Possible fuel theft
Discussion
No naming or shaming, as the thread will get deleted and I can’t actually prove anything, but it’s all a bit suspect.
I booked my car in for a Terraclean (I’ve had really good results on other cars). I’d filled the car up on Sunday evening (beating an Iran-driven price rise) and then driven 115 miles on Thursday. It has a 60 litre tank and even at my worst ever fuel consumption, the 115 miles would only have used 12 litres.
When I picked the car up, the gauge was almost empty. The garage said that the gauge might have had a hissy fit while the fuel system was disconnected. Highly improbable, but I couldn’t disprove it, so I went straight to the local Tesco filling station, where it took just under 45 litres.
Simple arithmetic says 32 litres has disappeared. About 250 miles worth of driving.
If the car had a leak, it would have created an almighty mess, but the underside of the car is dry. Syphoning is impossible.
I’ve stopped short of accusing them of ‘liberating’ half a tank of fuel, but I’ve told them all of the above and asked for an explanation. At £1.60 a litre, it’s easy to imagine a cash-strapped mechanic spotting an opportunity to lift almost £50 of fuel and hope the owner doesn’t notice, or accepts an explanation that a Terraclean treatment can use half a tank of fuel.
Boils my piss….
I booked my car in for a Terraclean (I’ve had really good results on other cars). I’d filled the car up on Sunday evening (beating an Iran-driven price rise) and then driven 115 miles on Thursday. It has a 60 litre tank and even at my worst ever fuel consumption, the 115 miles would only have used 12 litres.
When I picked the car up, the gauge was almost empty. The garage said that the gauge might have had a hissy fit while the fuel system was disconnected. Highly improbable, but I couldn’t disprove it, so I went straight to the local Tesco filling station, where it took just under 45 litres.
Simple arithmetic says 32 litres has disappeared. About 250 miles worth of driving.
If the car had a leak, it would have created an almighty mess, but the underside of the car is dry. Syphoning is impossible.
I’ve stopped short of accusing them of ‘liberating’ half a tank of fuel, but I’ve told them all of the above and asked for an explanation. At £1.60 a litre, it’s easy to imagine a cash-strapped mechanic spotting an opportunity to lift almost £50 of fuel and hope the owner doesn’t notice, or accepts an explanation that a Terraclean treatment can use half a tank of fuel.
Boils my piss….
I had hoped this wouldn’t turn into a ‘Terraclean / snake-oils’ discussion. It has worked very well for me in the past, adding 4-5mpg to my Alfa over 100,000 miles. I worked part time at a Terraclean agent a few years ago and the feedback was excellent. Other people’s experiences may differ…
If the garage had taken it for a thrash, they would have needed to consume 32 litres in 2 hours. At 40mpg, that would be about 250 miles, so clearly not possible. The fact that the trip meter hadn’t changed is also a bit of a giveaway…
There’s only two possible explanations as far as I can see - 1) they forgot to disconnect the lift pump while the engine was running on the Terraclean ‘fuel’ and the normal fuel lines were disconnected and it spat 32 litres onto the floor or 2) somebody got greedy
Regardless, my confidence in them is shot - won’t be going back
If the garage had taken it for a thrash, they would have needed to consume 32 litres in 2 hours. At 40mpg, that would be about 250 miles, so clearly not possible. The fact that the trip meter hadn’t changed is also a bit of a giveaway…
There’s only two possible explanations as far as I can see - 1) they forgot to disconnect the lift pump while the engine was running on the Terraclean ‘fuel’ and the normal fuel lines were disconnected and it spat 32 litres onto the floor or 2) somebody got greedy
Regardless, my confidence in them is shot - won’t be going back
Greendubber said:
I'd be quite surprised if someone went to the effort of sucking some fuel out of a vehicle.
Not needed - the Terraclean process disconnects the fuel car’s fuel lines. Normally, the output is connected to the tank return feed, but if it’s left off, the fuel pump will just pump diesel out onto the floor (or into a container…)Nigel_O said:
When I picked the car up, the gauge was almost empty. The garage said that the gauge might have had a hissy fit while the fuel system was disconnected. Highly improbable, but I couldn t disprove it, so I went straight to the local Tesco filling station, where it took just under 45 litres.
Simple arithmetic says 32 litres has disappeared. About 250 miles worth of driving.
If the car had a leak, it would have created an almighty mess, but the underside of the car is dry. Syphoning is impossible.
I ve stopped short of accusing them of liberating half a tank of fuel, but I ve told them all of the above and asked for an explanation.
With that much evidence I'd go in there and demand one. Hopefully when other customers are present.Simple arithmetic says 32 litres has disappeared. About 250 miles worth of driving.
If the car had a leak, it would have created an almighty mess, but the underside of the car is dry. Syphoning is impossible.
I ve stopped short of accusing them of liberating half a tank of fuel, but I ve told them all of the above and asked for an explanation.
paul_c123 said:
Greendubber said:
I'd be quite surprised if someone went to the effort of sucking some fuel out of a vehicle.
I believe these days, pretty much all cars have some kind of anti-syphon device so its not really possible to do this, you'd need to disconnect a fuel line.Bigends said:
paul_c123 said:
Greendubber said:
I'd be quite surprised if someone went to the effort of sucking some fuel out of a vehicle.
