Are we being 'hosed'?

Footnote to getting Triple-D's car started: it stalled out while idling in her parking spot.

Her friend, the guy from Declude (which is, by the way, for sale if anyone is interested), after jump starting the car again, suggested that she had a problem with whatever makes a car idle smoothly or the fuel injection, or some other car talk stuff.

(I used to think I knew a lot about cars, what with growing up in Michigan and all, but not owning one for the 20 years I lived in Boston left me pretty much uninterested.)

So before going to Agave, we stopped at a service station to get oil. Previous paragraph aside, I kept insisting that oil, or lack thereof, had nothing to do with the idling problem.

The helpful young man at the service station suggested octane booster. And the oil was low so he put a quart in for good measure. We toodled off towards State St.

After a couple of minutes it became obvious that the problem had been solved. Me, in my "hey I just remembered something that would have been much more helpful about an hour ago" way recalled that I had experienced a similar problem with the Ford Explorer I owned before I got my Jetta.

Finally, the point: It was the gas.

I would claim that bad gas was the reason my Explorer was idling so rough and almost stalling out at stop lights. My contention was that the gas stations were adding water to the gasoline in their storage tanks. My (now ex-) boyfriend, however, would argue that gas stations do not do that and that it was an urban myth.

He would claim that I just happened to fill up when the station's storage tank was low and sludge or whatnot was picked up and relayed to my gas tank.

I would counter that it only seemed to happen when I got gas at certain stations. He would not concede that I was in any way right ... although he did suggest I get some 'dry gas' and add it to my gas tank. It worked.

Well ... Triple-D can't remember where she last filled up, but with my Explorer, I always had good luck at the Mobil station on High St. and the station we went to last night, also on High St. - but that I can't remember the name of (the one by the Bresnahan School).

The Jetta seems to run pretty smooth on whatever I put in it - but I have to admit, it's usually gas from a Mobil station.