I changed out the fuel filter last weekend. The gas that came out of the tank side of the filter was black and had lots of chunks in it.

Is this normal, or do I need to find a better gas station?

 

You need to change your filter more often. That will give you a better idea if it is 1 particular station or just gunk in your tank.

 

NO, it is not normal to see chunks coming out of the gas tank side fuel line.

Have you by chance recently filled up at a old, out of the way, or low volume country station, or maybe while a tanker was unloading at the station????

If so & the attendant was negligent & didn't turn off the pumps for the storage tank being filled by the tanker, you might have gotten a load of sediment stirred up from the delivery.

It's also normal practice for a station to leave a set of pumps OFF LINE during a delivery & for a specified time afterward, to let things settle out, usually set by the brand of gas company, so their customers don't get a bad tank of gas with sediment stirred up during & after a delivery.

They are to also check the storage tanks fill level daily & not pump it too low, so we don't get a load of settled out junk, but who knows what min wage folks working a second job think, or a station owner that doesn't care, will do now days!!!! Buyer Beware!!!!

If the above wasn't the case, maybe change to a high volume station, who will likely have fresher & cleaner fuel.

As a side note, Sunoco stations have had fiters on their pumps since the 50's, to help us in getting cleaner gas into our tanks.

I agree with Hydro_37, change your filter again soon, maybe in a year or less, or until you don't see crud coming out of the tank line into the filter.

If it's really trashed up, you might have to pull the tank & flush it out, as it could clog the pumps pre-screen, sure hope thats not the case!!!!

Just some more things for pondering.

 

My last three tanks were from Arco. I have to wait in line everytime I go there, they have 9 pumps I think.... so high volume. Everyone goes there for the cheap $4.19 a gallon gas.

The other two (close) options are Cheveron and whatever 7-11 sells... But they are both about $0.20 more per gallon. Both have IMO pretty high volume.

I didn't notice any fuel trucks around that I can remember.

I guess I'll change the filter again in a few months and see what it looks like.

 

I'd run 2 treatments with Red Line SI-1, and change the filter again after those 2 tanks.

 

I try to change my fuel filter every fall (which translates to about 12,000 miles) When I do that, the fuel comes out clean but ff I miss a change seeing dark colored fuel is not uncommon. Try plugging both ends of the old filter and shake it vigoursly first, then when you dump it the fuel will really be black.

 

That part about the sunoco stations intrested me, because around here EVERY pump has a filter on it, must be a regional thing.

Now to get this thread back on topic, I would suggest changing the filter more often and run a bottle of a good fuel system treatment through the tank. I would suggest the Lucas products as thats what I use.

 

I cannot honestly believe that every major chain station doesnt have fuel filters on their stuff. I mean most cars have 2 or three depending on the model (one in the tank and 1-2 inline). A plugged fuel filter (as in a gas station that has not changed one for sometime) wont let the junk past...it should just flow a lot less. Or am I missing something? I hear people who know little about cars say that you should not let your tank get below 1/8 so you dont suck up junk from the tank.....

 

Keeping the tank above 1/4 remaining, especially on "return type" fuel systems, is a good idea.

As the pump prefers to run cool for long life & all kinds of other bad things begin to happen to hot gas, like oxidation, boiling & vapor lock, especially on winter fuel thats had it's vapor pressure lowred for easier cold winter starts.
This happens all the time around here on hot days in fall & early spring, to cold country folks on the interstate running on fumes!!!!

Also keeping the tank topped off in humid weather, lowers the volume of humid air in the tank & less condensation is likely to form in the tank & everything will appreciate that!!!!

Anyway being persnickety about where & when we chose to fill up, sure can have an effect how our ride runs.

More fillup thoughts for pondering.

 

"It's also normal practice for a station to leave a set of pumps OFF LINE during a delivery & for a specified time afterward, to let things settle out, usually set by the brand of gas company, so their customers don't get a bad tank of gas with sediment stirred up during & after a delivery."

I used to deliver fuel (man i hated it).. and I never once had ANY station shut the pumps off while I was making a delivery.

 

Yes all stations have filters in the pumps...

No it's not common practice to turn the pumps off during a delivery.. it's just not necessary. Also 'most' fuel deliveries happen late at night or early in the morning, so there's usually not much activity at the pumps at that time anyway.

Do you honestly think a gas station is going to stop selling gas for an hour or so just because some got delivered?

It's be like McDonalds closing their doors for an hour because they got a food delivery. They wouldn't take a business loss with this practice, now will the gas stations...

 

Iam also off topic a little but will try to get on track, I was told but don.t know for sure that the fill pipes going down into the fuel tanks underground on older stations went more than 2/3rd's of the way down so that when fuel was dumped in. stirred up junk on the bottom, the newer station's or at least tanks still have the pipe but it now has holes all the way down to distribute the fuel around the tank without stirring the bottom. Now to topic most of the time when I came up with black out of a filter the pump was usually on it's way out.