Tank of Bad Fuel In Portage Wisconsin

Thursday evening, I was on my way to Morehead Mn with a load, and I stopped in at the Petro located on I-90 where it meets with I-39 in Portage Wisconsin. I pulled in my fine running truck, fueled, walked the dog, and then got back on the road, since I wanted to get on the other side of Minneapolis prior to stopping. About an hour and a half later, I noticed that everyone else seemed to be topping the hills just fine at abotu 60 mph, and I was chugging up them at 35!

Looks like the fine folks at the Petro gave me a crapola load of fuel. I made it to the stop in Minneapolis, and shut down to spend the night. I decided in the morning that since it was relatively flat across Minnesota, I would continue on and get across the state before doing anything. I made it in, delivered on time, and then since I was empty, I headed back east. Truck ran weak, but with a little coaxing I could maintain 55, so rather than have work done out on the road, I headed home. I pulled in Sat morning to a shop that does work for us in Hodgkins Il, had the filter changed, and all is fine now.

No fun quite like taking off in the morning and needing about 7 miles of running before you can get the truck up into 10th gear!!! Thanks Petro!!!

 

Well, since the filter has been on the truck for about 4 weeks and it has been running fine, and it started to plug up within an hour and a half of picking up the fuel there, I would make the assumptio that the cause was the fuel that I picked up there. Granted I can't prove it with 100% certainty, and since I have subsequently refueled, whatever proof has been diluted, so to speak.

I don't know if anyone else got the fuel, or if they simply changed their filters and went on their way. I could have gotten a shot of crud from the bottom of an almost empty fuel tank, or there could have been any number of things that caused it.

But, my best guess is that the fuel from the Petro was bad, and is the source of the problem. Unless there is absolute certian proof, there is no recourse in a situation like this anyhow. You just make the best of it, put on a new filter, and go on your way.

But I won;t be stopping there to fuel anymore. I can't be fooled twice.

 

No, I still had about 50 gallons left in the tank when I fueled. I usually fuel somewhere in that range, and I knew if I fueled there, I could make it all the way to the destination and back without any need to stop unless I wanted to. I usually base my fueling times on scales ahead, my schedule, and some other things I factor in.

 

I assume that the filter was okay, since it was a factory Mack item. As I said, I can;t guarantee the problem came from there, but cause and effect seems to indicate that it did. Luckily, it's fixed now and I made it home with the load for tomorrow am.

 

And while it did get cold in Minneapolis that night, the problem started down in the relatively warm, 30 degree weather in the middle of Wisconsin. And when I started the truck the following morning, it was a balmy 6 below, yet I encountered no issues with the fuel gelling at all. By the time I made my delivery, it had warmed up to 2 above in the Fargo area, so i remain convinced that the problem was with that particular fill up.

it was a weird week for weather anyhow, with me having the windows down at 50 degrees on tuesday nite at Richmond In, and 2 nites later it's 6 below.