Bad Gas Causes NJ Drivers to Break Down

Evening commutes are already painful, but a few dozen motorists in NJ had a terrible night when their cars broke down because they filled up with some bad gas. Apparently some Lukoil stations got a "shipment of bad gas," forcing drivers to pull onto the shoulder of the Garden State Parkway and Palisades Interstate Parkway.

The shipments were made to a rest area in Bloomfield and another gas station in Fort Lee. One woman, driving a group of kids, said, "A lot of cars were disabled immediately after filling up, and we were one of them."

One Bronx residents who works at a NJ library told the Star-Ledger she went to the Lukoil on the Parkway to top off her tank because its gas was just $3.10, "much cheaper than the $3.50 to $3.60 she pays in the city." Now Daphne Bishop-Brown regrets it, "I could have definitely made it home and back. It wasn't worth the extra pennies. I'm frustrated and tired after working all day."

Some motorists waited hours before getting their cars towed. Lukoil says they are responsible and will pay for affected drivers' car repairs.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on April 18, 2008 8:24 AM

Comments [rss]

slburnham

I own an Exxon Station. My tanks have sensors that shut me down if they detect ANY water.

Just shows how Lukoil is trying to rip us off!!!

My son's car had $1600 worth of damage after buying gas at a Lukoil in South Jersey. Let's see how easy it is to get reimbursed!

ed_Extinct

tip of the ice berg... wait until gas reaches the $4 mark... water and dirt = cheap faux gas.

zodak

i want to apologize to all the motorists. i had some bad burritos for dinner that night.

Rocknrope

^^^ Yeah, because every place is accessible by train.

JMH

Here's an idea: Take a train and stop giving OPEC all your money.

avatar77

"One Bronx residents"

Oops! Guess it wouldn't be a Jen Chung story without a typo, would it?

KhuntienNang

#6: ROFL. i didn't notice that until you mentioned it. LOL.

wowthatsucks

Gas only comes from a handful of refineries. It's the additive packages/detergents added to the gas which makes the brands different. Basically, as the ABC story & #5 points out, gas is gas.

GM

Regardless of what the abc article might make you believe, even though the EPA has minimum requirements for detergents (detergents keep your injectors clean and so help exhaust emissions) all gas is not exactly the same. Yes, it all comes out of the same refineries, but then the different brands add their own additive packs. For example, it was found that cheap walmart gas was causing earlier engine breakdown in cars because it didn't have these additives at all.

Shell had to settle with some car owners (I think it was limited to mercedez benz) over their additives causing gum to form in their fuel pumps.

Anyway, people going to Lukoil had it coming to them. Bad karma and all.

KinoSport

Ah, that's a terrific headline.

Politburo

The ABC story is correct. It's an open secret in the oil industry that all regular gas is the same.

Discount stations tend to have older storage tanks that can allow water to get into the gas, which is why I tend to avoid them (or any brand-name station that looks older). However it seems like in this case that the contamination occurred between the distribution terminal and the service station.

matty

Lukoil is a Russian company so I am not surprised it is an inferior product.

robingee

I didn't think Lukoil was a no-name gas company. Didn't they buy out Gulf or something?

Rocknrope

I knew it! I get made fun of every time I pass by some generic fuel jockey in favor of a Hess or Exxon.

So much for this story:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Consumer/story?id=1261790