Won't take gas

My 2001 Grand Prix will not let me fill it up with gas. The gas keeps coming up the filling hose and shutting off the pump. What is causing this?

For some reason the evap system is not venting. I’m guessing that you shut the car off when you gas up. If not try that. Most likely causes are a evap vent thats stuck shut, a carbon canister thats full of fuel or a plugged vant hose. Is your check engine light on? If so have it scanned. That might give us a clue.

That’s what it sounds like to me.
When the gas goes in, the air (Vapors) need to go somewhere. The vapors are a pollutant so they go through the evaporative emissions system (EVAP). It’s plugged, so the gas goes into the car and the air tries to escape otu of the filler tube which tells the pump to shut of as if the car is full.

There should also be an anti rollover spill valve in there. If the car ends up upside down it flops in to close the filler tube. Yours may be stuck.

If you are in the habit of “topping off” the tank then stop. That creates problems like this. Just call it full at the first auto shut off.

This is interesting, because I have this problem quite often on a 2002 Ford Taurus. Now, it’s maybe unrelated, because I think the shutting off of the pump is more recent, but the gas gauge doesn’t work. I can’t, as was suggested, just call it full when it shuts off the first time. I have to fill up the tank and reset the odometer to avoid running out of gas. This morning when I filled up, I had 275 miles since filling up last; the tank took about 2.5 gallons before shutting the pump off. Now, I’d love it if I were getting 110 mpg, but that’s not the reality. I went on to put another 10 gallons in, with it shutting off 15 times or so.

If you are in the habit of topping off the tank, that could be the cause of the vapor recovery system overloading and causing your problem. Most cars have a sticker somewhere that instructs the driver to NOT top off the tank when filling it up. It is not worth that little extra miles between fill ups.

So I should just trust that after going 275 miles since the last fill up, I only need 2.5 gallons of gas? My car’s never been upside down, there’s no check engine light on, and it used to fill up automatically with what would seem to be an appropriate amount of fuel for the amount of miles put on it since last fill up.

It seems like this problem first started presenting itself in the winter time, which was great because then I would have to take my hands out of my pockets several times to start the flow again. It’s certainly annoying, but when I go to fill up I know approximately how much has been used since the previous trip to the station.

Often your problem is the result of a vent tube dropping down into the tank. If the rubber hose connecting the filler to the tank is removed a rubber hose is usually found that is located so that it vents the tank as it is filled and when the proper level is reached fuel blocks the lower end and loss of venting trips the fill nozzle. Raising the vent tube corrects the problem.

I appreciate some advice that?s other than ?don?t roll your car over? or ?don?t fill your tank full of gas.?

Is this an invasive procedure, or something that?s simple? I always intended to drive this car until I was no longer concerned with its residual value, so if it?s anything too difficult, I?ll just deal with having to pump gas after the pump stops.

I have a brother with some education in automotive repair, and a 10,000+ sq ft farm shop with a good assortment of tools, so if it’s not terribly difficult, is this something that can be fixed at home?

Hi. I have a 2013 Kia Forte EX and I went to start it this morning and the check engine light came on and the engine starting bouncing up and down which also caused the car to bounce up and down. The engine was also not taking in any gas at all. This is very weird because the check engine light has never come on in this car and the car was perfectly fine when I drove home yesterday. What could be wrong with my car because I have no idea.

You should start a new discussion.