Adulterated Gasoline, a common hazard often ignored by drivers.

The rapid increase in fuel prices has brought to the fore a bad practice of some gas stations, which, in the effort to "drop" their prices and attract more customers, use additives in their fuels.

In recent times, garages have been dealing with an increasing number of incidents of fuel adulteration, which causes serious damage to the fuel supply circuit of cars, especially Diesels.

As is well known, damages related to fuel quality are not covered by manufacturers' factory warranties. Therefore, the savings that we try to make when we visit these very cheap gas stations, is not achieved, as we end up paying much more for the repair of our car from the damage caused by the adulterated fuel.

And while no one can single out the reliable gas stations, we can all act to limit the phenomenon in the following ways:

• Let's be wary of gas stations that advertise very low prices, often below refinery costs. They are likely to be linked to either adulteration in the fuel, or tampering with the fuel gauge.
• When paying for fuel, it would be good to keep the receipt, listing the vehicle's mileage at the given time and asking for it to be stamped by the gas station.
• We can use electronic applications (apps) that depict the gas stations in our area, mentioning their prices and, above all, the reviews of other users regarding the quality of the fuel.
• Especially for diesel vehicles, let's make sure to keep more than ⅓ of the tank capacity full of fuel. As the high content of oxygen in an empty tank favors the growth of "fungus" on the surface of the fuel level[1] which can cause serious damage to the operation of the pump and fuel injectors, spare parts that are particularly expensive.
• The same must be followed for diesel vehicles, EURO6 technology, regarding the level of the ADblue tank, the special catalytic liquid that inactivates the Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) produced by the engine. Keeping the tank as full as possible avoids the crystallization of urea (main component of AdBlue) which can block the pump and urea injectors, leading to breakdowns and stalls.

The conclusion of the above is that choosing a gas station should not be based only on the price, but also on reliability and consumer reviews, as often in our effort to save money by choosing very cheap gas stations, we end up spending a lot more money to mechanical damage caused by fuel adulteration.