So, a few months ago, Shell oil got busted in my area for cutting its gas with water.
Recently, I filled up my tank at my local station and went out with a bunch of local guys for our Teener Tuesday.
About 20 minutes after the fill up, my car started running rough. Long story short, I cleaned the carbs after I got home and the car ran fine for about a half hour.
When I pulled the carbs back apart, almost all of the jets where pluged again and the carb had water in the bowls. I pumped the rest of the gas out of the tank and had a look inside the tank. Like the B-52's it was rusty. I took a sample of gas and there was about a tablespoon of water in each of the 8 oz. samples that I took. The fuel did not have a pungent smell and frankly smelled a bit like varnish
I do have a filter, but am going to be adding another and probably moving my fuel pump to the front of the car.


Rant: At $4.20 a gallon, the gas stations are pumping thier tanks as dry as possible before they order more gas. Getting the bottom of the stations tank, or worse yet, contaminated fuel so the local station can get a few extra bucks is B.S.
I contacted the vendor and they want me to have my car towed to two seperate places and get quotes to have the car repaired. So, an easy $300 dollars per tow to get that done at my own expense.
So, Now I have rust in the bottom of the tank and will have to get that cleaned, sealed, painted, and put back in.

I really don't like oil company policy. This sucks.

That happened to me about a month ago at a semi-local Mobil station. The car went from running great on the way to work to barely getting my dad and I home afterwards. Once I drained the tank (and saw how much water separated out of the gas) and filled it up everything was better again but that was still $40 down the drain and undue engine hardship. Arg.

You situation with the rusty gas tank is much worse though. That really sucks.

Sorry to tell you this but its probably just a leak.

the tank covers have pretty expensive gasket sets that station owner overlook and try to get away without fixing.

These leak and when it rains water gets in the tank....

Rich

Maybe it is a leak. I am going to turn over some of the gas to our local news station to see if they rate it as Premium and without contamination.
I got a used tank today Thanks Rich! and got it in. Tomorrow I will change out the fuel filter and add another one and fire it back up.

First off.....call the local Weights and Measures enforcement people. They ensure fair measure on the delivery of fuel and purity. They sometimes are a divsion of the Agricutural Department.

THEY...at least if they have any balls....will force the operator to repair your vehicle at YOUR cost.

Second....if your county has a local air quality agency, give them a call. Those seals on top and the water in the ground are supposed to stay out of tanks...and vise versa.

There is a monitor (Veeder Root) that is supposed to detect water and hydrocarbon intrusion inside and out of the tanks and the double wall shell. If they don't respond, call the local County Board of Supervisors....they oversee both agencies....