GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Lately everytime I fill up my gas tank, some gas will overflow and run down the side of the car. After the nozzle automatically shuts off I never add more. It's been happening just about everytime I fill up now. It hasn't always done this though. I usually fill up once a week at 1 of 2 stations close to where I work. Any suggestions as to why this is happening or if this is a problem?

I would try a different station than normal and see if it happens there. Usually this is because the station pump is faulty, since the automatic shut-off is pretty much entirely a function of the pump and not of the car. As long as you insert the nozzle in all the way it should detect when the fuel rises high enough and shut off. The only time I've had that happen is with faulty pumps or from topping off not giving the nozzle system enough time to trigger the shutoff.

Rayven01 wrote: Usually this is because the station pump is faulty, since the automatic shut-off is pretty much entirely a function of the pump and not of the car.

I totally agree with this. This happened to me only ONCE and when it did happen, the pump did not shut off at all. I was inside my work Van and heard "water splashing" type noises which alerted me to seeing gas gushing out of the filler opening all over the side of the van and onto the ground. Was very paranoid about even moving just anything as it could have easily ignited & started a fire. Waited several minutes before starting the car & driving off

I agree with Rayven01 and tpollauf. I have only had this happen to me once. It was at the same gas station I always go to, but something was wrong with the pump and it didn't shut off. Fortunately I was standing right there, so I grabbed the nozzle to disengage it, but some fuel still spilled down the side of the Vibe and onto the ground. I went inside and told the person at the counter in case they wanted to put something down to absorb the fuel or something. They didn't seem very concerned and said it would dry on its own, so I went on my way .

ya broke the check valve after topping off your gas tank repeatedly

cq358 wrote:ya broke the check valve after topping off your gas tank repeatedly

??? Poster said "After the nozzle automatically shuts off I never add more."

Do you always use the same pump?

Once, I was filling the car and it started over flowing. I stopped the pump quickly, but not before some gas got on the paint. I alerted the attendant in the store, and they shut the pump down to have the pump inspected. The next week I used the same pump, same car, and it didn't do it again. Guess they fixed the problem.

Always talk to the people working at the station when fuel is spilled.

Some cars do have a check valve in the filler neck (I don't know if the Vibe has has it) to prevent fuel coming out in a rollover accident.
It could be the OP's problem.
Has nothing to do with topping off.

Interesting. Once this happened to me, but something was wrong with the rubber lining (it was folded back). What a surprise to see fuel shooting out of the tank, but at least it shut off once that happened, lol.

cq358 wrote:ya broke the check valve after topping off your gas tank repeatedly

This is possible as I used to top off my tank on a fairly regular basis and then stopped this a while back. Is it hard to fix?

I went to fill up the Vibe a few minutes ago and it did it again. I've even been to different gas stations since my original posting. It has to be something with my car. I did a Google search and saw some mention of a overflow reservoir with charcoal in it to catch excess gas and/or vapors (this was for a different make car though). Does the Vibe have this set up and could this be part of the problem assuming enough excess gas has been overflowing into this reservoir to cause damage?

Can you take picture of the gas filler hole.
Can you see there are flapper check valve ?

updated x2

You have to give up relying the auto shut off function when filling up your car during winter season....
There are air leakage due to the stress the nozzle applying to filler neck to reducing check valve sealing performance.
When the amounting of pressure flowing down to the gas tank is greater than the check valve closing pressure the check valve stays open.
Try rotate the gas nozzle 45 degree reference back bumper and see if this helps.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/32-sc ... -tank.html

A very detail explanation on how a Fuel Pump Nozzle works. A diaphragm switch enables the nozzle to shut off when the tank is full using negative pressure generated from high velocity gasoline flow inside a narrow orifice .
http://www.wonderquest.com/sleeping-bir ... pitals.htm


Look at this, a spider in the vent valve.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... sHqjydj5bA[/youtube]

Charcoal Canister 101
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hK1mw0Yvlo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PN*77390 on the diagram
http://www.villagetoyotaparts.com/showA ... lYear=2003

""saw some mention of a overflow reservoir with charcoal in it to catch excess gas and/or vapors ""



It's not meant to catch overflowed gas. It's part of the environmental evap system. I used to top off a lot and I think overflowing into this box caused a noticable loss in fuel mileage for awhile.