Kum' N Go Accidentally Gives You Diesel, Makes Your Gasoline Car Sad
Reader James said that a trucker dumped diesel fuel in the wrong tank at a distribution center, and this caused a bit of a problem because (as you might imagine) gasoline cars won't run on diesel. The gas station in question, Kum 'N Go, is compensating James for his mechanic's bills, but he wanted to let other drivers know what to do if this happens to them.
I thought I'd let you guys in on a nasty little surprise I was involved in over the weekend. I filled up my car at my usual gas station in Springfield, MO, started driving across the state to see my family, and noticed about halfway home that my car was acting funny. When I got home, the car died in the driveway. The mechanic who we took the car to told me it was filled with diesel.
Turns out, a local distribution center had a trucker dump diesel into a regular gas tank. That gas then got sent to an unknown amount of local gas stations. At least one other gas station besides the one I used were confirmed to have the contaminated gas. Interestingly, the other gas station got the fuel at 7:30 am and shut the pumps down by 8:30. My gas station, however, was still pumping out diesel at 11:52.
Anywho, the gas station I fueled up at, Kum 'n' Go, is paying for repairs. So, if anyone in the Springfield area (or anywhere, in general) happens to end up with a load of diesel by accident, go back to your gas station and demand a compensation. I'm waiting on my check now.
Yikes! It's nice to know that not only does Kum 'N Go have the best name of any gas station we've ever seen, but that they own up to their mistakes, too.
(Photo: SA_Steve )
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Man, James got screwed. That gas station really bent him over.
They're common in Missouri; in college, we referred to them as "Ejaculate and Evacuate."
Yay, you published my email.
I thought I'd add that the manager at the gas station could not have been more helpful about the matter. It caught me off guard, what with all these horror stories Consumerist posts.
well, at least he didn't take it on the chin and got fair compensation
I've always been partial to Jizz and Split.
On our way from Kentucky to Texas, my husband and I drove through Missouri. We stopped in a Kum n' Go. We giggled. I bought a t-shirt. My husband actually wears it sometimes. Hilari-o.
Am I wrong in recalling that if diesel goes into a gas car, it produces a crap load of smoke out of your exhaust?
Wow, and I thought "Sheetz" (In the northeast) was an unfortunate name.
It blows my mind that there is actually someone out there that didn't catch the double entendre.
aka "Wham, bam, thank you ma'am."
Their tire air station is referred to as Blow-n-Go
This happened in Des Moines, Iowa with QuickTrip. Tanker put diesl into the unleaded tank and about 6 cars died within 2 blocks of the station after filling up from empty tanks. They had the pumps shut off within 20 minutes of it happening and they all got reimbursed.
@Git Em SteveDave is a...
I don't believe diesel is burnable by a normal internal combustion engine. Most people don't even realize that diesel vehicles don't have spark plugs, their combustion comes purely from extreme compression and explosion of the diesel fuel.
There is a station here that is named Pump & Munch. Ah... the double entendres!
I live in Iowa, when I have visitors from out of state I always stop at Kum 'n Go and watch the jaws drop.
Good thing he didnt have to turn the other cheek.
I still find it funny that at a Kum & Go, the trucker put it into the wrong hole.
Shouldn't the distribution center be paying for any damages? I wonder if the gas stations are forwarding the bill for any money they spend compensating customers.
Pump n' Munch in Minneapolis.
Beaver Gas in Canada...
Man, that trucker really should have pulled out early.
We actually had this happen to a gas station here in Oregon as well. They were very responsible about owning up to the problem.
We have a Kum N' Go in Laramie and it is easily one of the friendliest stores I've been to since I've moved here. Marginally cheaper gass than other places locally, too.
Kum N' Go is so close to my house it's practically an extension of my kitchen when I feel the need to snack and I'm on good terms with the whole staff - and I've heard all sorts of even bawdier repalcements for the unfortunately named gas station. The one I've heard the most is "Pump N' Dump".
I recently went back to my hometown (near Detroit, MI) to play some shows with my old band and my Kum N' Go trucker hat got quite a response - I had several offers from people wanting to buy it.
HaHa, Chevron in California....
Wait, that's not funny.
Oops! :-)
Kum&go gear! Kum&go gear! Gitchyur kum&go gear raiiight here!
