Contaminated Fuel In Tank?

[KatieDuff]

I have just filled my C3 1.4 (54 plate) with unleaded petrol at my local Sainsburys. After driving about 20 miles the engine started to chug, the exhaust started popping and the car lost all power, by the time I was on my drive it just cut out altogether.

 

My boyfriend has a bit of mechanical knowledge and says he thinks it's the fuel causing the cylinders to misfire and causing a problem. I was just wondering whether anyone else has had this problem and knows whether the fuel will have caused it.

 

I can't get it fixed as my 'roadside' policy doesn't cover my house so I'm just trying to self diagnose before calling Citroen about it.

Cheers

[Guest Colin Hunter]

Hi Katie

 

Sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings, but it is most definitely the fact that you have mis-fuelled your car that has caused the problem. Modern diesels do not take kindly to being mis-fuelled and I'm surprised you got as far as you did. These things are a bit of a mine field I'm afraid. With an old type "mechanical" diesel you would just hav had to drain off the tank, bleed the system through and she'd probably have been fine. However, the components on modern engines don't take kindly to having the wrong stuff put through them, and the injectors and pressure pump may now be beyond redemption. I have heard that some cars have been written off because it's too expensive to repair them after such an event. If you didn't put too much petrol in the existing Diesel when you topped up you may have got away with it though.

 

Sorry to ruin your day. Hope I'm wrong on this! ;)

[seefive]

Hi Katie

 

Sorry to be the bringer of bad tidings, but it is most definitely the fact that you have mis-fuelled your car that has caused the problem. Modern diesels do not take kindly to being mis-fuelled and I'm surprised you got as far as you did.

 

Aren't we talking about a petrol car here? Return of the dreaded supermarket fuel maybe?

[Guest Colin Hunter]

You're right! She didn't say it was diesel! just that it was a 1.4. I'm afraid I'm so Deisel orientated I just assumed it was and that was the problem. Teach me not to read between the lines! Where I live there are no supermarkets that sell fuel so we're stuck with BP at about £1.30 for petrol £1.47 for diesel. Given my experiences with Supermarket fuel last summer on the mainland I would be very loath to try it again.I got at least 4 MPG less on Supermarket diesel than on Shell or BP! It wasn't that much cheaper either.

 

Sorry for the boob! :lol:

[raveydavey]

Please don't take offence but are you sure you didn't put the wrong fuel in? It is scarily easy to do (I've had the wrong nozzle ready to go and only just noticed in time before today!). Check your receipt if you got one, it should say what fuel you pumped (or you could work it out from the price per litre).

 

On a 54 plate you'll be out of warranty, so it could well be cheaper for you to take your car to an independant specialist, rather than a Citroen dealer. Word of mouth is almost always the best recommendation.

 

If it is fuel contamination, you MIGHT be covered on your car insurance, although it will count as a claim and you will have to pay whatever your policy "accident" excess is. Speak to your insurance company for advice.

 

It will hopefully be as simple as draining the tank, flushing the system through and renewing fuel filters etc. This could be as cheap as £100 or so. Plus recovery to the garage if needed.

A dealer may well try to claim that the fuel lines or injectors or even catalyst needs replacing and start talking silly money. As always, do the basics and then see where you are before committing to massive expense. Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion, or for something to be explained if things aren't clear.

 

If you think the filling station are at fault, keep the receipt and get a sample of the drained fuel kept in case you need to get it analysed (although this won't be cheap). It might be worth getting in touch with the local media if you suspect contaminated fuel as if this is the case it's unlikely that there will only be you suffering a breakdown and it will strengthen your case if you can combine with others.

[paul.h]

It could be a fuel injector problem, was it raining on the day ? 2 of the injectors on our C3 1.4 petrol failed and that only just ran enough to get it to the dealer where they could diagnose the problem. The engine light also came on. This is a common problem and there are posts on this on the C3 forum.

[stimulator]

Sorry to hear your woe. How far is the distance from home on the roadside if it's 1/2 mile push it that far and then call them out.

[Robb]

I have just filled my C3 1.4 (54 plate) with unleaded petrol at my local Sainsburys. After driving about 20 miles the engine started to chug, the exhaust started popping and the car lost all power, by the time I was on my drive it just cut out altogether.

 

My boyfriend has a bit of mechanical knowledge and says he thinks it's the fuel causing the cylinders to misfire and causing a problem. I was just wondering whether anyone else has had this problem and knows whether the fuel will have caused it.

 

I can't get it fixed as my 'roadside' policy doesn't cover my house so I'm just trying to self diagnose before calling Citroen about it.

Cheers

 

Hi Katie

 

My C3 1.4 did exactly the same today, it was running fine and then just cut out. I managed to get it started again, but it was misfiring, chugging and there was no power. I was facing uphill and the car did not have enough power to continue up the hill.

 

I eventually managed to limp it home, and the RAC have been and it was the coil pack. There was no engine management light on the dash and when the RAC checked no fault code.

 

I had a similar problem when the car was 18 months old, that time it was one of the fuel injectors and the engine management light came on. It happened straight after I refueled it, but I think that's a coincidence (also in your case).

 

The coil pack cost £85.95 and the injectors are around £70 +Vat (not from Citroen).

 

Hope this helps