Gas Pump Stopping

[Lutrova]

I was filling up the Town Car yesterday when the pump cut off at maybe 3/4 of a gallon. Gas filled up the filler neck and a little bit spilled out the top. I waited a second, set the pump again, and the same thing happened. I then went to a different pump and repeated the process another two times for a total of a little over 3 gallons.

It seems like the gas tank isn't venting properly and so air is trying to escape through the filler neck at the same time gas is entering it. Could this be a problem at the charcoal canister or the line leading to it? I have noticed a bit of a fuel smell coming from it in the past month or two.

[sly]

Yes. Could be either and could also be the vent is not venting properly at the top of the tank. Gonna have to get under it and look around. See what's wet. Check the hard lines to make sure they're not pinched. Check the line to the charcoal canister and with the fuel cap off, put some air on the line and see if you can get it to hiss out the tank. If you create pressure, it's clogged. Use as low pressure air as you can since the line is supposed to only support I think 20 PSI and normal operation is 1 PSI IIRC. There's probably other things to check too. The filler neck grommet at the tank is a typical leak point. The fuel neck itself may have rust holes in it. Just have to look around and see what you can find.

[gadget73]

do you get a lot of hissing when unscrewing the cap? Usually a clue the vent isn't working, unless the cap also happens to be bad and not holding pressure.

mostly I've found with mine I can't jam the nozzle in there quite all the way. Pull it out about 3/4" and it works fine.

[DerekTheGreat]

What gadget said. Well, the nozzle won't fit in all the way for me either. But I can only use the first step of the pump's "hold" flow feature. 2nd step will cause gas to spray out and/or pump to shut off. I think my filler neck has some sort of anti-siphon thing in it.

[Lutrova]

No hissing when unscrewing the gas cap. And after filling up at a different gas station this afternoon, no trouble either. So it must've just been some speedy pumps at the other place that were too fast for my tank.

My cap is a junkyard replacement, so it could be defective. Motorcraft FC-926 looks like the right cap, though O'Reilly believes it won't fit my '87.

[89LincolnTWNcar]

my 89 Lincoln has had the same issue for years, it had a brand new gas tank and fuel pump and filler neck installed in 2004 and has been that way since I've owned it. I usually take the gas cap and put it under the filler handle which allows the flow to be a little slower than the first "click" and that does the trick.

[87gtVIC]

In new york the clickers you speak of are removed. One must stand there and hold the trigger down for the entire fill up...or wedge something in the handle.

[gadget73]

thats dumb

one of the assorted advantages of being in a full serve state, they won't remove the clickers because it would make managing a gas station absolutely impossible. Can you just imagine if the attendant had to stand at every pump? Would need one person per pump and no chance they are going to hire that many people.

[DerekTheGreat]

Yah F that. I want to multi-task, ain't got no time to stand there.

[Arquemann]

You gotta hold the handle everywhere in Finland. 99% of stations are self serve.

Sure it'd be convenient, but how busy are you to be so inconvenienced by having to hold the pump for 60 seconds? What do you do / need to do during that time?

[friskyfrankie]

Many of the pumps I come across have handles so tight you can skip the gym. They're like using "hand grippers" and if you have arthritis or other hand issues - you ain't getting gas!

[sly]

The only multitasking I do at the pump is wiping the windows with the dirty water squeegee. Getting bird crap and bug guts off the car. If there's no assist clip, I'm annoyed, but get over it.

[DerekTheGreat]

I check the engine to make sure it's still there, oil & other fluids. I get a lottery ticket. I clean the windows. Maybe check tire pressure. 60 seconds? My truck's tank is something like 26 gallons, usually end up pumping a good 21-23 in it every time it's thirsty. When set to first click (Sometimes 2nd click pumps too fast and so it'll burp and make a mess) it takes at least three minutes to pump the damn thing. And then I top it off until gas stands in the filler neck. Used to do that with the Lincoln, too much of a pain in the ass. The truck? It's how I get an extra 2 or 3 gallons in it, good for at least 45 extra miles.

[Arquemann]

I check the engine to make sure it's still there, oil & other fluids. I get a lottery ticket. I clean the windows. Maybe check tire pressure. 60 seconds? My truck's tank is something like 26 gallons, usually end up pumping a good 21-23 in it every time it's thirsty. When set to first click (Sometimes 2nd click pumps too fast and so it'll burp and make a mess) it takes at least three minutes to pump the damn thing. And then I top it off until gas stands in the filler neck. Used to do that with the Lincoln, too much of a pain in the ass. The truck? It's how I get an extra 2 or 3 gallons in it, good for at least 45 extra miles.

Sounds like your gas pumps are slow shit
Our normal pumps are all 60-70 liters per minute, so the the 60 liters it usually takes to fill the MGM happens in a minute or so. I don't think there'd be too much time to grab a rag a pop the hood, let alone do a fluid check.
Most of our stations have the water/air/washing squegees separately from the pumps, so no twats take up more time at the pumps than necessary.

For shits and giggles I have filled up my BMW at the truck diesel pumps for a couple times, those are 100 liters per minute.
No hassle or mess and the tank was full before I was done laughing at what I was doing.

[sly]

Yeah... we get about 5-10 gallons per minute (maybe as much as 40lpm) depending on the station Takes me 2-4 minutes to fill the 93 when the low fuel light is on. The Expedition with the 26 gallon tank usually add a minute for that one.