My Sorento has been hesitating and now stalling at times when coming to a stop and it’s now apparent that it’s for sure related to getting gas ( it only happens after getting gas and then typically smooths out). I have taken in previously to a few different mechanics and there are no codes. Long story short one of the mechanics is a Kia dealership. I have taken it twice now for this issue. At first they couldn’t replicate the problem and told me it was bad gas. Now they are saying that there is gas in the EVAP lines and almost $3000 worth of stuff has to be replaced. They are claiming this is my fault for pumping too much gas in the car. I don’t do this. I never pump more in after the click. This same dealership replaced the charcoal canister and canister close valve last September. They claim that it is not a defect in their work but that I did this by overfilling. I’m very upset as you might imagine as now I am not sure if they messed up my car big time and don’t want to stand by their work or if there is possibly another problem that caused gas to back up in the lines. It definitely was not me.
So if you have any suggestions of what to do with the dealership, what may cause this if they really didn’t ( don’t want to fix tons of things just for this to happen again) and if gas in the lines would really require that extensive of work, I would really appreciate it. I should also add that the reason they replaced the charcoal canister and canister close valve previously was because we were unable to pump gas properly because the canister broke.
That has to be the biggest line of B.S.I’ve ever heard.
The Onboard Refueling Vapor Recovery system, (ask them if they know what that is.) has what is called an over fueling valve or fill limit vent valve.
You can see it in this diagram of the ORVR system.
This valve also operates as a roll over check valve so liquid gas can’t escape from the gas tank in that type of accident.
What you’re describing is the purge valve in the system allowing gas vapors to enter the engine as the vehicle is being refueled.
This then causes a flooded condition to where the engine may be hard to start, the engine may run rough, the engine may stall, until the engine runs long enough to clear the flooded condition and then runs fine.
If these knuckleheads rely on a light turning on to inform them of the what the problem might be, they’re not mechanics.
And by the way, the Check Engine light doesn’t always turn on when this problem occurs.
Thank you for replying, I have read that it is possible for gas to over flow if forced or valves not working correctly but the symptoms the car has does point to being a purge valve issue like you said from everything I have read. I thought this was going to be a simple fix and now I am so lost as to whether they caused this or not. They still have the car . The service advisor tried telling me that the needle on the gauge being slightly past the F is proof that I overfilled. I don’t know that that means anything.
I know, it’s so frustrating. I’m definitely not going to pay for them to do anything else. If they won’t do it for free than I have to go get it and take it somewhere else. I don’t know how they sleep at night.
I hope we can find one. We were going to the same shop for years but the owner seems a bit back and forth with whether or not he is super honest. Honestly he is older and I think is burnt out. The EVAP repairs we already did required us to get them from Kia and he wanted us to go buy it and bring it back. He also had slightly different names for the parts so I wound up just letting this dealership do the work. I was hoping they were more knowledgeable about the car but that has not worked out as hoped.
If there is fuel in the vapor line then the fuel tank over-fill control valve is stuck open, not working properly. Some fuel tanks have the fuel tank over-fill control valve built in, not replaceable. This might need a new fuel tank.
Wasn’t your vehicle stalling before they worked on it? I doubt that the mechanic caused your fuel tank malfunction.
The car was having issues with fuel not going in properly but never issues with the way it ran until recently. They replaced the charcoal canister and canister close valve and in the months following that repair it started hesitating and hiccuping here and there. These behaviors seemed random at first and did not produce codes. One day I went to start it and it ran really rough sputtering down the road and then died when coming to a stop. I took it to them again and they said there was nothing wrong with car and they couldn’t replicate results. They recommended a throttle body cleaning, drive belt change, engine air filter, cabin filter and complete fuel service. I let them do all of that hoping that would fix it. It had told them at the time that I got gas that day so the advisor tells me it was just bad gas and the car is perfect. It happened again right after getting gas so I call back and again he tells me that the mechanics were confident that nothing was wrong, it’s just bad gas and they checked the parts they replaced. So then it doesn’t happen again for a couple of times after getting gas so I thought maybe they were right ( I went to a different gas station). Well then it happens again while on road trip but thankfully smoothed out. I choose to not fill the tank all the way each time we got gas hoping we would make it home ok. We make it home and then I take it to the station that I seemed to have good luck with filling all the way and sure enough it’s starting acting up worse than ever. So I take it back to them and explained that I sure this issue is related to getting gas. Now we are here with them having my car and saying I overfilled it and no parts are faulty and this will not fall under the previous repair’s warranty. I never put more in after the pump stops. So either their diagnostic skills are not the greatest or they messed up something before and are trying to put it on me.
