked in for them to check everything, in the meantime I called BP's insurers to inform them of everything which has happened so far and to enquire about a hire car as I was due to drive a round trip of around 500 miles to see my daughter at the weekend, the response was again disappointing, they couldn't arrange one themselves as they have no links with hire car companies, but as there was no dispute with liability I could arrange and pay for one myself and them send the receipt to HSBC with the other receipts for the work on the car, so on the 26th Friday before I was due to go away I picked up a Mondeo hire car which was to last a week as the Octavia was going back into Skoda on the following Wednesday the 31st. The bills were starting to mount up!

On Wednesday night the Skoda garage called to inform me that they had checked several things and they appeared to be ok, and that the car had started fine with them, they also ran diagnostics on the car and found no problems however they would keep the car over night and try again on Thursday, again I received a call saying that the car was starting with them, however they had found a separate problem that the turbo actuator was sticking and tried to tell me I needed a new turbo, I told them to hold off and went to pick up the car.

That night I drove home in the Octavia, turned the car off, then an hour later jumped in the car to drive to Tesco, once again the car was extremely reluctant to start with the car just turning over and not firing, eventually it did catch and I drove the short distance to the shop, turned the car off and when I returned the car would not start straight away, I was beginning to think that the Skoda garage hadn't actually tried to start the car to see if the problem happened with them.

In the meantime I started looking into the claim of a faulty turbo actuator, this appears to be a common problem on the 2.0tdi and the symptoms tend to be the car going into limp mode when accelerating due to overboost, or a lack of boost and power, neither of which my car has suffered or I feel would affect how the car starts, again this made me think the Skoda garage were either trying to pull a fast one with such an expensive repair, or they couldn't figure out why the car wasn't starting and decided to feed me a load of rubbish.

On Friday I had problems starting the car once more, and yesterday was even worse, I couldn't even get the car to fire, it just turns over and over until the battery begins to run low. The engine is definitely getting a supply of fuel, as when I bump start the car there is a massive smell of diesel, but it just will not fire, could the glow plugs have been damaged with using contaminated fuel?

I am going to call a local german car specialist to have it booked into there for a second opinion, hopefully they can figure out what is going on.

Edited by mrski1
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Wow,

It’s not possible to fully test injectors when the they are in the engine, they need to be removed and flow tested on a test rig

Diesel engines cannot compress water... that’s why they bend con-rods if driven into a flood and water is sucked in the intake

Clearly your engine has been damaged and proper diagnostic needs to be done.

Please keep us posted

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Wow,

It’s not possible to fully test injectors when the they are in the engine, they need to be removed and flow tested on a test rig

Diesel engines cannot compress water... that’s why they bend con-rods if driven into a flood and water is sucked in the intake

Clearly your engine has been damaged and proper diagnostic needs to be done.

Please keep us posted

I will do, I'm starting to think there is maybe a lack of compression or somehow the glowplugs have been damaged?

This has been 3 weeks now since it happened, I'm getting fed up with it now and think i will pass it onto my insurers to chase up.

This was the ratio of diesel to water, around 1 part diesel to 5 parts water DSC00552

Edited by mrski1
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If the glow plugs are damaged or faulty you will get a light staying on in the dash

Injectors or cracked cylinder head is the most likely outcome of this problem

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If the glow plugs are damaged or faulty you will get a light staying on in the dash

Injectors or cracked cylinder head is the most likely outcome of this problem

Well it cant be the glow plugs then, and I doubt that the garage removed the injectors or even went near the cylinder head, I will call the garage in the morning to confirm what they tested and how.

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I expect the garage did a test using VCDS (vagcom) in other words just checked for fault codes

What you need is a garage that can do :

1. Compresstion test

2. Cylinder leakage test

3. Injectors tested on a rig

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I expect the garage did a test using VCDS (vagcom) in other words just checked for fault codes

What you need is a garage that can do :

1. Compresstion test

2. Cylinder leakage test

3. Injectors tested on a rig

Thanks,

Is it likely that that amount of water in the fuel could have cracked or warped the cylinder head?

Edited by mrski1
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Yes.... When 900 years you get, wise you will be.

Many Jedi mechanics trained, I have

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I contacted my insurers (Tesco) who are now on the case, I got fed up with the hassle and inconvienience of chasing it up myself, an hour after the call a Tesco approved repairers called to book the car in for the next day, I dropped it off at lunch and received a call 30 minutes later asking for some more information, i think they are currently stripping the engine to see whats what.

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I contacted my insurers (Tesco) who are now on the case, I got fed up with the hassle and inconvienience of chasing it up myself, an hour after the call a Tesco approved repairers called to book the car in for the next day, I dropped it off at lunch and received a call 30 minutes later asking for some more information, i think they are currently stripping the engine to see whats what.

