Wow. How did you even figure out what happened at the gas station? Good thing you kept your receipt!

Diesel fuel does not ignite very readily, which is why the compression ratio on diesel engines is so high - they squeeze the mixture until it combusts.

I'm thinking the diesel/gasoline mix fouled your spark plugs. Once this happened, you were getting nothing but raw (contaminated) fuel through the engine, hence the fuel smell you mentioned. Fouled spark plugs don't allow the spark to jump the gap. No spark, bad fuel = engine does not run.

Glad to hear you got the problem fixed. Depending on your deductible, if I were you, I'd go after the station to reimburse me for that!

 

wow, now that is a crazy cause.

congratulations finding out and moving forward.

 

damnnn... kinda like that gas station that was filling up people's cars
with water due to heavy rain the previous night.

 

Glad you got it fixed. Tell us if you learn what bad gas had to do with no spark. State Farm has always been good to me. Never any hassle paying claims.

 

Sorry for reviving an "older" thread, but glad to hear you found a resolution.

I'd go after the Gas Station to pay for the deductible though. A few well placed calls may do the trick.

 

thanks to your description below, iDiaz, of a dieing mini battery experience, i was able to diagnose the problem with my mini this week! night before last was coldest night of the year, and i go to crank my 2002 mcS and i get all the blinking lights and clicks you mentioned - but no intuitive "weak battery" message - all my fuses checked out okay; so i was puzzled and searched the forum to find this thread.
yesterday i took my battery to an autozone - their test came back "bad" - so i got the new battery and all is good in miniland again!

by the way, when they searched their database for the battery to fit my car, they didn't have that in stock. they suggested trying a battery (recommended for bmw) that had the same specs as mine (& cheaper). i go with it and there's no problem (yet).

THANKS iDiaz and all for the help!

-Brian

 

No problem! Hopefully I saved you some troubleshooting time.

Here's another one, just in case someone happens upon this thread with another "car won't start" issue: A few weeks ago, I went to leave my friend's house, and the car wouldn't start. Totally dead. The doors wouldn't even unlock remotely. We tried to jumpstart it, and it wouldn't start. I figured it was the battery again, so I took it in to get it tested and charged, and it turns out the battery was fine. It just had a reaaally low charge on it, so they charged it back up for me. I took it back and as soon as I reconnected the battery, I heard a whining noise coming from the front of the car that sounded like the power steering pump. I thought that was odd since there wasn't even a key in the ignition. The car started fine, but I noticed the power steering motor was spinning at full blast (instead of varying its speed based on my steering inputs), so I called Steve at Steve's Auto Clinic and he said the power steering pump motor was done.

Apparently, sometimes when they fail, they stay on even when the car is turned off and drain the battery. While I was at Steve's getting it swapped, Randy even told me he'd heard some stories about some MINIs going up in flames when the power steering motor overheated. Some BMW electrical engineer needs to be slapped.