Bad Gas

A lot of discussion lately about bad gas. When I hear a tech say bad gas my first thought is that he has no clue what the solution to the complaint is. There have been some rumors about excessive sulfur in some gas around parts of Texas with the Valero chain outlets (which they deny) . The sulfur has exceeded 120 parts per million which will prematurely wear out the fuel pump and also cause excessive clearance in injectors. First clue to excessive sulfur is a more than normal rotten egg smell. It can abrasively damage the fuel pump and in some severe cases the injectors. Every now and then we will see some old gas that causes problems but you can easily tell by the smell that the fuel is at fault. I use sea foam as a gas stabilizer when I store my convertible, snow blower and lawn mower. It works great and have never had any problems. So next time someone says you have bad gas simply say prove it. It is possible to remove the pressure hose from the fuel tank and take fresh fuel from a separate container but be very careful and make sure you fire insurance is paid.Many of today’s mediocre techs are at a loss if they don’t have a code to work from and they often forget to return to the basics and look for the simple answer. It is estimated that 50% of the vehicles over 5 years old have a slight vacuum leak. One more item I want to mention is the plug wire becoming stuck to the ceramic of the plug. This is becoming more of a problem with 100K plug replacement but I feel that at 100K the wires are due replacement anyway. A little dielectric grease here would eliminate this problem