Several people have claimed their cars have "stopped running" after they filled up on diesel that was "full of water" at an Asda fuel station in Cardiff. The supermarket is currently conducting an investigation into the diesel at its Coryton fuel station - just off junction 32 of the M4 - after it received a "small number of enquiries" from customers.
Customers have reported engines cutting out and not restarting. Diesel is currently unavailable at the filling station but will return following "thorough testing", Asda said.
Lee Clark, 52, who is a company director of a cleaning and maintenance company and lives in Cardiff, is a regular customer at the Coryton station and is one of the affected customers. He filled up his Range Rover with about £120 worth of diesel on December 27, before driving from Coryton to Cwmbran. But about 15 miles into the journey he said his engine management light came on and faults started coming up.
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He claims his car then went into limp mode and was "struggling". He managed to get to Cwmbran and return home, and he left it overnight, thinking the engine had overheated. He started it again in the morning but "it was even worse" so he drove it, "chuggy and stalling", straight to a garage in Pontypridd where it's been ever since.
The garage told him it was a fuel issue and the diesel contained either water or another pollutant, which the garage has confirmed to WalesOnline. His car - which he claims has been well looked after and well maintained - was hooked up to a diagnostic machine and it came up with "a load of fault codes, which it never did before".
He added: "The amount of fault codes that are coming up is ridiculous. I don't even know if I need a new engine - I have no idea." The garage is still working to fix his car and it's unclear how bad the damage is yet. A mechanic at the garage also told WalesOnline: "It was a really big struggle to get Lee's car going when it was first brought in...Range Rovers are very sturdy. That level in there could have floored a lot of cars completely...by the time it was recovered to us, I think we actually pushed it into the workshop the first time."
The mechanic added that the garage had received enquiries from about five other drivers who had also filled up at the Coyrton station. Meanwhile, Ray Bright the owner of Garth Tyre and Auto Services in Cardiff said he had five cars come for repairs at his garage - all of which had filled up at the Asda Coryton fuel station and all contained diesel "full of water - or chemical or whatever it is in there, I do not know," he said.
He described the consistency of the fluid he's drained as like a "watered down milk". Ray claims he has rang Asda on a few occasions over the last three or four years to report the problem of watery diesel at the Coryton fuel station.
"We were having quite a lot of breakdowns every now and again - a lot of issues after having just filled up with fuel." On these occasions, he said he's recommended to Asda to check their tanks and take samples, and he claims Asda has always assured him they have.
But time around he said "something has gone majorly wrong down there". He continued: "Either they have put the wrong fluid in the diesel or there's a cleaning agent or something...it's happened to a lot of cars."
He added that about a dozen people had called him about the problem since he reopened on Tuesday. He said customers told him they had only travelled a short distance after filling up before their cars stopped running and did not restart.
"When I came back on the Tuesday morning, the whole yard was full of cars that just didn't run." He added his wasn't the only garage affected drivers had flocked to and he knew of a few others. "I've got a friend who owns a garage in Taffs Well - he's had a few over there as well."
Most of the cars brought to him have been repaired, but he's been left with two cars which are still not running and he said will probably need new engines. "Once there is water in the system, it's in the system - it's hard to get out," he explained.
An Asda spokesperson said: “We are currently conducting an investigation into the diesel at our Coryton filling station after we received a small number of enquiries from customers. Diesel is currently unavailable whilst the investigation takes place and will be available as soon as possible following thorough testing. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
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