Fueling up one’s vehicle is typically an uneventful activity — but that isn’t the case for a handful of auto owners who recently bought gas at a southeast Edmonton station.
Several drivers had their vehicles die — some, within minutes of stopping at a gas station in the Summerside area.
They all fuelled up at the Esso gas station and Circle K convenience store at the corner of Ellerslie Road and Summerside Drive over the past 24 hours, and said shortly afterwards, their vehicles stopped running.
Global News spoke to four owners on Wednesday and as of publishing, had received messages from more with similar stories.
“I’m so pissed off right now,” said Almira Acla, whose son’s car stopped working shortly after he fuelled up at the gas station at 8403 Ellerslie Rd.
He managed to limp the car to a parking lot where Acla said her son encountered another driver in the same situation.
“They were thinking there’s water in the fuel or something like that,” she said, explaining the car would run for a bit, and then die. “We don’t know what really happened but they were thinking something (was) wrong, because it’s the same issue. It’s just stopped right away.”
Drivers wondered if it was bad gas and word quickly spread in a Summerside community Facebook group. That’s where resident Emily Kucher first heard about the issues.
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“Cars isn’t starting, cars shuddering when starting, lots of people like, dead on the drive coming home, lots of people filled up last night and are now dead this morning,” Kucher said.
She was at home scrolling her phone Wednesday morning when she came across the post and saw comments from several people she knew, indicating the issue began Tuesday night.
“An acquaintance filled up last night and her husband’s car didn’t start this morning,” Kucher said. “They went to their mechanic and it looks like the gas is cut with water somehow — so whether it was contaminated, we don’t know.”
Kucher texted her husband, warning not to fuel up at the neighbourhood Esso on the way home — but was too late.
“He responded, ‘Well, what do you mean? Cause I just left there.’ And I was, like, ‘Well that’s not good.'”
Their car broke down a block from home.
“He stopped at the stop sign and tried to move forward and the whole thing just kind of shuddered and gave up.”
Kucher said it’s thrown a frustrating wrench in their lives and calls to the gas station has not yielded any answers so far.
“It’s not going to be cheap to get this fixed. We have a baby, we’re very busy, we need the second car for my husband’s work and stuff like that, so yeah — super inconvenient, super frustrating.”
A service manager at Kross Mitsubishi in south Edmonton said as of Wednesday afternoon, five vehicles whose drivers say they fueled up at the Esso were brought to the dealership to be fixed, and two more were on the way.
The dealership said it took fuel samples from the gas tanks and all showed clear signs of separation. The dealership said there appeared to be a significant amount of water in the mix, making up as much as half of the sample.
One of the customers who had their vehicle towed to the dealership told Global News his repair quote is about $2,000.
Water in a gas tank is a serious problem, according to auto experts. It disrupts the internal combustion process and when mixed with gasoline, can create a corrosive mixture damaging to various components of the fuel system, resulting in poor engine performance, reduced fuel efficiency, and even engine failure.
Global News reached out to Couche-Tard, which owns Circle K, who said it was “aware of a small number of customer concerns” related to the Summerside Esso location and the retailer was taking the matter seriously.
“We have not identified any confirmed issues with the fuel supply. That said, we are continuing to review the situation and are working with the appropriate partners to ensure everything meets our quality and safety standards,” said a statement from Couche-Tard media relations.
Global News reached out to Imperial Oil about the situation. The oil corporation said it sold of all its retail sites in 2016 to third-party companies like Couche-Tard, 7-Eleven and other retailers and now only sells fuel (branded and unbranded) to wholesalers across the country.
The pumps at the gas station were closed Wednesday afternoon and a fuel pump maintenance company was on site.
A manager at the Esso station wouldn’t give an interview but told Global News off-camera the station monitors for water in their fuel tanks and no alarms have gone off recently.
“As part of our standard procedures, fuel quality is closely monitored, and we have initiated additional checks at the site to verify the integrity of the fuel system,” Couche-Tard said.
Couche-Tard said affected customers should contact its customer service team.
This happened to many vehicles in Westlock as well. It was at a Mobil gas station. Lots of folks are having issues with Exxon and Insurance. Might want to reach out to the Westlock community, as it may be related.
PS: Did NOT happen to me.
Somesingh shady happening here.
Wow the gas station should get their head out of their ass. This happened recently at another gas station in Ontario and the operator immediately closed the pumps and told everyone they would cover the service to vehicles.
And how about that, the exact same thing happened to a bunch of people on the other side of the country, and now it happened in the west of Canada, and here people might think it’s racism to call it out, but a criminal is a criminal, doesn’t matter if the person is from usa, China, India, do something illegal, you should be punished by law.
Now I wonder what will happen in this situation, will the guy just get a slap on the wrist? Will they face jail time? Deportation if they are here illegally or commit any crime within 10 years of coming to Canada.
You only put up with what you’re okay with, and no one should be okay with this
The ESSO service station owners (more than likely immigrants) deliberately add water to the gas to offset the higher costs. A Canadian would not do such a thing. That’s the price we pay for our negligent Canadian immigration policies and practices.
They are adding water to gasoline which is absorbed by the ethanol.
Uncut gasoline will not mix with water ,it remains separated, water settles below as the fuel floats on top. But ethanol is hydroscopic and aids in absorption until you add too much water.
Just yet another greasy tactic.
There is enough evidence to hold the station liable for damages and the affected customers should receive additional compensation as well.
A boycott of the station should take place.
Hit them hard !!!
Ya,The fuel truck driver didn’t put the cap back on the fuel inlet after filling the tanks.Lots of runoff from spring filled the underground tanks with water.
Vehicle owners should sue this place out of business!
Hard to prove, but I have heard many independent stations add just enough water to the gas not to be really noticeable to drivers, but the stations make extra $$.
Another gas station with watered down gas? The possibility of leaks are nearly impossible, those underground tanks are double walled and vacuum monitored. My guess is a bunch of Indians started spreading around a scam on their whatsapp groupchats. The culprit is likely the driver (Indian) who steals gas and fills it with water to make weight.
Vehicle security seems to be at fault. When was gas caps noticed to be tampered with.All check truck stops an unloading of vehicle’s from staging out of province points
80% water
Apr 7, an Esso station in Elmvale, Ont. made the news for contamination too.
I can’t believe there’s people out there that can afford to buy gas. Must have won some kind of lottery
You’ll find the owners watered it down for more profit but got too greedy.
Filled up there yesterday. Within minutes my car died. $900 repair bill.
My son filled up there and his vehicle is broken down too.
Bad gas