WBZ Newsroom (WBZ Newsroom) -- Last week we told you about a bunch of bad gas that's sending owners of high performance cars to the mechanic with a check engine light going off.
WBZ's Lisa Meyer has been fielding calls from car owners ever since.
WBZ listeners from Pembroke to the south...Swampscott to the north and Watertown to the west have been calling and moaning about the cost of the repairs...well over $150 according to Sarkis Gennetian who had to have her tank cleaned out and the fuel lines flushed.
Ellen Weiner of Revere Beach called her station to ask about the gas and got a defensive reply. She was told " we've had an inspector out... there's nothing wrong with our gas", they said. Weiner says that makes her believe they must have had many calls for them to react that way. Another guy called to say he had to replace his Audi's oxygen sensors...same problem as everyone else...the engine light goes on after a fill up. Mercedes and Audi have tested the gas...but the results aren't in yet.
Last week's story:
WBZ's Lisa Meyer has learned at least two car makers, Mercedes and Audi, are testing gas from our area after a series of reports of problems with the cars' oxygen sensors and catalytic converters.
Mechanic Robert Ansell of Marblehead tipped us off to the problem. People came into his shop after their 'check engine' lights came on. Ansell says the oxygen sensors give off readings that make no sense and the catalytic converters are running at triple and quadruple their usual temperature -- hot enough to melt the inside of the converters.
Mercedes spokesman Rob Moran confirms to WBZ that the company believes there is a bad gas problem here. He says problems have been reported within a 100 mile radius of Boston, affecting car owners in Southern New Hampshire, Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Moran says Mercedes is testing gas samples right now. The results are not yet in. Moran says if people flush their gas and replace it with fuel from a reliable source the problem goes away, with no damage to the vehicle. Moran says its possible that the proportion of additives in the gas may be out of balance or there might be too much ethanol in the blend.
Ansell says he thinks Mercedes, Audis some Volkswagons and other high performance vehicles are more suseptible to the problem because they use a special kind of oxygen sensor, called a planar sensor. Other vehicles seem to be unaffected.
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