"Bad Gas"

On June 21 of this year my 2005 Prius (77,000 miles) stalled and the dashboard warning lights instructed me to take it to a dealer for service.

Diagnosis: Bad Gas

Bill: $1,100, including $324 for disposal of the "bad gas."

The cost for a "normal" car would have been a half to a quarter of that amount.

I spent a week tying to find somebody who could do this job for less, but even with the "help" of the Toyota corporation could not.

I feel that the dealership and Toyota took advantage of me.

The Toyota corporate response was "You screwed up, you trusted us."

Anyone else have a similar experience?

I don't think this would have happened to me a year ago.

At least in part, this is due to the horrible economics of the car business now. The industry probably feels they are better off alienating me now for an extra $300 because they might not even be in business when I'm ready to buy another car.

 

I got the "bad gas" from a Gas City station in Lemont Ill.

I say "bad gas" because I have no proof, except the dealers word.

He claims that is was adulterated in some way. It wasn't something that a filter would have caught.

And yes that dealer was "hosing me", but I could not find a dealer within 50 miles who would have done the work for less.

And I must have been on the telephone with Toyota corporate a dozen times in a week, and they approved of what the dealer was doing 100%.

Consider this a Prius "tax".

No reputable independent repair shop would touch the problem, they all told me, let the dealer fix it.

 

I made a complaint to the State of Illinois 800 number I found on the gas pump. They said that they will get back to me in a month or so.

If I find out that there were other complaints, then I'll go after them.

Otherwise all I have is the word of a mechanic who says "bad gas" and a small sample of the "bad gas" that will probably cost me another $1,000 to be analyzed.

 

The pump was not labeled E85. But who knows.

 

Drop and drain the gas tank.

Clean the injectors and throttle body.

Dispose of the "bad gas" and fill with "good gas."

 

No the car stalled and would not start. It had to be towed to the dealership.

They knew that I'd have to pay their $140 diagnostic fee, and the towing fee to another repair shop, so they decided to soak me for just a little less than then what it would have cost to get it fixed elsewhere.

In the week I spent trying to find another shop in the Chicago area to fix it, the closest I found was one 50 miles away.

Any place nearer, would have charged me the same price, or wasn't to be trusted with a Prius.

 

Yes you can put gasoline in a diesel car, but I could not have stuck a diesel pump hose into my Prius.

It isn't the repair bill that gets me, it was the $324 to "dispose of the gasoline."

They even refused to let me take it away in my own gas cans.

 

No, that is the full list of repairs.

BTW, here are the codes that they say that they recovered:

P0A0F
P0171
P3190
P3191
B1200
B1207
B1271

 

Toyota told me otherwise.

They said that the recommended procedure was to take out the back seat, drop the tank and clean it out that way.

The bladder in the tank supposedly makes it impossible to clean otherwise.

But, I wouldn't doubt that they spent 10 minutes sucking the gas out through the inlet, and then billed me for 4 hours time.

Toyota probably wants to squeeze the maximum amount from their current customers because they don't think that they are going to get a lot of new ones any time soon no matter what they do.

 

No, that was Toyota scewing me.

I had extensive discussions with the people at the head office who assured me that the best solution would be to drop the tank.