need advice urgently

[Lex]

it would be nice to take my car to mexico from melbourne if anyone knows the way

Put it on a ship at Port Melbourne?

 

[figjam]

People from nsw used to refer to Victorians as mexicans?

Still do.
What do QLDers call NSWelshmen ? (be polite).

 

[EricSSV]

Have you bought fuel at United? They are the worst for bad fuel. It would come on pretty quick if you have bad petrol you won't get 4km down the road before it would play up.
If it is contaminated fuel you will really need a tax invoice from the place of purchase and lodge a claim through your insurance Co. It's a pretty big job to remove the tank and dump the old fuel. Without a tax invoice you may struggle to have your claim approved and accepted by the petrol Co.

When I had a GU Patrol I had a fuel filter and water separator on it. It showed how bad the diesel was at my united.
My Tuners for my previous cars and 4wd always said stick with the big fuel brands like BP and Shell that have a big turn over of fuel.
Cheap sometimes cost more.

 

[Skylarking]

annoyingly it was at a servo nowhere near home around 60 ish kms away and i’ve never been there before so who knows

i’ve got a mates car for the moment so i reckon i’ll try and see if the metho works tomorrow and all fingers crossed,

Give the servo a call and tell them your car died w kms after filling up x litres at their bowser number y on z Jan 2023 due to fuel contamination (all this stuff critical stuff is on the receipt which is why you should always keep fuel receipts).

If you’re lucky, others will also have suffered contamination and reported it and the seller may even acknowledge the problem and accept liability (but probably not as they don’t like sharing such info). In any case there are claims processes you can follow (either through the petrol company or your insurance (I took the malicious damage route through my insurance with no excess charged since I identified the at fault party)).

If it’s water, almost certainly it will contain leaf and dirt matter and sooner or later your in tank fuel filter will clog up from that as metho can’t fix such things and you’d be back to an expensive tank drop fix… How quickly depends on how much crud…

So better to look into it fully and not just kick the can down the road hoping all will be ok. Dropping the tank and cleaning it will likely be upwards of $1K so best to have a fuel sample taken from near the bottom of the tank (using a thin tube down the filler nozzle) and assess the fuel condition and check DTC‘s for misfire as a first step… Get a mechanics report will help with any claim (be it from the fuel seller or your insurance). Such shouldn’t cost much (< 1hr labour really).

If it’s just a little clean water, metho may help but if it’s water with rotting leaf matter and such that’s got past the bowser filter (yes it happens and is likely), metho probably won’t help in the long term because all that crud will end up clogging the in tank filter and you’ll have problems down the line making any later claim impossible.

In one car I have, flipping the rear seat exposes a fuel pump access hatch so pulling out the fuel pump to look into the tank takes just 5 minutes. So it’s easy to check the fuel condition for water, rotting leaf matter and and stratification of the fuel. And just another 5 minutes to take the injectors out ready for cleaning makes it a relatively simple thing to fix. How do I know this, well after my second fuel contamination case I didn’t want to pay $900 for a mechanic to do similar and then me have to go the insurance claim route again (was just easier and quicker to DIY and pump out some of the old fuel and clean the injectors).…

But on the commodore, doing such isn't so easy… If I ever suffer fuel contamination in the commodore and the tank needs to come out, I’ll be having the mechanic installing a fuel pump access hatch under the rear seat.

So best to look into it fully and not hope. But if hope is your way, at least take a 5 ltr sample out of the bottom of the tank and put it into a new can before you throw in any metho or such into the vehicle tank (and doing that will clarify how much of a fuel contamination problem you have)… That way you have a sample to fall back on should you still have issues post metho fix…

 

[Forg]

I'm wondering if he means "mexican" as in south of the border. @Forg is from nsw. People from nsw used to refer to Victorians as mexicans?

They are Mexicans, there’s no “refer to” involved here …

Still do.
What do QLDers call NSWelshmen ? (be polite).

Poindexters? Brainiacs? Hoity-toity-over-80-IQ-pointers?

it would be nice to take my car to mexico from melbourne if anyone knows the way

Easy-peasy, already there!

 

[Commo64]

it would be nice to take my car to mexico from melbourne if anyone knows the way

There's always Frankston, Dandenong, etc...

 

[Commo64]

I'm wondering if he means "mexican" as in south of the border. @Forg is from nsw. People from nsw used to refer to Victorians as mexicans?

Maybe... Us Victorians love crossing borders during lockdowns lol

 

[_R_J_K_]

OP, wouldn't lean too hard on the contaminated fuel yet in terms of trying to bug the servo, fuel contamination was just the first post suggestion that people seem to have gotten carried away with - filling up is a pretty common occurrence (at least in relation to actual time spent driving) so there are somewhat good odds that problems you have will be in proximity to filling up. Stick a litre or two of metho in the tank by all means though, it's not a wives tale, but I've had symptoms like this for stuff like failing alternators and loom problems.

If you don't have the time, tools, or knowledge to know where to start trouble shooting, take it somewhere, otherwise you're just shooting in the dark. Try to go to a "regular" mechanic based on reputation, and don't take it to a performance shop, they're either one of three things:
1. Actually good, and therefore usually booked out or really expensive
2. "Qualified" bogans/derros who really like burnouts and think opening their own shop means they know stuff (but don't know anything)
3. Will turn their noses up at working on a meager V6

Most mechanics aren't out there to rip you off, but there are a lot who will just throw the parts bin at it (including Holden dealers) instead of making an actual diagnosis which is where you will pay.

 

[Soruy]

i’ve read every single reply here and tried my best to follow along so here’s what i’ve done and here’s what’s happened

what’s been done is i drained the fuel in the fuel tank but couldn’t get it below 1/4 no matter what i tried, (it was a PITA) but nevertheless i continued, i put 1/4 98 premium in with some fuel injector cleaner and a bit of fuel doctor, let it run for a bit

here’s what’s happened, after that was down i went for a drive around the block to try and burn some of the bad fuel (it seems to be the case) and with HOPE it started running BETTER, is it back to normal…. no, does it still have a bit of bad fuel.. yes, do i need to drive the bad fuel off and then get myself a full tank of premium… i reckon

correct me if i’m wrong pls and thank you

 

[figjam]

If it still runs like a hairy goat, and you suspect contaminated fuel, try one of those companies that 'rescue' drivers who fill their diesel fuelled cars with petrol. They seem to be able to drain the tank with a suction hose .......... I think.

https://www.wrongfuelrescue.com.au/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-9Kqm9zm_AIVDjUrCh1_NA9wEAAYAyAAEgKk0vD_BwE