After I fill my 6 cyl 2004 Hyundai Sonata (280,000 km), the engines starts, then stalls. I can only get it to work by keeping the accelerator pushed to ensure sufficient rpm’s. If I remove my foot from the accelerator, the rpm’s drop to zero.
With the engine revving, I put the car in drive and ‘lurch’ away from the pump. After that, everything is fine. It starts up properly … until the next fill.
My mechanic is mystified and I am frustrated.
Any advice appreciated.
I would suspect a partially plugged fuel filter, a weak fuel pump or some obstruction to the fuel intake in the tank. There may be other causes of course, but your mechanic either has little or no diagnostic skills or he has done all the above things already, and the problem is somewhere else. But I seriously doubt that.
You need to find a better mechainc; fuel delivery problems are not all that difficult to resolve. Under no circumstances should you allow your “mechanic” to start replacing parts willy nilly to “see what happens”.
This sounds to me like a problem with your evaporative emissions system. When you fill up with gas you’re ending up with liquid fuel where only fuel vapors are supposed to go. This often comes from overfilling the tank (topping it off). It also suggests a bad vent valve and/or flooded charcoal canister, etc.
Try stopping short of filling the tank for a while. Go only up to about 3/4 or so and see what happens.
I agree with cigroller that the evaporative system may be involved as well. Although it normally just lights up on the dash and causes few driveability problems.
In any case that makes the mechanic even less trustworthy in terms of ability.
Third cig’s suggestion. Do not fill the car and see if your problem goes away.
All comments above are good. It could be anything in the fuel system, from the pump, filter, to the evap system. One other thing: Are you seeing the check engine light come on? That could provide a clue to what is causing this.
I have had the same problem for the last 4 months. Was a fix ever found with the above car?