P0172
02-06-2022, 12:00 PM
#131
Senior Member
Join Date: 03-18-2018
Location: USA
Posts: 148
Probably and gas from that station. Switching from 89-87 might have done it too since flexfuel cars are sensitive. Yeah I better start driving it more.
still hate the dang air box and still rattles once awhile but can’t bring myself to spend $20.00 on a cone filter just for a noise and easier access which i shouldn’t need to mess with HHR for awhile.
still hate the dang air box and still rattles once awhile but can’t bring myself to spend $20.00 on a cone filter just for a noise and easier access which i shouldn’t need to mess with HHR for awhile.
02-06-2022, 01:42 PM
#134
Senior Member
Join Date: 12-05-2014
Location: Northern Ohio
Posts: 2,375
Alcohol was at 55.3! So found a local shop owner who I kinda know. He said yep just fixed a Silverado with that issue. Made appointment. Coworker wanted to buy a SnapOn Solus Legend scanner. So we hooked it up, went to fuel management and reset alcohol content to zero. Erased CEL. Engine started perfect and I drove it that day with no issues. Next day drove it 160miles without it missing a beat. Temps also stayed exactly normal like they should. Came home and drained marvel and oil out. Old filter was kinda beat up looking never had that happen before anyhow added new 5w30 synthetic and filter.
So long journey is over thanks for everyone’s help and idea. To the OP and Pulp you guys were right the alcohol content did have something to do with part of the issue. So either the gas station I found out is junk it’s gas messed stuff up or me running 89 forever and switching to 87 with gas prices somehow upset the alcohol sensor. We will never know but glad I talked to people about changing gas stations and wonders why pumps were never packed at this place. Just was closer on my route to work. NEVER AGAIN!
So long journey is over thanks for everyone’s help and idea. To the OP and Pulp you guys were right the alcohol content did have something to do with part of the issue. So either the gas station I found out is junk it’s gas messed stuff up or me running 89 forever and switching to 87 with gas prices somehow upset the alcohol sensor. We will never know but glad I talked to people about changing gas stations and wonders why pumps were never packed at this place. Just was closer on my route to work. NEVER AGAIN!
There ARE old stations with leaky tanks with water in the bottom, but you’d think there’d be out of business in no time. States are supposed to force the removal of defective tanks but but there is cheating and negligence and loopholes.
Gasoline is a complicated and highly variable brew of hydrocarbons. I did tiny bit of research and even the density can vary by something on the order of 8%. The number of things that can go wrong is shocking. And when something does go wrong the incentives are huge to just get rid of the stuff and hope no one notices.
Just days after my P0172 problem started my wife reported the gas station shut down, and technical-looking trucks present, and personnel fishing around in the underground tanks. Suspicious, she inquired and was told it was a “annual federal inspection.” We both smelled a rat and I went and inquired, and the attendant was evasive but said, with a tinge of hostility, that there were no problems. I wish she would have take pictures of the trucks.
Accepting that I’ll never know what caused it.
Lesson learned, with a P0172 in a FlexFuel, (and probably a P0171 also) check the stored ethanol % (very easy), and depending on the result, maybe sample the tank for actual ethanol % as well (only slightly more trouble.) Because a problem with the ethanol % setting is one of the easiest causes to eliminate. Or to fix.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Last edited by PulpFriction; 02-06-2022 at 02:42 PM.
02-06-2022, 01:46 PM
#135
Senior Member
Join Date: 03-18-2018
Location: USA
Posts: 148
Well that’s odd for sure! Cutting corners. With the station I was going to. Must people were in the store buying stuff and rarely getting gas. Figured it was just odd times I was filling up. One guy told me he had to have a mechanic drain his tank and fill it back up with fuel cleaner. Then his engine ran great after. It was a 1990’s Honda.
02-06-2022, 04:50 PM
#136
Moderator
Join Date: 01-23-2009
Location: Fredericksburg,VA
Posts: 24,735
In the late 90's early 00's the Federal government mandated that ALL underground gasoline tanks be replaced with new "plastic" tanks. They also mandated leak detection equipment and reporting. Today all underground gasoline tanks are plastic. A company I worked for had a tank for private use under the parking lot, the had to pull it out and replace it with a computer monitor that the had to record for the EPA. There were a lot of people making lots of money for a few years.
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