ok guys I just got home...
I want to give you all a heads up on something that might be a potentially bad problem!!!

MOBIL has made my black list...
luckily letting both z100 and mountain creek off the hook.

My friend and I went out saturday to see about the mountain creek thing... deciding to give it a shot. On route 46 in NJ (about a mile form the junction with route 23)... I stopped at a Mobil to get gas. I paid for about 9.5 gallon of 87 octane gas. After less than a mile, my engine started choking and stalling... I quickly pulled over to the side before it died. I tried to crank it again... not knowing what was going on. It started, but felt like it was bouncing up and down and vibrated the whole car (which I'm guessing it what people mean by "knocking"). After knocking for about 20 or so seconds... it died again...

Subsequent attempts at cranking only produced shorter knocks before the engine failed. I checked the manual and tried their procedures for getting the engine started again. No luck...

Not knowing what to do.. I called up my dealer. He said it sounded like bad gas and that there was water in the gas. He mentioned there was an additive I could try, "dry gas". After walking quite a long time to find a place that sold it, I added it to the tank... it seemed to help a little but ultimately no luck. Called the dealer again... he suggested I get in touch with toyota roadside. Called roadside... found out roadside assistance had to have extra coverage

After a lot of walking and getting advice from various people... I finally decided my only option was to get it towed to a nearby toyota dealership.. Unfortunately... after explaining the incident... they explained that if it is bad gas that it was not covered under warrenty... and that repairs could cost as much as up to 1000$.

I could try to sue the Mobil station... but I doubt I'd win... I didn't get a receipt since I paid in cash. but i do have my friend... but that might not hold up. I find out monday what the dealership will say.

Anyhow... I'm avoiding Mobil from now on. I would suggest that you all watch out as well... especially for that station by route 46.

oh my car btw is an 05 xb with less than 6000 miles.

 

you know nothing of fuel and refineries...and the supply for all gas stations in our area come from the same refinery...
exxon, mobil, shell, bp...whatever........
so, its more of avoid that station and not mobil...why on earth do you fuel up at the highway stations...cost more and risky...

you are right, you learned your leson...
(and now start the horror stories from other stations / brands...)

 

Some different "brands" use differnet additives in their fuel. My father's a mechanic at a toyota dealership and he was telling me that they have problems with toyotas and mobile gas. Something about the aditives and messing up pumps/injectors.

 

shrug, I've never had any problems with NY gas.. but my friend in jersey tells me he avoids certain brands b/c he sees which tankers fill that station. He told me he specifically avoids Mobil b/c some times he sees the the tanker, and it has no mobil logo on it (he said something about pacific island gas). Don't know if that means anything to you who knows more about gas than I do...

maybe that gas station was shifty... or maybe they had a leak somewhere. But this is enough to make me quite wary of mobil in the future...

and where would you have suggested I fill up? I live in NY not jersey... do YOU know where to fill up in other states you don't frequent? and at 1.839 per gal.. it was much cheaper than gas in NY

 

As a truck driver, and a long time resident of on of the biggest oil refineries in south Jersey, i can attest to this. One refinery, several different sellers. From the cheap dot-heads to the Mobil, Exxon, and the like. All from the same location, all the same gas.

BTW .... lots of stations dont use their own trucks anymore cause it cheaper to use a service like DANA to deliver. DANA is a green/yellow truck with stainless steal tankers. If you look on the front of the trailers, they actually have a rotating sign that posts where they are delivering to. The sign can change with the flick of the wrist. Its just that easy. Thats not to say that you didnt get a bad batch of fuel from that particular fuel station. It does happen.

 

you said the magic word 'additives'
that means it was added to the gas...

 

Could have just been water in the gas at that ONE station. The one station in my area used to have that problem. Or should i say they used to stretch their gas by adding water to it. They aren't open anymore.

 

dude that sucks i will be sure if i head taht way to watch out

 

I use Mobil all the time, no problems. Just like they said earlier, it's probably just the location you got it at

 

PA doesn't have the water problem anymore since all the gas stations had to get done a couple of years ago... there's a mobil in deptford on the otherhand...

 

Aw, why let reality get in the way of a good rant?

 

Hey I use Mobil or Exon all the time.......the only time I had a problem was when this one Mobil station was moving to a differnet location.........they let the tanks run out and when I when to get gasI was getting all the s**t off the bottom of the tank. Yes it plugged up the fuel filter......good thing I was driving the van that day.....

 

I live in NW NJ (about 5 miles from Mt. Creek) and have used Mobil/Exxon exclusively for 20 years. Never had a problem with the gas. All the NJ dealerships get their gas from the same refinery. You will find some difference with the ownership of the dealerships though. It is highly likely that the dealership has a problem. You could contact the NJ Dept that regulates gas stations or the NJ DEP if you suspect water in the tank.

What is interesting is to follow a gas tanker up RT 23 and watch all the different stops they make at all the different gas stations and brands...as one posted put it "It is all coming from the same refinery."

NJTrout

 

i like taking the wind right out of their sails....

like when people get road rage, 'cause i won't let them pass me...
i finally let them pass and blow them a kiss....(really screws up their mind...)

or if someone starts getting loud with me, i ask them if they just farted...
totally wrecks their thought process and they calm down...

 

and mystic bulk carriers...

 

Are you talking about the station right off of Route 46 in West Paterson. I work right down the road and have used that station for months without a single problem. The only problem I ever ran into with Mobil is that I couldn't get there before I ran out of gas. Speed Pass. For future reference for the area, the Mobil on Route 46 East just before you get onto Route 3 has good gas and cheap prices (as far as Mobil goes). I fnot hit the one up on Route 23 North right after Taco Bell. They are the next best Mobil.
Just my 2 1/2 cents...
sucks though... also make sure the gas cap is on tight... if moisture gets in through a loose cap, that could also be the problem...

 

it was on route 46 going west... and not the west paterson one... I'm willing to believe that it was an isolated incident for that station... but all considering... I'm still avoiding mobil from now on.

And yes I was quite ____ed when I was posting, considering I wasted a whole saturday and it took me till sunday to get home. But the reason I posted was mainly to warn you guys from having the same thing happen. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered.

 

I also wanted to warn you to check your gas cap when it is going to rain/snow/get wet in general...attendants are more to blame for that leakage possibility...happened to my friend...theguy didn't put the cap on right and it just sat there...rain ran right down into it and he choked...
beware idiot attendants!

hope the ride is all better now...

 

So, its been 3 days ... what was the rend result? Was it bad fuel after all?

 

got it yesterday back from jersey. but they didn't give me any paperwork with it. They said they'd send it in the mail. I guess I'll figure it out then. When I asked the guy... he said "don't worry, we got you covered...".

At which point I decided, not to look a gift horse in the mouth and just take my car and leave...

I'm not sure I should post more... otherwise I would give them praise... but I don't want to get anyone in trouble...
I guess I'll figure it out when the paperwork comes in...