Associate Professor and Doctor Hoa Huu Thu, a former lecturer at the Hanoi University of Science has speculated that additives added by manufacturers to fuel might be the culprit killing luxury car engines in HCM City.

Hoa Huu Thu

According to Thu, gum can form in a fuel during storage periods, having an adverse effect on engine efficiency and performance.

Thu said the manufacturers might have added in more additives than allowed. Before the fuel was transported to the south, it was stored in the north where the temperatures had been on low, at some points dropping below 10 Celsius, which affect the chemical structure of the fuel.

Thu, however, dismissed the idea that the fuel might have been stolen and replaced with some low-quality substances during transportation or by workers at fuel stations. "They would have to replace it with something that has a high octane rating or else the fuel would be useless. But these substances are very expensive," he said.

Dozens of car owners in HCM City have complained about their vehicle engines died after using A95 petrol supplied by the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex). Most of the cases are luxury cars including brands like Mercedes and Lexus. So far the incidents have only been reported in HCM City.

The fuel injections are said to be covered in a white substance, but the engines work as soon as the injection is cleaned.

Petrolimex withdrew all fuel on January 21 but said after their tests, they found the fuel met all quality standards. Petrolimex also promised to compensate car owners who suffered any damage because of their fuel.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade ordered market management units to uncover the cause of the issue. The Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality later announced that the gum content in some of the sample fuel tested was higher than the permissible value of 5mg/100mL.

Dtinews