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Difficulty filling fuel tank

dyeager535

dyeager535

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Wish I was home now to check, but does the vent line on the sender (at least for the later rigs) have a "rollover valve" on it?

Fairly recently started having a problem with filling the truck up. Even without the vapor recovering nozzles, the pump continuously shuts off while trying to fill. If I can get it started, even on the minimum notch when present, it will still click off. Turning nozzle upside down doesn't help. Multiple stations, multiple nozzles, all act the same.

When this started happening I crawled under the truck and realized (for years) my tank wasn't vented through the vent line...I had put a bolt in there. Thinking that wasn't helping, I re-did that, plumbing a hose up the inside of the bed wall, with a filter type cap. It vents.

Only thing I can think of is if there is a valve on the sender that isn't working right. I recall seeing something like that, but can't recall if that was on my sender, or another design.
 
dyeager535 said:
Only thing I can think of is if there is a valve on the sender that isn't working right. I recall seeing something like that, but can't recall if that was on my sender, or another design.
Click to expand...

here ya go

Sending unitk5.png
 
Your filler neck should have two hoses on it...the larger filler neck hose, and a smaller vent hose. Make sure the smaller vent hose is not kinked or disconnected.
 
Had the tank out not too long ago (mile-wise anyway) so pretty confident the vent and fill hose lines on the fill neck are ok. I can't imagine the vent in the fill neck could have gotten plugged up while I had the tank out. Possible, not likely...will check into it if I can't figure it out.

Thanks for the "rollover valve" picture. Since ethanol destroys older rubber, I wonder if it's screwed that valve up? The way I have my tank vented, I don't even need the valve, but I will have to consider that a source of the problem more seriously now that I didn't misremember it being there.

I kind of felt the vent line didn't allow venting at the speed/volume I expected it to when I forced air into the tank, but that was just an observation and impossible to quantify. Wonder if 120PSI to that valve will force it open/blow it apart?
 
I'll take the cap off, but theoretically they will vent at 16PSI in any case.
 
Its the sudden surge of air before the cap releases that may bulge the tank enough to rupture a seam or weak spot probably..

Does it do this at every gas station ?.

It might be the gas pumps or nozzles that do it,not your truck that has an issue..


--I have filled up at a few that had pump nozzles that were super sensitive and shut off repeatedly,and I had to feather the trigger to get the tank filled without it shutting off a dozen times,on both diesel and gasoline...some pumps also may have a high flow rate that typical filler necks & vents cant handle at "full throttle" ?..

I know when I stop at one station where big rigs fill up often,and has a large enough area for them to park at--those pumps always trip the nozzle repeatedly,I think the flow rate on the pumps is very high so they can fill those big rig tanks quickly...I've gotten a bath of diesel there more than once when I was in a hurry in the winter,and tried holding the trigger "full on" for too long!...so I usually do not buy fuel there much..
 
Probably 10 different pumps/stations. I didn't have problems even with the vapor recovery nozzles in the past, now it doesn't matter.
 
dyeager535 said:
Probably 10 different pumps/stations. I didn't have problems even with the vapor recovery nozzles in the past, now it doesn't matter.
Click to expand...

I had a low spot in the big vent hose that would make that happen. Some gas had settled in the low spot and prevented it from venting unless I pumped super slow.
 
Mine has always been persnickety, and I thought it was just the stupid CA vapor recovery nozzles. (Sorry to hear they're spreading across the land!) I found that if I pull the vapor thing back it mostly worked.

I ended up putting a fuel filter onto the vent line coming out of the tank, and venting to atmosphere, rather than running it to the filler tube. It seems happier now. I'm thinking that the air coming out either created backpressure or tripped the recovery gizmo somehow.

-- A
 
bp71k5 said:
Yep.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that one is good. But now I wonder if the long flat section where the fill hose flows into the tank could be the issue.

Don't believe it has much sag, but I assume any fuel puddling in there would cause a reversion issue. Mine doesn't appear to be abnormal in regards to hose situation, but it's pretty unlikely that is my issue, otherwise way more people would have it.

Not a plumber, but I see even my new car has something that appears to be akin to a water hammer arrestor, although I don't it has the physical components of one of those...wonder if something similar would help in these cases? Venting to atmosphere would be worth a shot, just to test though.
 
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