Suspected mix-up with diesel and premium at South Lake Tahoe gas station

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - If you got premium gas at the South Lake Tahoe Safeway gas station over the past few days you may want to have your car examined. One consumer contacted South Tahoe Now to say he got what he thought was premium at Safeway on December 29, 30 and 31 and now both his car and his rental car are in the shop getting their gas tanks cleaned out.

Safeway says they have received a few calls concerning the mixup possibility so turned off both their premium and diesel tanks once notified until they can get the fuel tested.

In a call to Christensen Automotive in South Lake Tahoe, Service Writer Nick Pickering says they have three confirmed cases of diesel in the non-diesel tank and a possible fourth is on the way in.

Over at Jim Bagan Toyota, three cars have been towed in with the same issue, with the owners saying they also purchased premium at Safeway.

One of those with their car at Christensen said he had to rent a car due to his vehicle being out of service. He filled up that car with premium at Safeway as well and it broke down on Highway 99 near Stockton. He said his car was smoking prior to it ceasing to run.

Employees at the Safeway Gas Station said they are proactively emptying out the tanks of premium and sending a sample to Sacramento for testing. The store manager said they don't know yet what is going on and how/if it happened at their station.

If a car using normal gasoline gets diesel it won't run properly and will soon not run at all. Pickering said they clean out the gas tank and replace the spark plugs to get the car back on the road.

South Lake Tahoe Police Department received one call Thursday on the situation.