extremely difficult to start after refueling

[Nephus]

My explorer was working fine yesterday, it was just getting low on gas, so I stopped at a little late night gas station and filled the tank up. I had a little trouble getting it started as I left, but just assumed it was because of the cold since it was 3am. This morning I almost didn't make it to work because I couldn't get it to start. All that's running through my mind right now is a recent horror story of a nearby gas station that accidentally had diesel in with the gasoline and damaged several cars.

Is there any way to easily check the fuel to make sure I'm not damaging my x? I mean, sure I'd been talking about replacing it with a V8 if the engine ever did go to pieces, but this is about 8 years earlier than I was expecting.

 

[Lt.Jim]

If you got diesel you could smell the differance just by sniffing the fill spout. If it is diesel it would run like crap if at all. You may want to check your fuel filter to see if it is clogged or possibly has water in the fuel. You may also want to check your fuel pump.

 

[96eb]

yep fuel filter is where i would tell you to start first. cheap and easy.