Drivers: Tainted fuel at Okatie Enmark damaged cars

An undetermined number of drivers say their cars broke down after buying gasoline at an Okatie station that may have been contaminated with diesel fuel.

The number of drivers whose cars were damaged is unknown because the managers at the Enmark gas station at 101 Commerce Place East declined to comment Thursday.

Calls from The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette to Enmark’s Savannah-based corporate offices also went unanswered.

At least nine motorists reached out on Facebook this week to ask whether others had experienced problems with their vehicles after fueling up at the station. They commented on the Bluffton Okatie Buy/Sell Page.

“By any chance, is somebody else’s car broken down after fueling gas at Enmarks at Okatie?” one commenter asked.

The responses poured in, with some saying they had experienced similar problems and had to take their cars to mechanics for repairs.

“I have a brand-new Jeep and stopped yesterday on my way to Beaufort and put in gas this morning,” another commenter said. “My car spittered and sputtered.”

Nick Hanson of Bluffton said he caught the problem in time on Monday.

“I’m a mechanic, so basically (all) I had to do was clean the fuel system, change a fuel filter and clean out the fuel tank,” he told the newspapers Thursday. “I caught it before it got bad.”

For those who are not mechanics, having vehicles towed and repaired was the only option.

“We towed a couple of vehicles and had to drain, flush and refill the systems,” Jeffrey Robinowich, president of Morris Garage and Towing in Bluffton, said Thursday. “What happens is when diesel gets put in gasoline, the car will run, but it’ll run terrible and generally won’t go over five or 10 miles per hour.”

Robinowich said, once he determined the problem was contaminated fuel, he called his customers and they said they had filled their tanks at the Enmark station.

The same went for Chris Wiszowaty, service adviser for Hilton Head Honda, who said he worked on three vehicles that visited the gas station prior to having problems. Wiszowaty offered his assistance to drivers on Facebook when he saw the comments.

“Based on what I’ve heard, the (fuel) supplier made the mistakes either Sunday night or Monday morning when they slipped the wrong hose off of the trucks,” Wiszowaty said.

The gas station’s staff caught the problem Monday afternoon, Wiszowaty said.

The first vehicle brought to Hilton Head Honda was towed and Enmark had paid for the repairs before it arrived, Wiszowaty said.

Wiszowaty said, depending on the vehicle, repairs can cost around $750.

For some drivers, the inconvenience was difficult to deal with.

“I filled up yesterday morning around 7:30 a.m. on my way to drop my kids off at school, and now I don’t even have another car to take them to school again,” one commenter said.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Drivers: Tainted fuel at Okatie Enmark damaged cars."