From preventative maintenance to serious vehicle repairs, our Tempe auto repair shop offers quality communicative service and advanced technology to give you the very best work that your vehicle deserves. One of our goals is to prevent serious and expensive auto repairs through our regular service interval schedules, but as some drivers in Palm Beach Gardens recently found out, sometimes the reasons for auto repairs are not within customer’s control. Bad gasoline, here and also found in other parts of the country, has left drivers with serious repairs – and serious repair bills. Although many of these consumers have reported this bad gasoline and fought for their repairs to be covered, here in the Tempe area, we recommend you bring us your vehicle no matter the reason or the repair.

According to a recent article from WPTV, bad gasoline at a 7-11 station has caused drivers quite the headache. A spokeswoman for the 7-11 station where suspected substandard gas was sold told News Channel 5 that the problem was caused by tiny pinholes in the tanks. Through these tiny holes, brine was able to leak into the gasoline. Complaints about the gasoline went straight to the State of Florida. Until further test take place, the gas will not be sold from those pumps at this 7-11 location. According to the article, “The reports of the substandard gas came days after the Contact 5 Investigators discovered pumps at 14 area gas stations were shut down in 2011 due to bad gas samples. Another 14 have not been inspected in more than a year. Service technicians said repair costs for some of the vehicles damaged by the substandard gasoline would total upwards of $5,000.” The owner of the gas station has referred customers to an insurance claims agent to cover the cost of some of the repairs due to the bad gasoline.

Bad gasoline is nothing to joke about. A common symptom of bad gas is engine pinging, or knocking, which typically happens as the result of poor or incomplete engine combustion. Bad gasoline, which is a term used to refer to gasoline that has a high water content or insufficient octane, does not ignite and burn inside the engine cylinders as well as high quality gasoline. This causes engine pinging, especially under acceleration when improper engine combustion becomes more pronounced.  More specifically, the two types of bad gas you should be most concerned with are gas without the advertised amount of octane rating like that mentioned above to prevent engine-damaging combustion, and gas without adequate amounts of dispersant-detergent additives to keep fuel injectors, intake valves, and combustion chambers clean. The damage to engines is costly and dangerous. Visit our Tempe auto repair location at the first sign or symptom of bad gas. To read more from this article, click here.