Watered-Down Gas Causes Costly Repairs For Minnesota Drivers

There’s a new thing for people in Minnesota to worry about other than what’s at the bottom of all those lakes. CBS News reports that the Minnesota Department of Commerce is putting out a warning to drivers, saying there have been a number of reports of water mixed with fuel at a handful of stations around the state.

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This isn’t just a little bit of water mixed in either – it’s mostly water being pumped into tanks. One driver found out her BMW X3‘s gas tank had been filled with a “mixture” that was nearly 90 percent water. (If you’re wondering… that’s too much water.)

CBS News reports that the BMW X3’s owner filled up with gas at a station about a mile from home. The driver was able to get her car home, where it sat for an hour. Things got catastrophically bad when her husband went to run some errands. The X3 died about 100 yards away from their home after it was “violently shaking.”

When mechanics took a look at the X3, they sent the driver a photo of a small bottle showing what they had found in the gas tank. The vast majority of the bottle was filled with water, and only a thin layer of fuel floated at the top. This, as you may have guessed, caused some pretty serious problems for the car. $844 and two weeks at the dealership later, the car is finally good to go.

The X3 driver reported the finding water in her tank to the Minnesota Department of Commerce. From there, the Dept. tested the fuel at the station, found water in their premium fuel holding tanks and shut it down.

Unsparingly, the onus of making sure there isn’t water in fuel is being put on drivers. The DOC is reportedly telling folks to pay attention to stickers on pumps that display the year of the most recent test of gas quantity and quality. If it were me, I’d probably make it the gas station owner’s responsibility to do such checks, but who am I?

According to CBS News, every station in the state of Minnesota is tested within three year cycles. If the sticker is within a year-ish of that test, drivers should feel confident that the gas is safe to use. Then again, I guess it’s just easier to just push the responsibility on to the next person.