Ugh…Case of Bad Gas
May 16, 2007 – 9:36 pm by Matt Radel
Filed under Volkswagen Golf
Watch the gas you put in your ride kiddies…it does make a difference!
I made a trip up to Kent, Ohio this past weekend. The Golf performed wonderfully as usual, getting 30+ miles to the gallon.
At the conclusion of my stay, the buddy I drove up with offered to fill my tank for the trip home as a thank you for driving. There was a Sunoco right by our hotel, so we went for it. Even though I feed my baby a steady diet of BP & Shell, I figured that Sunoco would cut the mustard just fine. Once I had a missed start at a rest stop just outside of Columbus (a good hour and forty-five minutes south of Kent) I realized that I might be wrong.
And over the following forty-eight hours I continued to miss starts. I started to have rough idling. And finally, as I got down to the last quarter of the tank, my gas cap light came on (I didn’t even know there was such a light). After talking to Tekmassa, we agreed that bad gas had to be the culprit, and I ran to BP right away. After a few starts, she was purring like usual again.
So let that be a lesson to ya folks. If you’re having any of the symptoms I described, try running to the closest Shell or BP (if you don’t normally go there of course) and running a tank of good gas through your ride. Of course bad gas can pop up anywhere, but to my recollection I’ve never had a problem at either of these places.
Side Notes:
Oh, and one side note for Ohioans – you can make it cross state in one tank of gas if you roll in a Golf or similar sized vehicle. Kinda nice to know with the summer driving season upon us and the current state of gas prices.
For you folks rollin’ around with a burnt out headlight – stay tuned this week for a how to on replacing that bad bulb. We might be able to save you about sixty bucks!
Ugh…Case of Bad Gas
May 16, 2007 – 9:36 pm by Matt Radel
m.
was wondering what you were driving but checked the home page.. people say gas is gas but it isn’t. It can cause all kinds of crap! Even dealers are known to tell owners to drop regular in their 1.8T’s. grrrrr!
Drop some Techron in the tank, at empty. Then fill with mid grade or even a few $ of premium.
Take on highway and drive it like you stole it! ;)
Re: the last comment
When I was looking at a 1.8T at a dealership, I was specifically told that I could run regular in it. My parent’s Passat 1.8T seems to run alright that way, but they’re not exactly pushing the envelope with it either.
Personally, I only run premium in my VR6, even if the owner’s manual says that it’ll run on regular. It’s my first car, so I’d like to treat it well.
Actually, my girlfiend runs regular in her 1.8T Jetta and hasn’t had a single problem. But yeah, you really should put premium in a VR6 (which sucks right now).
On my VR, the gas lid says min. 91 octane. Add on the fact that my chip requires 93+, and I’m really hurtin these days. No matter what engine (performance or base), if you get some bad gas you’re gonna see some weird behavior. Boo-urns to all the ghetto gas stations out there, who knows what their mixing in their fuel to get a few extra pennies from us.