[Resolved]  Hp Gas — Adulterated Petrol

This happened during our trip from navi Mumbai to Bangalore for a business trip.
We Started Tuesday night 20th July 2010 at 8:00 P.M from Navi Mumbai for Bangalore- destination -Electronic city Bangalore. Car - Ford Fusion (P) .
First Stop was at HP Pump near Khargar where we topped up the Fuel Tank .
We Were doing good times till hubli which we passed around 3:30 A.M. Fuel was getting really low and we wanted to refuel. I spotted one HP (looked new) on the opp side, towards mumbai (shigaon) of the road, near the Bankapur toll naka (abt 10-15 kms before).
We were the first at the Pump as the attendants were also not around . We got them after banging on the glass door inside the cabin where they were sleeping. After 10 minutes we had filled 41 litres of Power Petrol @ 59Rs. Per litre.
Now, starts the Trouble!! I tried to crank the car after the fuel was completely filled up. My car started ,shuddered and stopped. After that the car just refused to start. This is around 430 am
Called the petrol bunk attendant to complain about the situation and to which he refuted and confidently said the problem is with the car only.
Then we started thinking what could have gone wrong as I had come from bombay till here covering around 600 Km and suddenly after filling up,the car wont start.
We initially suspected battery problem, but the voltages and everthing was showing ok. Tried push starting that too did not work!
I feared the worse !
It was about 4:30 A.M in the morning. we franatically tried calling ford service helpline ( their main road side assistance help line number was switched off!!) some how managed to get on the phone the Metro ford service guys at Hubli, explained the problem to them and they said they will be on their way in about an hour or so, which they did couple of hours later. They also suspected battery problem. Infact they were almiost sure about it.
Meanwhile, I rechecked my batteries and I could clearly see the battery showing about 12 volts and not going below 9 volts wile cranking also rest of the battery operated stuff worked fine.
Tried push starting for 3-4 times and gave up..again tried cranking innumerable times and gave up.
Since I had the OBD connected to the laptop i quickly scanned for any DTCs, but that was all ok, there was no error codes.
Meanwhile , we just checked the smell of the petrol in car and it smelt weird, almost like kerosene or whatever but definitely not like petrol, immediately we lodged a complain at the HP call center IVR and also called the local bunk Manager/Owner.
Some local guys also confirmed that the petrol might be culprit. The manager arrived and he was all like there is no problem with the petrol here and we all regularly check and the HPCL guys also visit and bla bla bla...

The metro ford guys also arrived till then , it was almost 7:30 in the morning, We were tormented by out plight, exhauhested will all the yelling which was going on, and we had no clue on what kind of mess we are getting into.
The ford guys opened up the fuel connector pipe near the engine and cranked the engine, what came out of the pipe was shocking!
It was water and not petrol !
He immediately told that there is water in the tank!
We really got wild and started confronting the manager who was in no mood to accept what he just saw. Which he later then accepted as there was all proof in front of him to prove that there was water in the petrol filled in our tank.
In all the commotion we quickly asked the ford guys what level of damage this might have caused to the engine and how do we get back on the road again.
He said the car has to be towed down to their service station (about 60 kms opp way) , the fuel tank , the spark plugs all has to be cleaned and then only it will start.
We had no other option but to have the vehicle towed back, meanwhile a temporrary settlement was made between the manager of the petrol bunk and us that he would refund the money of the petrol we filled and all the labour cost of the cleanup job.
We had to be in b'lore the same day, so we reluctantly agreed for the same and took the photos etc. and were on our way to metro ford, hubli. It took about 4 hours to undo the mess. And we were finally able to hit the road by 2:00 Pm and reached Bangalore Electronic City by 7:30 P.M.
We missed our Appointment with our customer in Bangalore and had to reschedule the same for the next day. This was the most frustrating time we have ever had . We fill petrol regularly from HPCL and now we are quite afraid to continue to do so after this horrifying experience.
We are writing this to inform you that we are taking Legal measures against HPCL and going to the Media with this ordeal we had to go through - Our Precious time wasted stranded on the highway ; Fear of being attacked in an isolated place on NH4 in the darkness of the night ; Our Car Damaged due to adulterated Petrol ; prospect of Losing our customer due to the delay in attending the meeting.
We also fear long term damage to our car which we are most concerned about.