Some owners of vehicles who say they filled up with gas at Krist Food Mart #040 along the Ashmun Street Business Spur in the past few days have taken to social media wondering if others have had problems with their vehicles after gassing up there.
Hanna Johnston filled her 2016 Chevrolet Cruze at Krist Food Mart last Friday when she said the vehicle immediately lost acceleration, "chugging" and "stopping."
"I figured my car just had problems," Johnston said. "I brought it over to my stepdad and he asked where I got my gas from."
Her stepfather, John McCollom, posted the following to a Facebook group at 11:36 p.m. Monday night:
"Just a rant. Wondering how many others are having issues with their vehicles since getting gas last week at one of our gas stations. My truck is dead now."
McCollom told Johnston that his vehicle actually "died" after filling his tank with gas from Krist earlier that day.
"He posted to Facebook to see if anyone else had problems," she said. "His car is already in the shop. He won't be able to drive it until mid-July. Mine is just getting worse."
Krist Food Mart #040 Manager Susan Pins told SooLeader she began receiving calls of vehicle complaints early Tuesday morning. One caller even said his car started "smoking."
"I knew nothing about it until this morning," Pins said, as the phone rang behind her. "I am just directing people to my regional manager."
Krist Food Mart Regional Manager Leonard Smith declined to comment.
Facebook comments and messages just kept coming in.
As of approximately 2 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, there were approximately 138 comments on the Facebook post. Many commented about their own vehicle issues after gassing up at Krist over the past few days.
"We have been getting gas at Krist for our generator over the past week," Kelli Hunt told SooLeader. "It was basically a new generator. After using their gas, it started smoking, sputtering, and not running right.
"When I was pouring gas into the generator, I stopped because I noticed the gas wasn't the right color. It was a bright blue. But then I continued because I figured I just bought it minutes ago so it has to be good gas.
"The next day, it started acting up. It hardly would start... smoking really bad. That's when we noticed it smelled like diesel burning. Now, I am pretty certain it is diesel that they have in their pumps after smelling it burn.
"That was not gas. So, now we have flushed our generator, used different gas, and it is now working normal.
"In the meantime, though, we went out and bought another $1,200 generator because we are using this generator to operate our business, and it is a very crucial component to us operating. The corporate manager said they are still awaiting testing so they can't confirm if that's what happened or not, but I am certain that someone filled their gas chamber with diesel."
James Flowers of Flowers Auto Service told SooLeader he had heard about possible problems, too.
"Apparently, there are hundreds of people," he said. "Rumor is there was diesel in it. The one I got in here right now is a 2020 Ford Explorer. I'm taking the fuel out of it."
Precision Automotive Owner Steve Hillman said no one has brought a vehicle with suspected contamination into the shop as of Tuesday afternoon. There is no telling whether or not the Facebook claims are accurate.
"Do not drive the vehicle if you experiencing driveability issues," he said. "The tank needs to be drained. If you take the gas cap off you would be able to smell diesel. A small amount of diesel will not make a difference, but a large amount would.
"Water is totally different. If you are running 10 percent ethanol, regular fuel, it will absorb water and precipitate to the bottom of the tank. If you are experiencing issues with water, you gotta drain the tank empty."
No further information is available at this time. SooLeader could not confirm the contamination. It is unknown whether other gas stations were affected.
