I have a 2002 Chevy Cavalier that stalls ever time it is fueled at the pump. It then continues to stall. I have to pump the gas like the old days when we all had carburetors and repeat the action many times. It always starts eventually, but causes unnecessary anxiety so I always fill my car at a time I don’t need to be anywhere in a timely manner. It was taken to the shop but they could not reproduce the stalling, as they did not have the information that it mostly happens at the when fueling. The gas cap can be taken off for a while and it starts okay. The rpm is low after adding gas, if you give it gas, it runs then eventually idles normally.
Have you or another driver made it a habit of topping off the tank rather than stop filling when it clicks off the first time?
Workaround one million… Try filling it up 3/4 only and see if you still have the problem.
Like Mr. Meehan, I suspect that your Evaporative Emissions System is the problem. You might have a bad purge valve in the system, or the system’s carbon canister may be damaged as a result of topping off the gas tank.
A bad purge valve is relatively cheap to replace, but if you have contaminated the carbon canister by repeatedly forcing extra gas into the tank after the pump clicks off for the first time, you can expect to pay…maybe a few hundred $$ to have a new carbon canister installed.
I understand its not the best thing to do but does it do it if you leave it running while filling up? Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, carefully.
I would not leave the car running. If you blow up the gas station and kill people it would be a bad thing. The tank is not venting properly through the evaporative system. If you don’t have the cash to get it fixed, fill it up to 3/4’s as Barkydog suggested.
There is a fault in the vapor recovery system that is supposed to absorb gasoline vapor as you fill the vehicle. In your case, the vapors are being channeled directly into the engine, flooding it…A purge valve is stuck open or the charcoal canister has been damaged by over-filling and can no longer absorb the tank vapors as you re-fuel…