More cases of bad gas in Lee County; no resolution in sight

The people of Lee County are experiencing bad gas.

WINK News is digging for answers after a handful of people came to us with the same issue: water in their gas tanks from multiple gas stations in Southwest Florida.

Here on WINK, we told you that people turned to us saying a Cape Coral 7-Eleven on Pine Island Road and a 7-Eleven on Metro Parkway in Fort Myers had contaminated gas.

WINK News reporter Tiffany Rizzo contacted the Department of Agriculture on Monday and says she’s still waiting for an update.

However, they have received reports from customers about their car troubles and have had inspectors examine the impacted areas.

Car trouble after car trouble …

One resident who has had this issue is John Tanner.

“My car started stuttering and having issues with acceleration,” he said, “and then later on that evening, it had trouble starting and just wasn’t accelerating properly.”

Tanner’s car started having problems after he filled up his gas tank at the 7-Eleven by the Edison Bridge.

He thinks the gas he got was contaminated, and he isn’t the only one.

Regis Lesko got gas at the 7-Eleven on Pine Island, which is a Mobil gas station.

After his car started having problems, his mechanic came over to take samples that confirmed his suspicions.

“Man, that thing jumping and backfiring, and what the hell is going on here, you know? And I called my mechanic, and I said, ‘This is what the problem is.’ He said, ‘You got water in your gas line’,” said Lesko. “If you see, there’s a line on the bottom, there’s water, that’s water, gasoline on top, water on the bottom.”

So now what do they do?

“I’m stuck. What I’ve been doing is calling a couple of grocery stores. I got deliveries and some food, takeout food and I got it delivered, you know,” said Lesko.

Tanner said, “I used some STP Water Out treatment and the fuel injector cleaner, and it’s running a little better, but the check engine light’s still on.”

Tanner relies on his car to pay his bills: “I also use it to do Uber Eats as, like, some extra money to help pay bills, so it’s gonna be a little rough if I don’t get it working properly.”

Both told WINK they think the owner of the gas station should pay for the repairs.

We are still waiting for the report from the state to figure out how this contamination occurred and will keep you updated with the latest.