I believe these days, pretty much all cars have some kind of anti-syphon device so its not really possible to do this, you'd need to disconnect a fuel line.
Nigel_O said:
Greendubber said:
I'd be quite surprised if someone went to the effort of sucking some fuel out of a vehicle.
Not needed - the Terraclean process disconnects the fuel car s fuel lines. Normally, the output is connected to the tank return feed, but if it s left off, the fuel pump will just pump diesel out onto the floor (or into a container )Greendubber said:
I didn't know that's how it worked. What was their explanation?
They haven t given an explanation yet. The mechanic that did the work offered me £30 or a free MOT, but couldn t explain. He initially said that the fuel gauge was showing under a quarter of a tank when he drove the car into the workshop, but that s just cobblers - it had over three quarters of a tank when I dropped it off.His next explanation was that the gauge might have thrown a paddy while the fuel lines were disconnected, but that s highly implausible and was disproved by filling up with almost 45 litres a few minutes later.
After I d explained that the car had 115 miles on the trip since the last fill-up, he then asked me if I knew how the Terraclean process worked. I suspect he was going to tell me it used a lot of fuel, when the opposite is true. He was a bit taken aback when I told him I d seen it done 100+ times at the garage where I worked
I ve fired off a grumpy email asking for an official explanation. It was more for self-satisfaction than any expectation of a genuine response. An earlier response said walk away and forget it which is probably what I ll do, but not before I ve said my piece.
What surprises me about all of this is that it s a very smart garage, not some shabby back-street affair. They ve clearly invested a huge amount in their very shiny and clean workshop, and their booking system and general demeanor is brilliant - a garage for people that don t like traditional garages. Their reception area is immaculate, and their waiting room, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls looking into the workshop is main-dealer standard. I guess I set my expectations too high, based on the shiny workshop and plush customer area.
Edited by Nigel_O on Saturday 14th March 17:21
Nigel_O said:
They haven t given an explanation yet. The mechanic that did the work offered me £30 or a free MOT, but couldn t explain. He initially said that the fuel gauge was showing under a quarter of a tank when he drove the car into the workshop, but that s just cobblers - it had over three quarters of a tank when I dropped it off.
His next explanation was that the gauge might have thrown a paddy while the fuel lines were disconnected, but that s highly implausible and was disproved by filling up with almost 45 litres a few minutes later.
After I d explained that the car had 115 miles on the trip since the last fill-up, he then asked me if I knew how the Terraclean process worked. I suspect he was going to tell me it used a lot of fuel, when the opposite is true. He was a bit taken aback when I told him I d seen it done 100+ times at the garage where I worked
I ve fired off a grumpy email asking for an official explanation. It was more for self-satisfaction than any expectation of a genuine response. An earlier response said walk away and forget it which is probably what I ll do, but not before I ve said my piece.
What surprises me about all of this is that it s a very smart garage, not some shabby back-street affair. They ve clearly invested a huge amount in their very shiny and clean workshop, and their booking system and general demeanor is brilliant - a garage for people that don t like traditional garages. Their reception area is immaculate, and their waiting room, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls looking into the workshop is main-dealer standard. I guess I set my expectations too high, based on the shiny workshop and plush customer area.
Are shabby back street garages automatically perceived as dishonest by you?His next explanation was that the gauge might have thrown a paddy while the fuel lines were disconnected, but that s highly implausible and was disproved by filling up with almost 45 litres a few minutes later.
After I d explained that the car had 115 miles on the trip since the last fill-up, he then asked me if I knew how the Terraclean process worked. I suspect he was going to tell me it used a lot of fuel, when the opposite is true. He was a bit taken aback when I told him I d seen it done 100+ times at the garage where I worked
I ve fired off a grumpy email asking for an official explanation. It was more for self-satisfaction than any expectation of a genuine response. An earlier response said walk away and forget it which is probably what I ll do, but not before I ve said my piece.
What surprises me about all of this is that it s a very smart garage, not some shabby back-street affair. They ve clearly invested a huge amount in their very shiny and clean workshop, and their booking system and general demeanor is brilliant - a garage for people that don t like traditional garages. Their reception area is immaculate, and their waiting room, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls looking into the workshop is main-dealer standard. I guess I set my expectations too high, based on the shiny workshop and plush customer area.
Edited by Nigel_O on Saturday 14th March 17:21
paul_c123 said:
Are shabby back street garages automatically perceived as dishonest by you?
'First impressions' and all that.I've had bad experiences at all levels of garage, from the local tyre/exhaust geezer place to an incompetent independent and a bungling main dealer. Equally some have been outstanding, like the one that drove 150 miles on Christmas Eve to get coilpacks.
Nigel_O said:
What surprises me about all of this is that it s a very smart garage, not some shabby back-street affair. They ve clearly invested a huge amount in their very shiny and clean workshop, and their booking system and general demeanor is brilliant - a garage for people that don t like traditional garages. Their reception area is immaculate, and their waiting room, with floor-to-ceiling glass walls looking into the workshop is main-dealer standard. I guess I set my expectations too high, based on the shiny workshop and plush customer area.
Maybe the money comes from fleecing people for Terraclean but giving them Italian tuneups? 
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