Shanghai, April 19 (Gasgoo.com) Sinopec, China's largest oil refiner, has started investigating possible links between its gasoline product and car stalling after receiving complaints from central China's Henan province, media reported today.
In the past few weeks, over 100 Ford sedans have been sent to a Ford repair center in Henan's Anyang city for a gas circuit problem. The store's after-service manager said highly odorous emissions are coming from the cars' tailpipes, while their engine nozzles are spouting red or black fluid.
A Hyundai repair shop in Anyang also received more than 1,200 such cases from April 6-16. The first case occurred last November in Xinxiang city, but late March was the peak of the problem. The problem is linked with the fuel's ingredients, according to the after-service manager.
A test in Hyundai's Beijing lab showed that the manganese additive in the defective gas was 97 times higher than standard. The excessively high manganese could erode engine components, such as piston rods and piston rings, Global Times cited the manager as saying.
Sinopec is collecting samples of its 93-octane gasoline from Henan province, the company's spokesman said today. Its Anyang unit may provide free services to affected cars, although he said "some of the gasoline may not be ours," Bloomberg reported.
In January, liquefied gas sold by Sinopec was linked with vehicle breakdowns in Hong Kong. The local government immediately probed the reported cases of taxis and minibuses stalling, but the investigation has yielded no final results yet.
