I not sure what the outcome will be. I find it hard to believe that a company such as Subaru, who I have done business with for years would purposely inflate my bill and change parts that aren’t needed. I’m not a mechanic and can only trust that my dealership is providing the best service and looking out for my best interest. The only thing I’m guilty of is pulling into a Sam’s Club and putting what I thought was unleaded gas in my car. When in actuality Diesel was being put from all of the unleaded pumps due to a delivery mix up. I’ll keep ya posted, it may get interesting.
What i would do is, drop the tank, drain the diesel, flush the tank, remove he fuel filter, flush the fuel lines, put it all back together, fill it with gas and see if it will run.
If not, or runs rough, then change the injectors.
And then see if it runs.
Tester
I expect that’s what they believe they are doing. If most everything in the fuel system that could possibly be adversely affected by this unfortunate incident is replaced, you’ll end up with a nearly brand new fuel system. That will be in your best interest, presuming someone else is paying the fees.
There’s a conflict of interest involved of course.
Heh heh, like I asked at the paint store, is that $70 gallon of paint coming out of her check? Delivery guy gonna pay for all the car repairs? Then again maybe the refinery loaded the wrong stuff. Some years ago the refinery loaded way more alcohol and the bills were substantial. I’d say no on the tank but if the dealer says the pump, injectors, and plugs need to be changed, I’d defer to them. It’s not like it is a 20 year old car and always dealer serviced so experimenting for the least needed to get it to run would not necessarily make the op whole, as they say. Put it back the way it was with a clean system. Walmart can just call it reparations.
That estimate wasn’t written by Subaru, it was written by an individual mechanic who may have never had to perform this type of repair, “when in doubt replace everything”.
I usually charge 2 hours of labor to empty the tank and purge the old fuel from the fuel lines. There is a guy on the other side of the shop that charges 8 hours of labor, there is nothing that I can do about that.
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Well it sounds like Sam’s/Walmart is dealing with a lot of complaints on this, you might ask them who they have recommend sending it to… I had a Walmart right behind us (customers used to love dropping their vehicles off with us and walking to Walmart while their vehicle was being worked on) and anytime Walmart would damage a wheel stud or drain plug they would send the vehicle out way and just say fix it they will pay the bill… Heck I even had one of the big District managers dropped his work vehicle off to have an oil change, tires and alignment done to his car while he was at Walmart doing his thing… I guess he trusted us more… lol
Point is Sam’s may have a few shops that they have an account with for when they screw vehicles up…
Diesel is basically a very clean kerosene with some additives to reduce smoke. Kerosene is a lubricant like a very thin oil. You probably still had some gas in your tank when you added the diesel so it isn’t pure diesel plus there was no doubt some gas still in the tanks at Sam’s when the diesel was added to it.
I’m with the drain and flush the tank, purge the fuel lines and fill with fresh gas and go for it. Any remaining diesel will be like a 2-cycle gas/oil mix to you engine or like someone adding top oil to your gas as people used to do in the old days. Not going to help, but not going to hurt either.
The diesel that has been run through the engine already may reduce the life of the catalytic converter but I’m not sure the data exists that will give you an estimate. A cat is a very expensive repair so you want some compensation for that in your settlement. I’m surprised that your dealer didn’t include it in their repair estimate, it would have added another $3k or so.
A reasonable settlement from Walmart will likely take years. You could get a lowball settlement pretty quickly so you get back on the road ASAP, but that may cost you down the road.
First, check with your insurance agent to see if this is covered. They will usually pay you a reasonable settlement and then abrogate Walmart to recover their losses. BTW, you may have to pay a deductible but in the abrogation, your insurance company is obligated to get that back to you as part of their settlement.
If you don’t have coverage for this, then I’d suggest you pay for the flush of the system to get back on the road ASAP. Then get a lawyer (or get a lawyer first) and let them negotiate the settlement. Make sure the lawyer accounts for the early demise of the cats and the sparkplugs.
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Get 3 estimates from reputable people, then talk to sams club and ask how they want to pay for repairs.
The dealer is wanting to replace too many parts. As others have said, a thorough cleaning, maybe plugs, should do the job.
The issue which no one here raised is that for certain vehicles, which are designated as “PZEV”, the fuel pump is not removable from the fuel tank, and is replaced as an assembly. A quick search on Rock Auto shows that there is no fuel pump assy for sale for this vehicle, whether is its a 4-cylinder or a 6-cylinder, which tells me that this is a “PZEV” with a non-removable fuel pump.
Even on such a vehicle, could the fuel tank be removed, dumped out, and reinstalled? I’m sure it could be, though it may be necessary to pry off or jam open a check valve, etc. Would a dealer shop agree to do such a thing? Apparently not.
And then, of course, once the fuel tank is drained and cleaned, or replaced, it is possible that the spark plugs will need to be replaced as well. Some of these Subaru engines are difficult to change the spark plugs on, and at dealer prices, that will add up.
That being said, on a typical vehicle with port fuel injection, it should not cost more than $1000 to solve this problem, and that’s assuming (on the high end) that the fuel tank is removed and cleaned, and that a new fuel pump, new fuel filter, and new spark plugs are installed. If the dealer was charging $2500 or $3000 to do all this work, that would be high, but not outrageous. Unfortunately, a repair cost of $6000 is beyond absurd. Many shops will replace an engine or transmission for less than that.
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Tester
Replacing the fuel pump or tank is unnecessary, diesel fuel is a good lubricant, it won’t harm the pump.
The fuel tank is located above the exhaust pipe/heat shields and driveshaft, removing a fuel tank is more labor than it was in the past, however:
Removing the fuel tank is unnecessary. Disconnect the fuel line from the fuel rail or fuel tank, whichever is more convenient, turn on the fuel pump with the scan tool and empty the tank.
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When I lived in Colorado I used to take a small plastic bottle of diesel fuel with me on mountain hikes. It’s burn characteristics makes it pretty good for starting a campfire. Gasoline is no good for this use, explodes with a match; diesel fuel burns much more slowly, like a candle. The smoke emitted from burning diesel fuel is probably quite toxic, I’m not recommending this, just saying.
If they put drain plugs on fuel tanks, thieves would start stealing gas.
Another vote for this is ridiculous approach to correcting the problem. Of course the dealership will take this position. It benefits them greatly in every way. They get far more work/profit and less chance of a comeback. They figure insurance is paying, not a customer so take the expensive route. Just look at any service where the customer pays versus insurance to see the same thing play out.
There is no way the insurance will pay for this exorbitant repair bill. You’ll be fighting this forever and likely not prevail when they can show the other cars that had the drain flush fill work done successfully as part of their settlement with other owners.
If you’re set on this dealership doing the work, I would ask them to do the type of repair being suggested. If they still balk, tell them you’ll have it towed elsewhere and find a reputable shop to do the work…
Damage to the cat is what would bother me though. Normal warranty is only to 70k unless you are in california. I’d go for the quick cleaning if Walmart would extend the warranty on these parts. No reason the op should be stuck with an $800 plus cat.