Symptoms - Over the past few months, it’s become harder and harder to fill the gas tank. The gas pumps are turning off way before its full. To the point that even when my wife does not use the auto fill ‘clip’ (or what ever it’s called) it shuts off on her after a gallon or two. Even when trying to fill slowly. So she repeats this a gallon at a time. And it’s getting worse.
This happens at different gas stations and pumps.
So, it sounds to me that gas is backing up in the gas filler tube on the car. I’ve looked online, and have not been able to find the specific filler tube for my wifes car. I wonder, do these have a filter in them? Something else could be clogged? It appears that all of these have some sort of breather/return line. Perhaps that’s it.
It could be what beowulff said, but I have a Ford Bronco that requires me to sit there and hold the pump up (so the gas goes in at a more downward angle) or it shuts off constantly unless it’s set to the first click on the clip. That’s really annoying, the thing has a HUGE tank. First time I filled it I checked to see if it was just leaking back out the bottom it took so long.
There’s youtube videos on how to replace the purge canister. You’ll probably get a Check Engine Light if you drive with it disconnected, but you could pull the hoses at the gas station and see if it fills better. If it doesn’t, that wouldn’t rule out something with the hoses (clog, kink etc), but it’s a start.
There isn’t a filter in the filler neck, but that’s not to say that something isn’t clogging it. I’d be surprised if that was the case, but who knows. You could get a metal stick and push it down there and see if it hits anything.
The filler hoses on modern cars and trucks are purposely designed to not allow fumes to freely escape out the filler opening like all cars had years back. the vapors that must be purged from the fuel tank now have to go through the EVAP system and then the gas vapor is collected and the residual is then released into the atmosphere via a small hose that is vented under the car.
now this small hose will also breath in air and the dirt that comes in with this air can lead to clogging the EVAP system. in severe environment’s this can even lead to the collapse of a fuel tank.
In the iron ore mines I used to work in the service vehicles were plagued with this problem.
One of the top mechanics found that a small in-line fuel filter attached to the end of the vent hose would save the EVAP canister and changing the inexpensive little filter was much easier and inexpensive than replacing EVAP’s.
When I had to stand out in -40 f temps for 20min to refuel my pickup, I was certainly thankful that our top mechanic found a fix to our continual problem, “Dusty dirt roads”.
I would think dust would only be an issue if there’s tons of it in the air when you’re actually gassing up. The whole idea of the EVAP system is that the gas tank is sealed and doesn’t vent to the outside like on old cars, so just driving on dirt roads shouldn’t do anything.
A more likely cause is someone at some point topped the tank off.
I have similar issues on my 98 Civic. If I let the tank run too low, filling up is a nightmare as the pumps keeping clicking off prematurely. I also notice the engine has a harder time starting when the needle is close to empty.
Yeah. We have put a lot of repairs into the vehicle. But, It always gets my Wife home.
More follow up. Took it to a local repair shop and they put it up on the lift. The area around the fill tube (under the car) was just caked with dirt. Cement like. It was recommended that we take it to a car wash and REALLY pressure clean that area. We did (well, my wife did). We let it dry out and then filled it up (a half tank in this case). No problems at all, filled right up.
Odd.
My Wife will drive it for a bit and go to a different gas station and try again in a few days.
