# After filling up my car sputters and stalls 2-3 times **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Tags:** chevrolet, aveo\ **Created:** [March 6, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319 "2011-03-06T23:18:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chrisb\_2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chrisb\_2004](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Chrisb_2004)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/1 "2011-03-06T23:18:33Z")
yea i have a 09 chevy aveo5 and just recently when i fill up my car it sputters and stalls 2-3 times before it stays on, i never let it get completely empty could this be a air in my gas line? ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/48514_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/2 "2011-03-07T00:01:14Z")
No, you do not have air in your gas line. But–how do you fill up the tank? Do you stop when the pump clicks off for the first time? Or, do you do the click-click-click maneuver to force additional gas into the tank? If your answer is the latter of the two situations, then I suspect that you have contaminated the evaporative emission system’s carbon canister. Or, you might have a defective purge valve in the evap system. ---
**Author:** ![twotone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@twotone](https://community.cartalk.com/u/twotone)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/3 "2011-03-07T00:09:45Z")
Is the gas cap on tight? Is your check engine light on? ---
**Author:** ![Chrisb\_2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chrisb\_2004](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Chrisb_2004)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/4 "2011-03-07T18:32:30Z")
yes the gas cap is on tight thats what the mech. told me the first time,and yes the light is on ---
**Author:** ![Chrisb\_2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chrisb\_2004](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Chrisb_2004)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/5 "2011-03-07T18:34:14Z")
yes i do the “click click click” but not anymore, what should i tell the mech.? ---
**Author:** ![twotone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@twotone](https://community.cartalk.com/u/twotone)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/6 "2011-03-07T20:57:12Z")
Go to your local Pep Boys or Autozone and have them run a free OBD diagnostic check. They can pull the error codes and help narrow down the problem. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/48514_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/7 "2011-03-07T21:02:00Z")
Simply describe the symptoms to the mechanic. If he is worth his salt, he will know what to look for. In case his eyes glaze over when you describe the problem, you might want to say that you have been told that the problem could lie in the evaporative emissions system. If it turns out that my diagnosis is correct, I hope that you realize that you really shot yourself in the foot with that click-click-click routine. Unless you are about to drive across the Gobi Desert, there are more than enough gas stations around so that you don’t have to worry about being able to drive–perhaps–five miles further before the tank is empty. On Toyotas, replacing the carbon canister runs ~$300–or more, but I have no idea of what it might cost on the Aveo. Hopefully, it will be less. Even if you don’t need to have the carbon canister replaced, do yourself a favor and stop filling the tank when the pump clicks off for the first time. The Chevy Aveo has a pretty poor reliability record, and doing things like you have been doing will definitely not help the car. ---
**Author:** ![Chrisb\_2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chrisb\_2004](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Chrisb_2004)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/8 "2011-03-07T21:48:37Z")
to add on to twotone here when i first brought it to the dealer they did a diagnostic and i came up that my gas cap was not on tight, so 3 days later the light came back on, so went and bought another gas cap and reset the switch my self, the next morning the light came back on ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/after-filling-up-my-car-sputters-and-stalls-2-3-times/62319/9 "2011-03-07T22:28:09Z")
Pep Boys?? Good Luck…But while you are there, ask them how much a new carbon EVAP canister costs…Yours is wasted from over-filling your tank. Now it can’t absorb the vapors generated when you re-fuel and these vapors flood your engine causing the difficulty at start-up…