The canister is full as well. They have to replace that again as well as several other parts but they aren’t even telling me what the parts are. They just sent a fairly sloppy text saying I did this and several things need replacing.
I should also add that they showed me a video when they replaced the charcoal canister and canister close valve and there was a bunch of carbon pieces coming out of the tank because the canister broke open. At the time they said I didn’t need a new tank.
This overfill valve, do you know where it is located in the tank? I’m trying to look at diagrams. Is the one at the base of the neck where the fuel goes in? I see there are other valves as well on top. I was really thinking this was the purge valve by the engine and was reading that if it doesn’t open when it supposed to the vapors can make everything seem wet but not sure if that is true. I know it getting stuck can definitely cause these symptoms but now I am finding so many things cause these symptoms and they are saying fuel is in the lines. If they are correct I guess it would have had to come from the tank and not just trapped vapors. But I am not sure they have thoroughly looked into this.
The overfill control valve is built into the fuel gauge level unit on this car. It is an air vent/float that seals off when the fuel level rises. See the red arrow below.
Your vapor canister ruptured, if carbon particles got into the overfill control valve this will prevent it from closing, and it must be replaced.
Thank you for your help. I went on Kia parts now and it shows this part is discontinued so I’m not sure if I should start freaking out or not . Is it safe to drive the car if I just don’t fill it all the way? At least for a month or so? I also spoke to the manager and he seemed much nicer than the service advisor. He said they can give me the warranty on the parts already replaced and that the purge valve and one other part needs to be replaced. I cannot remember the name but he is supposed to send an email. So we will see if I go with that as I am hesitant that this will just happen all over again. The other part may have been this but we will see. This doesn’t seem very expensive though so I’m really not sure how the price got up to $3000. The original repair was $1300 plus the purge which should only be a couple of hundred right (the part was only $70 or $80 plus one hour I’m thinking)? Plus one more part? If it’s this one than they would charging quite a few hours to get all the way to $3000.
If you can find the rubber hose (presumably) that runs between the purge valve and the throttle body, ask your shop if it would be diagnostic to try clamping that off before you refill the next time. If the post-refill engine performance symptom improves, pretty good chance a stuck-open purge valve is the cause. Note, only as a temporary test, not a solution.
In any event, if canister is full of gas and sending charcoal throughout the system, that’s going to require replacing the canister and cleaning/replacing a bunch of other stuff. You may have run into a bit of bad luck, faulty gas tank confused the gas pump’s auto-shut-off feature, so it overfilled the tank, and to make matters worse, the gas tank problem also allowed fuel to enter the canister. If that’s the problem, there’s not really anything you could have done to prevent this from occurring, other than perhaps only filling the tank to 3/4 full, which isn’t really practical. In most cases filling until the gas pump clicks off and not putting any more in is all you have to do.
I have been speaking with the service manager and he has said he would honor the warranty on the previous parts. He’s now written me an email with a quote for the close valve, purge valve, and plate and sender assembly for $1061. I’m not sure why the close valve is on there because that was part of the original repair. I wrote him back asking if this price also includes the canister. The plate and sender assembly looks to be the same thing as pictured above, is that right? I also asked if they think the plate and sender assembly looks to be the cause so we will see what he says. He also mentioned we have to start here and any additional parts would be more. I asked for more clarification on this as well.
If the purge valve caused this, would liquid gas be in the lines? In looking this up it seems to be the main part that would cause these issues but it’s the build up of fumes. Would it build up so bad that gas would be dripping out ? Thank you for answering my questions.
. The service advisor tried telling me that the needle on the gauge being slightly past the F is proof that I overfilled. I don’t know that that means anything.
. Is it safe to drive the car if I just don’t fill it all the way? At least for a month or so? I also spoke to the manager and he seemed much nicer than the service advisor. He said they can give me the warranty on the parts already replaced and that the purge valve and one other part needs to be replaced. I cannot remember the name but he is supposed to send an email. So we will see if I go with that as I am hesitant that this will just happen all over again. The other part may have been this but we will see. This doesn’t seem very expensive though so I’m really not sure how the price got up to $3000. The original repair was $1300 plus the purge which should only be a couple of hundred right (the part was only $70 or $80 plus one hour I’m thinking)? Plus one more part? If it’s this one than they would charging quite a few hours to get all the way to $3000.