climhazzard

Hey guys - I was filling up the S2000 yesterday and although the fuel dispenser did automatically shut off when the tank was full, a little bit of gas overflowed and went down the side of the car. Not a ton...but enough. Only had about 40 miles on the tank, but I try to keep it full as it isn't regularly driven and don't want air/moisture in the tank. I did notice the pump seemed to be operating at a relatively high speed (seems to vary a lot around here) but obviously that's based on a loose observation.

I've had this happen once before and assumed it was a station pump issue. Reading online there's all sorts of answers - it could be the charcoal canister, the tank itself, kinked line, etc. I looked at some videos of exactly how the fuel dispenser works, and it's quite simple. There's a hole at the end of the nozzle; once gasoline enters this hole, the fuel dispenser senses it, and shuts off. What's surprising is that gasoline goes all the way up to the tip of the nozzle; I always thought it was more elaborate than that.

Does anyone have any insight into this, and if it could really be something on the car, or if I'm running into some crap pumps with issues?

zeroptzero

if you or someone else has been in the habit of overfilling the fuel tank in the past then the canister and vent system may be overloaded with fuel. I used to do that in the past and got the same results as you, I would fill the tank past the first click of the pump, often to the second click. After some time the vent/canister system became overloaded and the car would spill fuel on fill up. Once I stopped the practice and gave it some time to clear up the problem went away. For the next while don't fill the tank to the top, maybe keep it around 3/4 full and see if things improve later down the road. After that just fill it to the first click and slow down the dispenser as you hear it getting closer to the top. The system needs time to clear itself of fuel, you likely had excess fuel going down the vent tube. It could also be a faulty gas station pump, but if it happens at other stations and pumps then It is an issue with the car.

climhazzard

Thanks zeroptzero! I've never (not once) went past the first click, but I'm wondering if it could be from filling up when it's cold out, then the gas expands when temperatures increase.

Edit: Also I'm still not sure how the evap system having fuel in it would impact the nozzle shutoff on the pump; if fuel covers the sensor, it should immediately turn off.

zeroptzero

I think the pumps rely on a properly vented fuel fill pipe in order to work properly, the only other issue would be the gas station pump being faulty which does happen.