Woman Pumps Premium Gas Into Lexus, Gets Diesel and a $26,000 Engine Bill
Woman Pumps Premium Gas Into Lexus, Gets Diesel and a $26,000 Engine Bill
Olivia RichmanSun, August 23, 2026 at 7:26 PM UTC
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Image Credit: WPTV News / YouTube.
A Florida woman says she did the responsible thing at the gas station: pulled up to the pump, selected the fuel her Lexus needed, and filled the tank with premium.
The problem was that the premium apparently wasn't premium.
About 15 minutes after Ellie Ferguson left a Mobil station in Westlake, Florida, her Lexus began rattling and shaking before the engine shut down. She had the vehicle towed to a dealership, where technicians delivered an explanation that did not match the button she remembered pressing at the pump.
There was diesel fuel in the tank. Ferguson now says she is facing a $26,000 engine replacement, while reports from other customers have raised questions about how many vehicles may have received the wrong fuel from the same station.
The Wrong Premium
Image Credit: WPTV News / YouTube.
Ferguson told WPTV she had stopped at the Mobil station at Persimmon Boulevard and Seminole Pratt Whitney Road after having dinner with her grandchildren.
She selected 93-octane premium and pumped nearly 14 gallons into her Lexus.
Nothing about the transaction gave her reason to believe she had just filled a gasoline-powered car with diesel.
That changed roughly 15 minutes into the drive home.
"My car just started rattling and shaking and just engine shut down," Ferguson told WPTV.
The Lexus was towed to a dealership. Ferguson said she received a call the next day telling her that technicians had found diesel in the fuel tank.
Her reaction was immediate: she hadn't selected diesel.
"I put 93," she recalled telling the dealership.
The consequences were considerably more expensive than the tank of premium she thought she had purchased. According to Ferguson, the dealership determined that the engine needed to be replaced and gave her a $26,000 estimate.
Not Just One
Ferguson's experience may not have been isolated.
WPTV reviewed posts in a local Westlake Facebook group and found other customers describing similar vehicle problems after purchasing premium gasoline at the same station around the same period.
A local community publication, the Westlake Wanderer, also posted a notice specifically seeking people who experienced vehicle problems after buying Premium 93 at the Exprezo Mobil station.
The publication directed affected drivers to file complaints with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
That does not establish how many vehicles were damaged or whether every reported mechanical problem had the same cause. WPTV said it contacted FDACS seeking the number of official complaints associated with the station but had not received that information at the time of its report.
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The station itself, however, was aware there had been a fuel problem.
After WPTV made repeated attempts to reach the business, a station manager confirmed by phone that the station knew about the issue and said steps were being taken to address it.
Ferguson told the station that its management had also contacted her directly.
According to Ferguson, management instructed her to file an insurance claim against the station. She said she subsequently asked for those instructions in writing but had not received them.
Under The Sign
The Mobil name on the canopy does not mean ExxonMobil operates the Westlake station.
WPTV contacted ExxonMobil while trying to determine who was responsible for the location. A company spokesperson told the station that ExxonMobil does not own or operate retail gas stations in Florida and directed questions to the station's owner or branded wholesaler.
That distinction matters while questions remain about what happened inside the station's fuel system and who will ultimately cover the resulting vehicle damage.
Florida does have a state agency responsible for checking what comes out of fuel pumps.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services regulates petroleum inspection in the state. Its responsibilities include testing gasoline and diesel fuel for quality and inspecting retail dispensers for compliance.
There is also precedent for Florida regulators dealing with diesel contamination in gasoline.
In 2023, FDACS warned motorists after gasoline supplied to stations along Florida's Gulf Coast was potentially contaminated with diesel fuel. The agency warned at the time that vehicles filled with contaminated gasoline could suffer engine damage or become inoperable.
That incident was unrelated to the Westlake station, but it illustrates why putting the wrong petroleum product into an underground storage tank can become a problem for drivers who make the correct selection at the pump.
After The Button
Exactly how diesel ended up being dispensed through a pump Ferguson says was set to 93-octane gasoline has not been publicly established.
Neither has the total number of customers affected.
WPTV said it was continuing to seek answers from the station's owner and FDACS about the contamination, including how it occurred and how many complaints had been filed.
For Ferguson, those answers will come after the expensive part.
She says she selected premium, pumped nearly 14 gallons, and drove away with no reason to suspect anything was wrong. Fifteen minutes later, the Lexus was disabled.
The dealership's proposed remedy came to $26,000.
Source: “AOL Money”
