Ontario Gas Station Pays To Fix Gas Cars Mistakenly Fueled With Diesel

An eastern Ontario gas station is paying to repair its customers' cars after its underground tanks were mistakenly filled with diesel instead of gasoline, which led numerous drivers to unwittingly put the wrong type of fuel in their vehicles.

According to the CBC, the mix-up happened late last week at an Ultramar gas station in Prescott, a small town near the busy Highway 401 and the St. Lawrence River. It wasn't long before the station began receiving complaints of cars that had sputtered and stalled and figured out something was wrong.

One Ford driver who inadvertently put diesel in her F-150 said the dealership that fixed her truck was dealing with several other vehicles in the same situation, and the owner of a local GM dealer said 15 drivers had brought vehicles in for repairs related to mis-fueling.

Ultramar said the mistake happened on January 18, but some affected customers said they had problems following fill-ups a couple of days before that. To the gas station's credit, however, its owners were quick to offer compensation to anyone who had wound up with the inappropriate fuel in their vehicle's tank. 

If you're lucky, fixing a mis-fueled vehicle involves nothing more than draining the tank, a process that can cost hundreds of dollars, including the cost of towing the car to a repair shop. But the damage can be more severe, particularly for a diesel vehicle filled with gasoline.