The company says diesel fuel entered a gasoline tank on Friday night. That malfunction led to diesel being delivered to unleaded gasoline tanks at area gas stations.

Mechanics at Rick's Automotive see the problem year round.

“Sometimes people will actually grab the wrong nozzle when they're fueling up,” said Tim Cummings of Rick’s.

This time, that's not the case.

“We've had three so far. One was able to drive in, and two are being towed in,” said Cummings.

People who filled up Saturday at some area gas stations got diesel instead of unleaded. Michelle Ivey is one of them.

“It started acting weird, and I actually called my husband and said, ‘Hey, there's something probably wrong with the car,’” said Ivey.

Then her car died completely and, with a quick walk back to the station where she filled up, Ivey learned about the problem.

“Whenever every gas pump is covered with a brown paper sack, that's my first hint something big is wrong,” she said.

Mechanics at Rick's say it won't do internal damage to car's engines but people in Ivey’s situation need to have their fuel tanks drained, their fuel filters replaced, and they may need their car's computer reset. That could cost around $200 but there could be more.

“It can foul out spark plugs. It could also foul out an oxygen sensor, so those are just extra things that could add to the cost of the repairs,” said Cummings.

It's an unexpected and frustrating cost that some folks will have to pay just to get back the family car.

“I've got three children under the age of 3, so I've got three car seats,” said Ivey.

Magellan says, if you believe you purchased some of the diesel, you should contact the gas station. It's not clear how many stations were affected because Magellan wouldn’t tell a reporter how many stations got deliveries of bad gas.

Two stations that did get those deliveries are the Fast & Friendly at Chestnut Expressway at Main Avenue and the Kum & Go on Division Street at National Avenue.

The Fast & Friendly manager in Springfield says, if folks bought fuel between 7 and 8:30 a.m. Saturday, they should contact their headquarters in town, and they will take care of repair bills. Kum & Go says customers should go back to the store where they bought the fuel, where an incident report will be created.