Gasoline containing a significant amount of water has been pulled from the fuel tanks of numerous vehicles towed to repair shops all around the Edmonton region, after they broke down shortly upon being fuelled up at the same southside gas station.
“What we’ve been finding — at least from the vehicles that have been towed in — is water contamination in the fuel,” said Michael Bauman, owner of Mike the Mechanic.
Water in a gas tank is a serious problem, according to auto experts.
“You have moisture in the engine, so it almost works against the ignition side of the engine,” Bauman said.
“The fuel does not combust.”
In addition to disrupting the internal combustion process, when water is mixed with gasoline it can create a corrosive mixture damaging to various components of the fuel system, resulting in poor engine performance, reduced fuel efficiency, and even engine failure.
The independent auto shop in south Edmonton said it received many calls on Wednesday and Thursday from drivers whose vehicles were stalling, running rough or not starting at all after stopping for gas in the Summerside area.
The drivers fuelled up at the Esso gas station and Circle K convenience store at the corner of Ellerslie Road and Summerside Drive between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and said shortly afterwards, their vehicles stopped running.
Brock Stewart was one of those unfortunate owners.
“My wife borrowed my car to go to work, she filled up and didn’t make it more than a couple blocks and car stalled and wouldn’t restart,” he said.
Thankfully he’s a motorcycle mechanic and decided to troubleshoot at home after hearing there were issues with fuel from the station in the area.
Stewart said he drained their vehicle’s gas tank and noticed right away something was off with the gas.
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“Once I filled up the buckets and I could see the different colours and textures,” he said. As the fuel was siphoned out, the colours changed from yellow to clear.
“I spent about three hours last night in the cold snow, draining the tank and putting some fresh fuel in,” Stewart said. “Started right up as soon as I did that.”
Gas with suspected water contamination that was syphoned from the fuel tank of Brock Stewart’s vehicle.
Courtesy: Brock Stewart
It’s not a common occurrence, according Stewart and Bauman.
“It’s quite rare. This is one of the first times I’ve heard it, actually,” Bauman said.
“I’ve been a mechanic for over 20 years and I would say maybe a handful of times, maybe three or four,” Stewart said, adding he’s grateful his professional knowledge saved the day. “If we had to take it to a shop, it could’ve been days that she was without a vehicle.”
Not all were as lucky. Global News called around to several different mechanics and auto dealership service departments in the Edmonton area on Thursday to get a sense of how many drivers may have been affected by gas issues.
All were aware of the issue and most had vehicles in for repairs. Some only had a couple vehicles in the shop but one dealership just off Ellerslie Road said they had nine vehicles.
The overall number of vehicles affected is not known but of the seven businesses who confirmed they were dealing with vehicles that gassed up at the Summerside Esso, they’ve collectively already repaired or are in the process of fixing over two dozen different vehicles.
One dealership who took fuel samples from the gas tanks said they showed clear signs of separation, and estimated there was about 20 per cent fuel in the mix, and the remaining 80 per cent was water.
Gas with suspected water contamination that was syphoned from the tank of a vehicle that fuelled up at the Summerside Esso.
Supplied to Global News
The fix costs over $1,000, Bauman said, depending on how quickly it is detected after a fuel-up.
“Generally if you catch it quick it enough, you could siphon it out, fill up the tank with premium fuel, cycle it out,” he said. The vehicles at his shop will have their tanks removed, drained, cleaned as much as possible to rinse any contaminants out, and flushed with premium fuel.
It’s a fix that will run a driver over $1,000.
As for who pays that bill, the Insurance Bureau Of Canada says it depends on the driver’s policy and if it can be proved there is damage because of fuel contamination.
“The driver’s insurance might pay the claim and then subrogate against the gas bar,” said Anne Marie Thomas with Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Word of the bad gas issue has reached the Alberta legislature.
“We’ve heard from customers about what’s been going on,” Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally said on Thursday.
The province is directing drivers to report the incidents so it can start an investigation.
“We’ve been encouraging them to reach out to the consumer protection unit because that’s the first avenue that they have to go,” Nally said.
The pumps at the Esso station were shut down Wednesday afternoon and remained closed Thursday, as a Hydrovac truck and fuel pump maintenance company worked on site.
A manager at the Esso station wouldn’t give an interview but told Global News off-camera on Wednesday the station monitors for water in their fuel tanks and no alarms have gone off recently.
Couche-Tard, which owns Circle K, did not reply to Global News’ request for an update on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Quebec-based multinational convenience store corporation said it was “aware of a small number of customer concerns” related to the Summerside Esso location and at that time, it had not identified any confirmed issues with the fuel supply.
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