Holy noodling, Batman. What a name.
I used to work at a gas station and this happened once or twice. Our delivery company dropped the wrong grade of UNL gas every once in a while too.
Another time at another location, the delivery guy didn't lock down the cap going into the underground tank and a bunch rainwater got into the fuel, damaging a few cars. That made the 10:00 news.
These truck drivers are human. They haul varying types of fuel to different locations, so it's not impossible to get a compartment mixed up or confuse an underground tank.
In this case, K&G will probably just pass the bill on to the distributor.
Kum & Go ?
@campredeye:
No, they have something called glow plugs which do something similar. And I'm pretty sure gasoline engines compress fuel and then explode it too.
@Jesse:
I'm surprised the diesel tanks and the gas tanks don't have some sort of incompatible nozzle so you can't mix them up. Seems like common sense.
Not too many can beat "Pump and Munch" in Phoenix.
From Smoohy in Sitka -
At least James had his car repaired by KumN' Go. This happened to me years ago to my taxi fleet - the cars ran like crap and the ones that got the highest concentration of contaminated fuel died of excess engine wear soon after. The station's response? Sorry, not our problem. If this town had had more than one fuel supplier at the time....
With a name like that, I'd hate to see what happens in the bathrooms....
@intellivised: The problem I've always had with the one in Laramie as well as all of the K&G in WY is that they all used to be 7-11s (which we don't have any of in the state anymore).
I guess in terms of convience store heirarchy I've always put the 7-11 at the top so I hardly ever visit K&G after the switch. Dirty, poorly stocked, bad fast food choices, never been a big fan.
@jimv2000: I would hazard a guess that Kum & Go will go after them. They are smart to do it this way, quickly respond to the problem then go after the pumping co if it is in fact their fault. It could be that the tanks were not labeled correctly or the lids got switched or new driver etc so the fault may be shared.
@friendlynerd: Glow plugs are only used to help start a cold diesel engine.
Once the engine warms up, it's strictly compression-ingition only.
You can burn a little bit of diesel if it gets mixed w/ your gas. It is very polluting and horrible for the environment to do it this way. Diesel actually contains more energy in it than gas, so you will notice your gas mileage improve slightly. However, the engine does not like it, the air does not like it, and eventually your car will start to create bigger issues if you do it more than once by accident. It will definitely burn though.
@friendlynerd: No, gasoline engines compress the gas/air mixture, then ignite it with a spark plug. Diesel engines simply use the compression to ignite the gas.
@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: If you end up with a mixture of diesel and gasoline in a gas car then you'll get lots of blue smoke out the exhaust. If there's too much diesel then it won't run at all.
@friendlynerd: As kbarrett pointed out, glow plugs are only used for starting. Also, the compression in diesel engines is much higher than in gasoline engines.
@orielbean: I would be surprised if a little diesel in the gas resulted in higher fuel economy. Diesel won't burn completely in a gasoline engine so not much energy is released. It's roughly the same effect as having a car that burns oil, and I have to say that the heavy oil burning tendencies of my Ford Crown Vic have not improved its mileage at all. ;)
How do you drive home without realizing there is a huge ammount of smoke billowing from your car?
@friendlynerd: A typical fuel trailer has 2 or more compartments ... when fule is dispatched to a station, they generally need a lot of unleaded, and somewhat less premium and diesel.
So the big compartment gets the unleaded, and the other ones are split by the dispatcher dependent on what the usual historic sales rates are for that station.
The truck has one big filler hose, and maybe a pump to empty a ground tank ( rare ). It is up to the driver to connect the hose to the correct valve fitting ... and which fitting that is will change as the dispatcher's order changes.
If a truck has, say a 1500 gallon compartment, a 2000 gallon compartment, and a 1000 gallon trailer ... if a dispatcher sends 1000 gallons of diesel to one store on one load, and then sends 1500 gallons of diesel to a different store, that hose is going to get fitted to the trailer at station one, and a main tank compartment at station two.
So ... putting different ends on the hoses for each compartment won't work, since there is no way to predict what product is carried in a given tank. They are all different sizes in order to give the dispatcher flexibility in customizing the load to a station.
Good for them for taking care of the bills. Has anyone heard of this happening before? Is it at all a common mistake? Also, Kum' N Go is an unfortunate name for, well, anything.