OK I am crapping in my pants now. I just went to the local Hess and filled up with 93. After I waited for my receipt, it took me 3 attempts to get my car started. This was sort of embarrassing, being that I have an '06 6MT coupe that people are starring at as I attempt to start it…

Now here’s the strange part. As I was pumping the gas, the pump was making a weird sound as if it was having a hard time forcing the gas through. Basically it wasn’t pumping fast. This made me uncomfortable because I thought I wasn’t getting any gas, but anyhow it eventually filled up. After the pump stopped on it’s own, I squeezed in an extra 50 cents to even out the cost… (maybe this was bad too?)

A couple of hours later, I was visiting the parents. As I went to start my car to leave, again car didn’t want to start until 2-3 attempts… Now I’m freaking out thinking that either I have bad or dirty gas in my car that will damage something. Or is this a major coincidence and I’m just having problems (irrelevant to the gas) with starting my car?

 

It sounds like you were pumping from the bottom of the station's tank. You probably got a good dose of water (from condensation) mixed in as well. An old trick is to add some alcohol or some gas stabilizer (like Seafoam, Sta-Bil, or STP stabilizer) per the ratio recommended by the chemical manufacturer.

Avoid the "octane boosters" in this case, they don't seem to help as much as the stabilizers. When you get the volume down to half a tank - fill up with fresh 87 octane (not 91-93, as it has ignition inhibitors blended in, and 87 is actually more volatile). Then run that tank until almost dry. Go fill up with your favorite fuel; everything should be fine.

 

Man that ticks me off... Any chance there was crap settling in the bottom of the station's tank that made it in to my G's tank? Should I worry about that? Hopefully this starting problem will go away by the end of this tank. In any case, I'll follow your advice.

So the next time I hear a pump struggling, I suppose my best bet is to leave that station and go elsewhere. I actually waited to put gas as long as possible so that I could go to this Hess because of the decent price.

 

Try using octane booster ...thats my only suggestion.

 

The pump/line filters catch almost all particulate matter, so I wouldn't worry. It sounds like you got a fair amount of condensation mixed in with the fuel dregs.

 

well, i'm happy to say that the starting problem seems to have gone away after about the first 30 or so miles with the new tank. hopefully it stays that way!

 

I think I saw something in a manual, that said when you start the car cold and quickly shut it off, you might experience trouble starting the next time. And sometimes if you shut it off quick after a spirited driving you might experience the same. It was probably one of those instances and less likely the gas.

 

here are the only things that i noticed:

-it was hot and humid as hell that day here in south fl.
-i was sort of hauling *** prior to gassing up (so maybe you're right)
-the gas station pump was struggling to pump gas (and making strange sounds)
-after the pump automatically stopped, i forced in some more gas (i don't usually do this)

maybe one day i'll be able to put 2 and 2 together.

 

what is happening while trying to start the car, is there a crank, a click, nothing, turning over then dying, etc?

 

it was cranking, but just never got started. happened maybe a total of 6-8 times in seperate occasions. hasn't happened again today or yesterday.

 

it happened twice to me today... strange its the first time this has happened