Warning After Water in Gas Reported
This video is no longer available.
SAVANNAH, Tenn. – State officials and local mechanics have said reports of water in local gas are on the rise. In fact, state agriculture officials have even red-flagged at least one area gas station after inspectors said their tests found large amounts of water in the station’s holding tanks. Ricky Petty said he noticed something was wrong as soon as he started pumping. “It took anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to pump $23 worth of gas.” Petty admitted he wished he would have stopped putting gas in his tank at that moment. “Then we got in the car and we got nearly to the edge of the road and all of a sudden it started missing, cutting up, and stuff. The farther we got down the road the worse it got.” All of a sudden the car quit running and Petty said he knew exactly why. The pumps at the gas station where Petty fueled up have since been shut down because several inches of water were found in storage tanks. “Typically if you have water in fuel, of course cars are not made to run on water by an means, so it can damage the injectors, therefore can cause a very expensive fix,” said King Tire owner, Chris King. King added that it can cost anywhere from $400-$900 to fix a car that has had water in its gas, depending on how much damage it does to engine and injectors. King said sometimes you can fix the problem with a simple fuel treatment, but not always. Gas station owners said if you go to them first, more than likely, they will fix the problem at no cost to you. “I don’t think it would be anything done on purpose. Probably the wholesaler or whoever dropped the fuel in there would be responsible for it,” added King. Mechanics also suggest not always going to the gas station with the cheapest gas all the time, but admit there is really nothing you can do to prevent purchasing gas that has water in it.
