Hundreds of Coloradans are facing unexpected and costly car troubles after a fuel supplier distributed contaminated gas to 46 stations across the Front Range, from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs.
Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment, which includes the Division of Oil and Public Safety, received more than 600 complaints from customers who bought gas contaminated with diesel that was delivered from an HR Sinclair terminal in Henderson on Jan. 8-9.
Sinclair officials this week apologized and said they are investigating how the problem happened – which was not enough to ward off a proposed class action lawsuit filed by Littleton resident Ryan Mahon, who purchased 28 gallons for his Toyota Tundra from the Costco gas station in Englewood on Jan. 8.
Kyle O’Brien, another metro-Denver driver affected by the contaminated fuel, got gas at the Costco near his home in Westminster early Jan. 8 before driving his truck to work in Commerce City.
“I got to work just fine and went to leave at 4 (p.m.) and it started really weak,” O’Brien said. “When I went to put it in drive, the engine just shut off.”
O’Brien tried to figure out what was wrong by looking under the hood and checking the battery. He tried starting the truck again to find it was idling “wonky,” so he cleaned the throttle body, which seemed to help a little, and drove home.
He made it back to Westminster after dealing with poor acceleration and more weird idling and tried to clean the mass air flow sensor before he called it a night. That’s when he saw news articles reporting the rash of contaminated gas across metro Denver.
“I couldn’t help but laugh because at least itap not something serious,” O’Brien said. “Itap not great, but at least the engine doesn’t need to be replaced.”
O’Brien had his car towed to a shop near Costco and went to speak with a manager at the warehouse store, who immediately started working on his case. Costco is reimbursing his expenses – about $1,300 to drain and clean his truck’s tank and fuel line — but he had to pay for the up-front cost out of his own pocket.
O’Brien added he’s impressed by how Costco has handled the situation and that the company has been on top of taking care of affected customers.
“I feel bad for people who just got it from a random gas station,” O’Brien said.
Repair technicians at Toy Doctor Auto Repair have worked on at least four vehicles damaged by the contaminated gas, general manager Rachel Inslee said.
The severity of the damage usually depends on how much of the tainted gas drivers pumped, Inslee said. If it was just a top-off, technicians may need only to drain the gas and clean the fuel injection system.
In other cases, vehicles needed a new fuel pump or other parts that had to be ordered, she said. Repairs are running from $1,000 to $3,000 per vehicle.
“The only other time I’ve seen this is when someone accidentally does it themselves, and they know right away, so they don’t start it,” Inslee said. “This is definitely the first time I’ve seen the extent of what diesel can do to a gas engine. It’s a very unusual, crazy thing to happen.”
Repair shops have fielded a lot of calls from folks worried they might have filled up with contaminated gas, to which Inslee responds — they would know if they had.
Vehicles filled with diesel-tainted gasoline will run very rough, stall and eventually stop running altogether, she said. One customer reported black smoke coming out of the exhaust, and the check engine light will likely come on or flash.
Dealing with repairs because of the contaminated gas? Share your story with The Denver Post by contacting reporter Katie Langford at klangford@denverpost.com.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