Bad news about the car, I received a call from JM Accident repair saying that the insurance assessor had passed the car to Specialist Cars (the garage the car has previously been at), who then said they had already had my car in and that they had diagnosed a faulty actuator on the turbo, and that they could not find any other problems related to the fuel system. I told the insurance assessor that I wasn't convinced it was this, and informed him that the Skoda dealer had not replied to any of my recent calls to explain, he then called the Skoda garage who told him the car had an intermittent lack of power, something which I have never noticed, there was excessive vibration, again something which I have never noticed, and that there was excessive noise from the turbo, indicating that the turbo is on the way out.

The insurance assessor was satisfied that my starting problem is due to the turbo and will not proceed with the claim.

Edited by mrski1
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I feel that even if you get the faulty actuator on the turbo fixed, the starting problem will remain.

This story is far from over, I am curious to know what happens next

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Mine popped an intercooler pipe following a cambelt change. After that it would start, but it wouldn't pull worth a d@mn, and was hugely black smoking (over-fuelling).

I feel my car pulls fine, even my friend who drives around in a 300bhp Leon Cupra was impressed with how torquey it felt when I was driving to the garage to drop it off.

I feel that even if you get the faulty actuator on the turbo fixed, the starting problem will remain.

This story is far from over, I am curious to know what happens next

I need to contact the insurers to see what will happen if I have the actuator or turbo replaced and the car still has starting problems, would they then cover the cost of the work to the turbo?

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Another Update.

I called another local independant Skoda garage, they dont sell new Skoda's anymore but are still an official repairer, to ask for advice with regards to my starting problem and if it could be the turbo, I also informed them of the fuel contamination. With regards to the turbo problem I got a straight no, it shouldn't affect how the car should start, he then began to ask about compression tests because of the contamination and if the previous main dealer had done one, which they haven't.

I then made a call to my insurers who were happy for me to get a second opinion and out the car to Victoria Garage, it is now booked in for the 14th for further investigation.

See the differences in opinions of both garages.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/34814-victoria-garage-maud/

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/34817-specialist-cars-skoda-aberdeen/

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As you might have guessed, I don't think it's the turbo. Assuming the fuel system actually has been cleaned out completely, I'm left suspecting damaged fuel pump and/or injectors (as applicable to engine).

Interesting readimg about Specialist Cars, because I know several people over this way who go through Inverness past Dalblair to get to SC.

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Seems you are going about this in exactly the right manner :thumbup:

re lack of hire car etc as they admitted initial liability can you persue a compensation claim through the small claims court, whilst you may not have incured any actual expenses (or maybe you have) some sort of compensation for inconvenience may be in order. Citizens advice may be able to help on that one. If the claim is small & reosnable it may be easier for them to pay up than employ someone to fight it ;);)

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  • 2 weeks later...

What fixed your car in the end?

Are you out of pocket?

I picked the car up from the independent garage, Victoria Garage in Maud, who took the car in to see what was going on, they started off at the fuel tank checking the fuel pump, this was all ok, then moved to the front of the car to check the fuel filter, what they told me made me laugh! Basically when Specialist Cars fitted the fuel filter, they had fitted the fuel lines the wrong way round, so the engine feed was working as the return and the return as the engine feed, the mechanics at Victoria Garage simply switched the lines over, found it started first time and took it for a test drive and found no issues, they even kept it over night to perform a cold start to check all was well.

I then called Specialist Cars to complain and spoke to the service manager, and explained what had happened with the car and how they had made a mistake when re-fitting the fuel lines, he replied with 'there would be a lack of power and eventually the car would stall if the lines were around the wrong way' I informed him that the lack of power and the car running rough was the symptoms that their mechanics had tried to say was due to the turbo, he then offered to reimburse me the costs for putting the car to Victoria Garage.

The work Specialist Cars performed had cleared the fuel contamination issue, but the mechanics had simply made a mistake when fitting the new part, because of this I'm very reluctant to use Specialist Cars in the future for and service or repair work, to their credit they did reimburse me and were apologetic, but I will instead use Victoria Garage who were extremely helpful and efficient.

The other costs incurred due to the fuel contamination, should be paid back this week by BP, so I wont be out of pocket.

I found the whole experience quite frustrating, it was bad enough that I broke down and had to change all of my plans, BP to their credit were quick in admitting liability, but I find the way they solve this a bit odd. They expect you to pay for the repairs out of your own pocket and then claim it back, something that everyone cannot do especially when the bill is approaching £1k or worse if more of the fuel system needs replacing, also the lack of help with regards to getting a hire car was disappointing, again I had to arrange and pay for the hire car to then claim it back, and for all of the inconvenience it caused with having to change my plans visiting my daughter, calling garages to get the car booked in, dropping the car off in the morning then having to figure out how to get to the office from there and arriving late for work, getting back to the garage, arranging a hire car, dropping off the hire car, taking buses etc, BP gave me a mere £25 in compensation.

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