How Common Is Bad Gasoline?

[T_Dog]

Two weeks ago I filled up my CBR-150 at a (self serve) gas station my wife had told me to avoid as it had a reputation for selling bad gas. Sure enough, 20 minutes after I filled up, the bike died. A few days later (after a horror story at a Honda shop I don't want to get into) I drained the gas at a small roadside motorcycle shop. The gas smelled like varnish and it was perfectly clear. The gal helping me said "bad gas" and I filled up at Shell after we had all but a few drops out. It ran better, but it has taken almost 20 liters through the bike to get it back to running perfectly again.

All this makes me wonder how many other vehicles had problems that day... And why does it take so much gas to get it back to normal operation? You would think once the good gas is in, things would be good. Ideas or comments?

[dave_boo]

Can't comment on the availability of bad gas but when you refill with good gas there isn't a clear seperation between the two like oil and water but rather they mix and it takes a few batches to reduce down the percentage of bad gas to good gas to an acceptable level.

[transam]

Depends what they used as a '' mixer '', could have gummed things up and take a while for good gas to clean things up. I read somewhere that today's lead free gas is crap and has a shelf life of a few weeks, will still work if old but think it would not cause your problem.

My fun car was left for months with unleaded in the tank, with an additive, not lead, to protect the engine, valves etc, same as leaded fuel, and never a problem on re-running the engine.

[MikeyIdea]

Yepp, that has happened to me too, diesel that time. I don't think it's that common but there is probably a tiny bit of truth in most rumours like that

[soundman]

Unfortunately, with huge price differentials between Benzene products and other miscellaneous hydrocarbons, there are many, many unscrupluous petro retailers/wholesalers out there.

To avoid dodgy gas:

Fill at busy, major brand name service stations.

Look at the colour of the fuel every time you fill. If the product is cut to say 30% toluene, ethanol or methanol - you will notice a colour difference from normal. It will smell different too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toluene

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol

Finally, if you do get some dodgy fuel, consider it your civic responsability to report the matter. All major brands have a hotline for such problems. (Don't forget to keep a sample.)