A car towed from a Holly Springs gas station last week had a fuel tank that was nearly 90% water, according to local auto repair shop technicians who inspected the vehicle on July 29. The discovery came as the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services confirmed contaminated fuel at the Valero station at 601 N Main St. in Holly Springs, triggering a stop-sale order on two grades of gasoline at the pumps.
State inspectors visited the station on August 3 and found roughly two inches of phase separation sitting in the premium gasoline storage tank, with the separated layer coming through the premium fuel pump itself, as reported by WRAL. Because plus-grade gasoline at the pump is blended from premium and regular fuel, the contamination knocked out sales of both premium and plus gasoline until the problem is corrected, per the state agriculture department's order. WRAL consumer investigative reporter Keely Arthur, who covers the station's 5 On Your Side franchise, detailed how drivers who filled up at the Holly Springs station in late July began reporting rough-running vehicles almost immediately.
Symptoms Drivers Noticed at the Pump
Mechanics who examined the affected vehicles pointed to a familiar list of red flags: engine misfiring, difficulty starting, stalling, sudden loss of power, and check engine lights flickering on. One local repair shop posted that it had received a vehicle towed in after the owner filled up at the Holly Springs station, and inspection of that car's tank turned up the near-total water contamination. The station's manager blamed recent heavy rain for the problem, according to WRAL, though the outlet noted it had asked the state to verify whether rainfall was actually the cause.
Phase separation happens when ethanol-blended gasoline is exposed to a high concentration of water, causing the water and ethanol to separate from the gasoline itself. That split matters mechanically: once phase separation sets in, the mixture becomes caustic and can damage vehicle fuel systems and engines, not merely cause a rough idle. The station notified the state agriculture department, which issued the Valero a formal notice of violation once inspectors confirmed the contamination on-site.
Why Tank Sensors Can Miss the Problem
The chemistry behind phase separation helps explain why station operators sometimes don't catch it before customers do. Standard tank monitoring equipment at many gas stations relies on single-density float sensors built to detect pure water, according to Veeder-Root, but the ethanol-water mixture created during phase separation is less dense than water alone and can slip past those alarms undetected. That mixture settles at the bottom of underground storage tanks, precisely where pump pickup tubes draw fuel straight into customer vehicles, per the same research. E10 fuel also actively absorbs atmospheric moisture, according to Mills Equipment, which notes that vulnerability spikes during heavy rain events, and that the resulting acidic layer degrades metal fuel tanks, pumps, and fuel injection systems over time.
Under North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 119, fuel hit with a stop-sale order cannot legally go back on sale until the state's Gasoline and Oil Inspection Division Director grants written authorization confirming the fuel has been properly drained, reblended, or replaced. That process, funded in part by a statutory inspection tax of one-fourth of a cent per gallon on motor fuels sold statewide, is what now stands between the Holly Springs Valero and reopening its premium and plus pumps. Valero did not respond to WRAL's request for comment on the violation.
A Pattern Building Across the Triangle
The Holly Springs case is not an isolated complaint. The state agriculture department has received two customer complaints tied specifically to the Holly Springs station, part of a broader wave of five fuel-related complaints from Wake, Durham, Orange, and Johnston counties since June 21, and 55 such complaints statewide over that same stretch, according to the WRAL report. The station's troubles echo an incident WRAL covered in June, when diesel fuel accidentally loaded into unleaded underground tanks in Wake Forest left dozens of Triangle motorists stranded with engine damage; in that case, the fuel distributor agreed to cover lifetime repair costs for affected vehicles after reporters got involved.
Hoodline reported in May that NCDA&CS Standards Division inspectors had already tagged more than a dozen pumps across Wake, Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties for mechanical and metering problems, a separate but related strand of enforcement activity in the region this year. Repair costs for vehicles damaged by water-contaminated gasoline typically range from $500 to more than $1,400, covering tank draining, line flushing, filter replacements, and injector servicing, according to Cuvrd, with costs climbing further if contaminated fuel is circulated through the engine while driving. WRAL 5 On Your Side has previously secured free repairs for customers affected by a similar refueling incident in Apex, though it remains unclear whether Valero or its distributor will offer the same relief to drivers hit in Holly Springs.
