Sinclair Gas Station

Fast service in and out.

Don't buy gas here, or you could damage your engine!

Gas pump was missing the octane rating and I ended up accidentally putting E85 gas into my Toyota Sienna which calls out 87 octane or higher. Thought I was putting in premium because it appeared that was all they had, because the only labelling visible on the pump was "Top Tier". After looking around at other pumps after other folks left, I realized what happened at which time I went to notify the manager on duty.

I initially got the attention of the person at the counter, who was so new that she didn't even know what an "octane rating" even was. Maybe she has never filled a gas tank? So she sent me out to two other employees who were (of all things) having a cigarette break. At a gas station. Right in front. After explaining the issue to both of them, one of them called their manager and told him/her that I was "very upset". Well, wouldn't you be upset if you put the wrong type of gas in your car since the gas station didn't label it properly? How was this my fault? I thought by the label that I was putting in premium. By the way, I believe it is unlawful to not have the octane rating clearly visible on every pump.

Anyways, after doing a bit of research on the dangers of this, it appears one time of this happening is unlikely to cause any permanent damage. Since the tank was full, I couldn't put any premium in to bring the octane rating up. I had to drive it to get some space to do that, and after about 100 miles, I stopped somewhere else (not Sinclair) and put in 91 octane. We listened for engine knock and didn't hear anything. However, if you fill up at this station regularly, you might develop engine knock and not even know it!

I will be looking into the law regarding this matter as in my entire life of filling gas tanks, I have never encountered a pump that didn't have the octane sticker present indicating what type of gas it was. Never. I should have stopped and asked before filling, but really thought I was buying premium. I hope they are at a minimum fined for this problem, as they obviously did not care (they were smoking out front at their own gas station!), and were completely unwilling to help me solve this problem. I had to do the research and solve it on my own. Ridiculous.

Never again will we visit a Sinclair. Never. I have permanently black-listed Sinclair. I hope others don't get burned by this like I did and this review helps them decide not to come here.