Drivers find engine trouble after filling vehicles
Water in fuel from Valero refinery may be to blame
By EMILY RILEY • The News Journal • May 5, 2009
A quarter of a mile down the road, her car died.
"I tried to start my car, but the engine would turn over and cut out almost immediately," Yursha, 38, said.
She wasn't the only one.
Paula Epps, 36, of Middletown – another customer of the Exxon station on Del. 896 in Newark, where Yursha filled up – said her 2008 Honda Pilot now needs its fuel tank drained and fuel system flushed after a similar stall-out.
At least seven customers reported problems, said Bill Gordy, president of J. William Gordy Fuel Co. in Delmar, the Exxon station's fuel distributor.
Officials suspect a water leakage in fuel supplies could be the problem.
The manager of the Exxon, who declined to comment, provided customers with contact information for Gordy.
As a fuel distributor, Gordy purchases fuel from Exxon, which is processed at the Valero refinery in Delaware City, and distributes the product to Exxon gas stations.
Though he said he has yet to communicate with Valero, the focus of both
Exxon and Gordy is dealing with "inconvenienced customers," including footing the nearly $10,000 bill for towing and repairs.
"Exxon said that we should just take care of the customers now and they will handle the situation with Valero later," Gordy said.
He said the Valero refinery is accepting the fuel in question back at the terminal, an indication that Valero has agreed to acknowledge responsibility. Though the exact cause has yet to be determined, the company has already confirmed that there is no more water in any of the tanks at local gas stations, Valero spokesman Bill Day said.
Day said the company is investigating whether water entered fuel supplies within the Delaware City refinery or somewhere along the fuel's transportation system.
"It is highly unlikely that it occurred in the refinery," he said. "We're looking into whether the water was in the trucks that made deliveries to gas stations or in the gas terminal that pumps into the trucks. We want to find out where along that process water may have been introduced into the system and how it may have gotten there."
15 comments:
Seems in this case Gordy is doing the right thing. Mistakes happen, it's what you do about them that counts.
I had the same problem here about a year ago. Fueled up to head back home to Kent County, MD. Soon as I left my jeep kept stalling as I tried to accelerate. The whole way home this happened. Stopped at a fuel station in Trappe filled up as much premium as I could. Had a chance to stop at parts store and got some fuel cleaner. This finally did the trick. Took me 2.5 hours to get home instead of 1.5.
The alcohol in the gasoline can absorb water. I often wondered how much one could "expand" a gallon of gasahol before affecting an engine's performance.
Another backfire post Joe. You are trying! But too hard!
Ok, I don't want to buy Exxon or Valero for a while. What's the best gas to buy that isn't refined, shipped or handled in any way by them?
The Del City refinery has been down for weeks. They appear to have had some issues while re-starting it.
Gordy is doing the right thing. Good businessmen know when to make things right.
Boy, Joe. You've been waiting for this one haven't you? You must have loved writing that up!
I guess this explains why my lawn mower stopped working after putting Gordy gas into it the other day.
I had problem with gas that I got at the Royal Farms on 404. I normally get 28-30 miles to the gallon. With that gas I was lucky if I was getting 14. I started filling up in MD instead and haven't had a problem since. I think it was the ethanol that was the problem. I've heard a lot of people complaining about their lawn mowers, chain saws and other equipment not working because they got gas with higher ethanol content. Needless to say I will not be buying gas in DE any more.
I thought the ethanol content of gasoline was around 10% in Maryland and Delaware.
Is the ethanol content less in Maryland than in Delaware? If so, I'll be buying all my gas in Maryland, too!
Maryland gas has ethanol but they don't list it on the pumps like DE does.
I was told to add an ounce of dry gas per gallon for my mower gas, which I have done & it seems to help.
Gordy runs some great stores. However, other local Exxon stations don't have this problem. Maybe they get their gasoline from the local terminal here in Salisbury? Try buying Exxon from some of these other stores. You should be fine.
I have noticed not all Exxons have been affected. Why is this?
Was there water in the trucks supplying Gordy's but not the other Exxons?
water comes from the holding tanks from the supplyer or condensation build up in the stations tanks not the trucks.
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