Some motorists are complaining that a new self-service station in Dunedin has been pumping water-contaminated diesel.
Recent posts on the Sawyers Bay Facebook page claim water in diesel pumped at the McKeown Sawyers Bay station was affecting the performance of vehicles.
McKeown Group managing director Ken McKeown, of Oamaru, said yesterday four complaints had been received, and technicians were investigating.
"It’s being sorted. I believe there’s no water there now, if there was any for a start-off, but I haven’t got the results back from the tests.
"Our service people are on to it and it’s being dealt to.
"That’s all I can tell you."
One person said on the page their SUV had required a filter change after it "played up" after being refuelled with diesel from the station.
Another said they had been forced to "dump" a tank of diesel bought from the station, which had "heaps of water in it" and "kept setting the filter alarm off".
AA motoring adviser Cade Wilson said engines were protected from moisture by fuel filters, but too much water could saturate them and allow moisture through.
The most likely scenario was the vehicle would then "just pack up and stop ... before it creates too much problems", he said.
McKeown Group reopened the Sawyers Bay station last year, as part of a wider expansion by the cheaper-price fuel supply firm in Dunedin.
The site had previously been owned by Mohammed Rizwan Din Khan Hussain, of Auckland, who in 2015 was convicted of stealing fuel worth $77,000 for the business.
