California Casino Gas Station Sells Diesel Instead of Unleaded in Error

Posted on: February 20, 2025, 06:44h. 

Last updated on: February 21, 2025, 09:26h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.
  • Wrong fuel sold for few hours
  • Repairs to autos could be costly
  • Motorists should get cars checked soon
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Motorists wound up filling their tanks with diesel fuel instead of unleaded gasoline earlier this week at California’s Rolling Hills Casino Travel Center.

Rolling Hills Casino
Rolling Hills Casino, pictured above. The casino’s travel center sold diesel instead of unleaded fuel due to a mistake by the delivery service. (Image: Linkedin)

The diesel fuel was placed in an unleaded gasoline storage tank by mistake, according to California TV station KRCR. The fuel delivery service, not the travel center, made the mistake, according to the Corning, Calif. travel center.

On Tuesday, the casino revealed in a Facebook post, “We appreciate the community’s patience as we worked quickly to resolve the recent fuel delivery issue. The situation has been fully corrected…”

Motorists who may have filled their tanks improperly with diesel were at the station between 7:40 and 9:30 p.m. on Monday.

The impacted tank at the travel center was drained and cleaned, fuel filters were changed, and all lines and hoses were flushed.

Get to Garage, Soon

A garage, Anderson Automotive of Anderson, Calif., said it will provide repairs to those impacted by the fueling mishap.

Adam Kovarik, a foreman for Anderson Automotive, also told motorists who put the wrong fuel in their vehicles, to head to a repair shop very soon to minimize damage. The longer the diesel fuel is in the vehicle, the worse the risk for damage.

What they’ll do is actually swell some of the components up,” Kovarik told KRCR. “So, you’ll have a fuel pump failure in the fuel tank if you continue to leave it. Long-term problems, even if it’s a little amount, what it can do is damage the catalytic converter, O2 sensors. Gas cars were never designed to burn diesel.”

Diesel fuel won’t burn properly in a combustion chamber, the report added.

Repairs Could Cost Thousands

Kovarik said to drain and refill the tank could cost hundreds of dollars. But the estimate could be in the thousands of dollars depending on additional damage, he added.

It’s a very large repair, and the direct injected cars, the injectors, everything is much more expensive,” Kovarik explained. “So, it adds up really rapidly. You want to get it out of the car as soon as you can.”

Rolling Hills Casino wants those who purchased fuel during the at-risk time to call the casino’s Security Dispatch Line at (530) 528-3529.

Until 10 p.m. on Thursday, the casino travel center is discounting all types of gasoline by 50 cents a gallon.

The Travel Center has 18 covered pumps. It also has 10 diesel pumps and four high-flow diesel pumps.