Water in gasoline? What to do?

[MovingTarget]

I recently had filled up at a station that we come to find out had gotten some water in their gasoline tanks. Unfortunately due to this my car now sputters/stalls at random times as some of this water goes through. Since I'm stuck with a full tank of gas now, what should I do about it? Are there any additives that may remove or reduce the effect of said water? Or should I bite the bullet (read: waste $60 worth of fillup) and drain the tank completely?

Thoughts?

 

[nakedfrog]

Get HEET or the like, there's a few products out there to help you.

 

[Jahee]

Make them pay for a new tank of petrol! Its their problem not yours!

 

[steppinthrax]

1. Drain your gas tank they sell siphons designed to do this. Drain as much fuel/water mixture as you can.

2. Run the car to remove any other fuel/water in the lines.

3. Put in a bottle of heet and at least 2 gal of good gas.

4. Try to make it to the nearist gas station.

5. File a complaing with the appropriate agency and make a big shit about it so that you can get a free tank of gas and compensation for a list of things you send them.

The problem is that HEET can't remove everything. You may need a second or third treatment.

The best method would be to remove the gas tank and completely empty it.

 

[alkemyst]

Prior to draining I'd try HEET or another treatment, they are usually alcohol based.

 

[timxpx]

Whichever method you choose, save your receipts and definitely file a complaint with the corporate office. It could be worth your effort to get reimbursed.

Granted, you're talking about water in a gasoline engine but if it was a diesel... *tear*

My girlfriend's Jetta TDI seized up last winter because snow melted and made its way into the fuel tank. Since by state law in NJ, we're not allowed to pump our own gas, it turned out that the gas station was prospectively liable for the problem (the gas cap was not replaced after fueling, water got mixed in with the diesel fuel and bad stuff happened...). The dealership fixing her car provided a fuel sample, which we mailed to the corporate office, and after months of exchanging phone calls, they finally reimbursed the expense of the repairs.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Gasoline isn't water soluble, and since it's lighter than water, guess which ends up at the bottom near the fuel pump? The best way to do it is to drain your fuel tank completely. Depending on your car, this is pretty easy to pretty difficult. Getting rid of the bad gas may be a bit of a problem depending on where you live and if you have a good means for drawing the good stuff off the top. The easiest way I can think would be to remove the line before the filter and jumper the fuel pump on to let it pull out most of it. Just make sure to stop the pump so it doesn't burn out. From there, it gets vehicle specific.

As timxpx said, water+diesel=expensive.

 

[herm0016]

you should be able to get a can of dry gas... any one remember this stuff? it works great. is that what heet is? i thought that was some sort of de-icer or something.

http://www.shorechemical.com/S...h%20Sheets/dry_gas.htm

 

[MovingTarget]

Good advice, guys. I do have the receipt saved and I do keep a mileage log for my vehicle. (87 caprice) Earlier this morning after I posted I decided to get some gas treatment and see what that would do. I was going to go for the techron, but to my suprise the local Chevron didn't have any. STP gas treatment was all they had. Anyway, it has cut down on the sputtering but it still occurs. I think I may just chance it and burn through what is in there. If it gets any worse I'll get the tank drained. Either way, the station will be hearing from me.

 

[cardiac]

MovingTarget, you need to get HEET, not just a gas treatment. Will help get rid of the water. Try it, it's cheap.

Bob

 

[thedarkwolf]

Last time I got a ton of water in my tank I just put some HEET stuff in it and got up on the interstate and took a long drive. At higher speed you don't notice the sputtering much and you run through the bad gas fairly quick.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Um, take the car to a shop, have them drain the tank and clean it, then take the bill to the gas station.

If your car is only sputtering, you can't have that much water in the gas.

 

[LTC8K6]

Get a can of HEET or DRYGAS. These are specifically designed to deal with water in your fuel. They are alcohol based and heavier than the fuel, so they sink to the botton and mix with the water, allowing it to pass through your fuel filters and be burned in your engine.

