Car stalls after I put gas in the car and starts when pull a fuse

Maintenance/Repairs
,
1

All right, ill try to explain my situation as clearly as i can and this may be lengthy. For the record, I have an 02 saturn sl2 and every time I pump gas, the nozzle will click every few dollars as if my tank is full even when its near empty or half full.

2 weeks ago: I started my engine up and went about a few feet then my engine went dead. My car would crank but not fire up and i wasnt getting a reading on the insturment panel so i figured it was a fuel pump related problem. I took a look at the fuse panel for any fuses that could be blown or in bad shape. The only fuse i pulled out was the pcm-b fuse but upon further inspection, it was good and after that it started up fine.

Next day: I get gas after work, drive home, grab a few things, start car up, get a few feet, dies, wont start,no insturment panel reading, pull same fuse, put same fuse back, go on my way.

Next week: So I haven’t put any gas in my car for a week and it has been working perfectly. I start to get near 1/4 tank so i put another $25 of gas in, started my car up and only got far enough to get away from the pumps when i notice my gas gauge going down, low rpm, and lost power steering. My car then died as i was pulling into a parking space. I did the same little trick and it started up again.

Today: Make a list of reasons why my car is stalling and plan to fix them from cheapest to most expensive. Start with putting gas line anti freeze as I rule out if there is water in my tank or not. ( I meant to put in one with water absorber, but i put a normal bottle in) Start my car up, get to school which is about 6-10km and when I was pulling in I noticed that my gauge was almost empty. I stopped the car and went to start it up again to see if i would get a new reading but my car just cranked. Tried a few more times but it wouldnt start until i did my little pcm-b fuse trick.

Now i am just wondering what you people think could be the problem but this is my conclusions and debates…

Water/Air in tank - Why would does my car stop giving me an reading on my insturment panel after it stalls.
Pcm faulty -Why does it only happen shortly after i open my gas tank (or maybe conincedince)
Pcm fuse blown -It works after i put it back in
Fuel filter clogged or fuel pump blown -why does my car start after i do the fuse trick.

2

I also thought of the possibility that my car probably has more than one thing wrong with it.

3

This comment isn’t very helpful but that fuse must somehow reboot that PCM. It likely has a microcontroller inside somewhere. Those things can step into the weeds and act up…

Edit: looking at the schematic for your car, there’s this ominous thing in the tank called a fuel pressure sensor. It must make some sort of decision based on what it reads - why else have it, right?
Maybe one of those decisions is not let you start it. Clearly you filling up must do something because you indicate it is doing it consistently.
Maybe that thing somehow is able to send the PCM into a tizzie when you fill up to the point where it requires a system reset?
Can you verify that it will require your fuse trick if you just open the gas tank and not fill up? How about opening the gas tank after you’ve just filled up and did your fuse trick?
Maybe knowing what happens under those conditions will buy us a clue as to what’s going on.

You can get your schematic here for free, in case you don’t have them yet:
http://www.powerlibrary.net/Remote/MainR.asp?ID=PL2532
Enter 02378001078755 as a barcode.

4

One important clue you note is you have trouble filling the gas tank, with the pump repeatedly shutting off. This isn’t normal and needs to be resolved before considering other things. This symptom is usually caused by a problem with the gas tank venting system. The tank needs to allow air in to take the place of the gas that is used when the engine is running. If not enough air gets in, the engine can’t get enough gas and it will run poorly or stall. This symptom will be worse when the gas tank is full. Venting problems are usually caused by a hose collapsing or a venting valve sticking. A recent said here explained that overfilling the gas tank can be a cause.

5

I will check those out later today. I bought the car second hand and the guy said that gas has never been able to ne pump staidly into the car.

6

You haven’t said whether or not your CEL, check engine light, is on? You might have a bad PCM, or some information the PCM needs isn’t getting through via a bad sensor, bad connection, or defect - such as a full and inoperative evaporation control system.

A lit CEL will yield some clues via stored error codes in the computer. Pulling the PCM fuse restarts the PCM and allows the car to run until too many error codes are read and cause the PCM to shut down the car. My guess.

7

Yes my CEL is on. I also can rule out the suspision of this happening only after take off the gas cap. I went to start my car earlier on and my car stalled again, the fuse trick still works.

8

I guess my vote would be for a bad PCM that is being reset with the fuse, or even a bad connection with the fuse. If the light is on, first thing is to check the code. Might have a vapor canister problem as the main cause that is triggering the PCM to shut the engine down and by pulling the fuse, you are resetting the codes again.

9

Get the codes read since the CEL is on. The fuel pumps have several sensors, fuel pressure, etc. But replacing a fuel pump is no fun and not cheap so you need more info before starting the parts replacement and see what happens type of repair.