Car enthusiasts understand the value of feeding clean fuel to their car. The body and engines are a reflection of what we feed them and how we maintain them. Anything less than ideal can be dangerous for the car’s health. One major and often overlooked aspect of a car’s health is fuel contamination. Fuel contamination can be hazardous for your car if the issue is not resolved at the earliest. The fixing costs can also surge because of the delays. Fortunately, we got you covered. Let’s go through our guide on everything you need to know about fuel contamination and how to fix it.
What is Fuel Contamination?
As the name suggests fuel contamination occurs when the fuel in your vehicle is tainted or contaminated by water, rust, sediment, algae, and organic matter that can gather around the bottom of fuel tanks at the fueling stations. All these components can dwell in the fuel bringing the purity level down, affecting the car parts and eventually ruining your driving experience.
It is not easy to avoid fuel contamination because you have no way of knowing or checking petrol quality before filling up the tank. Knowing the car maintenance schedule can help but to avoid fuel contamination in particular, you should take extra precautions which we will discuss here.
Fuel Contamination Symptoms
Fuel contamination can be a hassle in more ways than you can imagine. When there is bad fuel running in our car’s engine, you are likely to get indications or symptoms. Listed below are the symptoms of fuel contamination:
ENGINE CHECK LIGHT
The check engine light is a major indication of fuel contamination. People often ignore the check engine light as they feel no change in the vehicle’s drive and consider it as a glitch. Weeks or months can pass by and the vehicle can be running smoothly and drivers can continue to drive with engine check lights on. They tend to get relaxed that there’s nothing wrong with the vehicle. However, there are other reasons why the engine check light is on.
However, just because it’s running smoothly even after the light indicator, it doesn’t mean the parts aren’t deteriorating. The engine check light is a ticking time bomb indicating that the wear and tear of your car components is happening faster than it should and it is affecting the systems as well.
Continue to avoid this for longer periods of time and a detrimental engine failure might just be a matter of time. Engine failure can be heavy on the pocket so you should be aware of the engine failure symptoms to avoid any inconvenience.
CLOGGED FUEL FILTERS
Fuel Filters are designed to capture any particle present in the fuel before it is passed to the engine. If your car requires frequent filter change, it might be a sign of fuel contamination. Before the fuel enters the engine, it passes through fuel filters that capture unwanted components such as metallic particles, clumps of sludge, and other dirt particles.
Frequent clogging could very well be because of contaminated fuel. Bad fuel might be coming from the fuel source or from the internally contaminated fuel tank. In either case, you should take immediate action to avoid further damage and inconvenience.
FAILING FUEL PUMP
Frequent clogging of fuel filters can often lead to a failing fuel pump. The fuel pump moves fuel from the tank to the engine. Clogged fuel filters can cause restrictions for the fuel pump forcing it to work harder than it is designed for.
A failing fuel pump would not be able to deliver a steady fuel supply to the engine and you can experience shortcomings, especially during acceleration as fuel demand is high and the engine won’t be able to deliver the required amount of fuel. You should be aware of the signs of a bad fuel pump as it can be expensive to replace.
INJECTORS FAILURE
Another symptom of fuel contamination is injector failure. Partial function failures of the engine often go unnoticed. The drivers rarely feel the engine inefficiencies but the damage continues on the inside. Injector failure is one of the root causes of an engine’s inefficiency. There are symptoms of bad fuel injectors that can help you understand the system better. If your car suffers from any of the above mentioned symptoms, it is a sign to take it for a fuel contamination check.
Fuel Contamination Causes
Knowing the root of the problem can help to overcome the hassle and minimise the damage. Fuel contamination can be caused by several factors which are listed as follows:
UNWANTED PARTICLES IN FUEL
Several unwanted particles present in the fuel can be a major cause of fuel contamination. After the refining process, fuel goes through several valves and pipes, and is stored in different facilities before it reaches your fuel tank. Fuel can be contaminated by any bad particle during transportation or storage. It can be the valves that may have residue particles or the storage tanks can be contaminated as iron is prone to corrosion and rust. In either case, you can end up with bad diesel fuel in your car.
FUEL CONTAMINATED WITH WATER
Contamination with water is one of the most troubling types and it can be very difficult to tackle in large fuel tanks. Petro is usually purchased, kept and transported rather subtly and contamination and availability of water can be very hard to detect unless proper tests are held.
Diesel fuel is hygroscopic, meaning that it can absorb moisture from the air. When kept in tanks where there is still space left, this can become a problem as fuel absorbs moisture from the air around it and emulsified water can become a part of the fuel.
Free water can also contaminate the fuel. During phase separation, free water can develop a layer beneath stored petrol. The water layer can get mixed with the fuel in the tank, contaminating it.
FUEL DEGRADATION
Fuel can go bad after a certain period of time or prolonged storage. Good fuel is clear and has a bright colour while bad diesel fuel can be dark coloured and murky as tar develops inside the fuel.
If you haven’t taken your car out for a long time, the fuel might degrade and cause damage to your engine. It is advisable to get the fuel quality checked by professionals before driving to avoid additional expenses and failure of engine components.
How to Fix Fuel Contamination?
Your car is less likely to cause problems if you follow the car maintenance checklist, however, fuel contamination is a different issue altogether that must be dealt with differently. If you have a fuel contaminated here are a few things you can do:
DON’T DRIVE THE VEHICLE
Avoid driving your vehicle if the fuel is contaminated. Some particles may only have an impact if the engine is running. Additionally, you won’t be moving any harmful fuel to the engine if you don’t start the car at all.
EMPTY THE TANK
You can empty the fuel tank to get rid of the contaminated fuel. Drain it to the last drop so none of the bad fuel is left. Once the entire tank is empty, you can fill it with clean fuel.
GET YOUR VEHICLE TOWED
You should get your vehicle towed to the service station as driving it can be risky. The roadside emergency tips can help you get a better idea of what to do in case of emergencies on the road.
CLEANING THE TANK
Cleaning your vehicle’s tank can get tricky if you are not an expert, however, you don’t want to fill fresh fuel in an unclean tank. You can use additives and cleaners to get rid of the particles settled at the bottom.
GET YOUR CAR CHECKED
Since bad fuel can affect some major components of your car’s engine, you should take your car for an inspection. You can get the affected parts replaced to avoid further damage to your vehicle.
This was everything about fuel contamination and how you can fix it. Among the other car issues, fuel contamination is another one you might want to look out for as neglecting it for long periods can result in a bigger expense.
You can also follow some tips like fueling from a trusted station and timely maintenance to avoid fuel contamination. It is advised to visit a professional service station as they are equipped with the right tools to get rid of contamination for good and clean the tanks effectively.
That said, if your car is affected by fuel contamination or any other issue, it is a viable option to go for a change of car. You can check out these used cars for sale in the UAE and select from a wide range of vehicles listed.
Stay tuned to UAE’s top auto blog for more information.
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