Motorists with mechanical problems caused by a fuel mix-up swamped auto dealer service departments and repair shops Thursday.

An untold number of motorists filled their tanks in Santa Fe and Albuquerque this week with a blend of gasoline and diesel accidentally mixed at a Giant Industries terminal in Albuquerque.

"We have eight, possibly nine and one on the hook (tow truck)," said Lydia Strong at Santa Fe Mazda Volvo. "It's a mess — we really feel sorry for these people."

Strong said the repairs require draining the fuel tank, flushing the tank and fuel lines, changing oil and putting fresh oil in the vehicle.

"Depending on the car, the cost is ranging from $300 to $600," she said.

The company responsible for the problem, Western Refining, has been removing gasoline mixed with diesel fuel from service stations and replacing it with the proper fuel, a spokesman said.

Leland Gould, a spokesman for Western Refining, estimated the mixed fuel was delivered to about 40 retail and wholesale locations.

Western Refining is paying the bills for all of the vehicles that might have been affected by the mixed fuel, Gould said. "We will work with their insurance or whatever we need to do" to have the vehicles repaired, he said.

Most stations stopped selling the mixed fuel Tuesday night and Wednesday after being notified of the problem, he said.

One Santa Fe-based gasoline distributor, Brewer Oil, unknowingly sold the tainted fuel at its Shell station on Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe from 2:30 p.m. Tuesday until 8:30 a.m. Wednesday before stopping sales. The station continued to sell premium fuel, which wasn't affected by the fuel mix-up, at the price of regular unleaded, company owner Charley Brewer said.

"We apologize to all the people who had problems," he said. "It was nothing we did intentionally."

By midafternoon Thursday, Brewer said, his company's Albuquerque and Santa Fe offices had received about 250 calls from people with mechanical problems with their vehicles they attribute to the fuel snafu.

At his Santa Fe and Albuquerque stations combined, he said, "We think it will be 300 by the end of the day. Five to 10 percent of the calls don't appear to be legitimate."

Brewer said there is "a lot of confusion" as to the time of day motorists bought the tainted fuel and where they bought it.

Other Santa Fe service stations where the mixed fuel was sold included Peerless Tyre at 3010 Cerrillos Road, a Giant service station at 2961 Sawmill Road and one or more Allsup's convenience stores.

Other auto dealers' service departments working on cars damaged by the mixed fuel included Don Chalmers Cadillac Saab. "We have five right now, and one or two that are going to be towed in," said assistant service manager Evan Aguilar. "We have a Dodge, a Pontiac, a Mitsubishi, a Crown Victoria from the Department of Public Safety and a city car."

In addition to fuel lines, catalytic convertors and oxygen sensors could also need replacement, Aguilar said. "It will depend on how far they drove it."

At Don Mackey Nissan, "we have eight so far," said Gary Gonzales, service department manager. "I've only been authorized to do one." The others still need to be approved by Western Refining before being repaired.

At Beaver Toyota, 11 cars were in for repairs related to the mixed fuel, a service technician said. "Right now, we're waiting for call backs" from the owners. "Everybody is worried about who's paying for it."

Some vehicles needed less repair than others.

At Alex Safety Lane, "we did one so far," said service tech Charles Lury. "It was blowing out white smoke, but it was not as damaged as some of the others. Actually we didn't have to do very much to it."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Contact Bob Quick at 986-3011 or bobquick@sfnewmexican.com.