They have the added bennie of keeping any water in there from freezing and stopping you dead in the winter.

 

[Colt45]

add half a quart of alcohol

 

[MovingTarget]

Yeah, you guys are right. The gas treatment isnt' enough. Still looking for the HEET. I'll try a few more places today when I run a few errands.

 

[cardiac]

Originally posted by: MovingTarget
Yeah, you guys are right. The gas treatment isnt' enough. Still looking for the HEET. I'll try a few more places today when I run a few errands.

Walmart, Autozone, Sears Automotive.....any of those.

Bob

 

[herm0016]

make sure you change your fuel filter when this is all done.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Originally posted by: herm0016
make sure you change your fuel filter when this is all done.

why would water hurt it?

 

[herm0016]

water will get built up in it and will freeze, breaking it open and creating a leak. and/or create a filter that does not let enough fuel through to run the car at higher rpms. Most filters are made to take out a small amount of moisture and will clog if presented with a lot of water.

 

[LTC8K6]

The HEET will take care of the water in the filter as well.

 

[Killrose]

Years ago I had a Chevy Luv truck that had water in the gas. It sputtered on take off and would not idle well, not bad, just not right. Anyway's, I used STP gas treatment to get it cleared up, Heet for some reason would not do it. I also found out that you dont buy an STP bottle made for a 21gal tank and pour it into a tank with under 10gal in it. I tends to run pretty crappy. The problem was reacurring due to a pin hole at the top of the tank. It made a perfect test bed for trial on fuel additives.

Heet on the other hand is the better of the two in cold climates around 20F and below. STP is not a gas line anti freeze additive like heet. STP seems to actualy allow the contaminated fuel/water mixture to pass thru low speed and idle curcuits better and I always recommend it over Heet because of this.

To the OP:
If you are going to continue to try and get by on this problem with-out removing the tank and having it drained AND dried out, not just drained, then I would recommend STP before winter hits and then continue using Heet thru the winter months. Provided of course STP works for your proplem, but if you live in a cold climate get it done soon or you will not be able to drive your car when it hits about 20F or so.

 

[TitanDiddly]

That doesn't sound too bad. This happened to my friend's van once, we ended up having to push it. It was a really bad case, lots of water in the gas. The tank was about half full, and fortunately we stalled not too far (maybe 200 yards) from a gas station. We had to push it to turn it around (really hard at full lock) and we managed to get it started and back to the station, though it wouldn't go over 1500RPM at WOT, and sputtered really badly. The gas station didn't have HEET or anything(Texas in the summer, gas line antifreeze not needed) so he bought a bottle of rubbing alcohol and poured that in the tank, then filled up. That took care of the problem.

Your case doesn't sound that bad. If normal HEET doesn't do the trick for you, go to Home Depot and buy a gallon of high-concentration isopropyl alcohol and dump that in the tank. Adding alcohol(like HEET) works because alcohol is miscible with water(unlike gasoline) and will actually bring the water into solution in the gas, which lets it go through the engine without stalling it. A gallon of isopropyl won't cost too much, and will be more than enough to take care of any water in your tank.

 

[MovingTarget]

Got the tank down to less than a quarter full and refilled with a bottle of HEET. Running a lot better now. Had a minor loss of power this morning, but it didn't "sputter". It was able to recover quite easily. Guess it is just working out the last of the water in the system. I'll follow up using more additive with my next tank, but it seems like it will be taken care of by then.

To Killrose: I live in Alabama, so it rarely gets below 20F. It will in the dead of winter, but for no more than a week. I just moved to Tuscaloosa from Mobile, which is known for its humidity. If I get any more trouble by the time I fill my tank again, I'll dry it out when it goes empty again. Problem is that I put a lot of miles on my car, so finding time to do that is somewhat of a problem. I'll see what I can work out. Thanks for the advice though.