In his roughly two decades as an auto mechanic, Michael Bauman has never come across an incident like the one that has sent several Edmonton motorists to his shop.
Drivers who fuelled up last week at a south side Circle K Esso station at the corner of Ellerslie Road and Summerside Drive had their vehicles suddenly stop running. Water-contaminated gasoline was the culprit, forcing the motorists to have their vehicles towed for repairs.
“The samples that we’ve been finding, the first one was strictly water, then water and gas,” said Bauman, owner of Mike the Mechanic. “We sampled a full tank, half tank and a last quarter, and in that last quarter, we were getting remnants of diesel, so it’s not very promising.”
Bauman said he’s had four cars come in already, with five more pending.
When he first heard the news, he thought there may have been around 50 vehicle owners affected. But based on the call volume he’s received so far this week and what he’s heard from fellow mechanics, there’s likely a lot more.
‘Presence of water in the system’
Postmedia reached out to Couche-Tard, which owns Circle K, on Saturday by email. The company confirmed the issue was linked to water intrusion into underground storage tanks at the 8403 Ellerslie Rd SW station.
“As soon as we became aware of the situation, we took immediate action, including shutting down the pumps and initiating a thorough investigation,” the company said in an emailed statement.
“Our teams conducted standard checks and continued to monitor the situation. The site was taken offline to allow for further inspection, and subsequent comprehensive testing confirmed the presence of water in the system.”
Disabled gas pumps are shown April 16 at a gas station at 8403 Ellerslie Road SW in Edmonton, following reports of contaminated gas.
Couche-Tard said it has heard from many people who reported problems following a visit to the south Edmonton location. The company said it is supporting affected customers through their claims process, while also continuing to address underlying issues at the site.
“In addition to replacing the affected fuel, we have conducted multiple system cleanings, flushed all lines, upgraded detection components, and completed repairs to the fill well and associated infrastructure. All filters on the pumps have also been replaced,” the statement said.
The company said fuel operation at the location will resume once the system has been fully cleared and validated by an independent third-party technician.
On Friday, Edmonton police confirmed officers are investigating the nature of the incident, and trying to determine whether it’s criminal.
‘Pray for the best’
Bauman said if caught fast enough, depending on the amount of contaminated fuel put into a tank, it could cycle through. But so far he’s come across customers who have damaged fuel pumps and it’s spreading to other areas of the vehicles.
“A lot of newer vehicles have direct (fuel) injection, and there are two pumps (low pressure and high pressure), and we’re finding that they can be compromised because water can rust and corrode components, and that system’s not designed to have moisture in it,” he said.
“If it lingers, it could lead to a very expensive repair bill. The older vehicles are less susceptible to damage because they don’t have that direct injection.”
Bauman said when customers come to his shop with this problem, staff immediately try to get the fluid out as quickly as possible to avoid the possibility of more damage.
“Then we just pray for the best. We’ve had some good luck on some and others that right now are in much worse shape,” said Bauman.
Bauman said some customers have called saying they only put $10 of the contaminated fuel in their vehicle, wondering if they can still drive it.
“If they’re continuously driving it, I’m guessing it’s running pretty rough, but it can be OK if there’s only a little bit of that contaminated fuel in there. But it’s tricky and can be risky,” said Bauman.
Colton William, managing partner and service manager at Kross Mitsubishi, said the incident is a first for him across his 17-year career.
William said many of the customers he’s dealt with filled their vehicles up sometime between April 14 and 15.
“I haven’t seen this at the dealership level. Obviously, I’ve seen contaminated fuel, but not on a scale of multiple cars,” he said.
“In many of the vehicles we’ve serviced, we’re seeing tanks as much as 50 per cent filled with water. The only ones I’m getting with less are people who filled up earlier in the week on Sunday night or Monday morning. They’re like 25 per cent.”
‘More trickling in’
William said most of the work he’s had to do so far has cost customers anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000.
“We’ve had 14 so far, and more are trickling in,” said William.
“We’ve been able to catch the damage pretty early. If the water was in the tank for a long period of time, you can start getting corrosion to the component. We’re basically having to drain the fuel and flush all the lines … remove any carbon and buildup that comes into the fuel system.
“It’s really dependent on the mixture and the ratio that’s in there in terms of how much damage it can cause.”
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