Car will not start after putting fuel in the fuel tank

Tiny
JAMES YEOMANS
  • MEMBER
  • 2007 CADILLAC SRX
  • 3.6L
  • V6
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 160,000 MILES
Every time I get gas my car wont start it just turns over and over and over. Can you help me figure out what this issue is? And yesterday it did it and I took the breather hose off and there was oil in there. What can cause that?
Monday, March 23rd, 2020 AT 1:31 PM

5 Replies

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Does this issue only happen after you fill with fuel? How do you get the vehicle started? Do you have to wait for a while? If so it sounds like you have raw fuel in the charcoal canister and the purge is stuck open.

Basically what happens is when you fill the fuel tank it pushes vapor into the canister. When you top off the fuel tank or leave the engine running while filling the tank it can push raw fuel into the canister. Once this happens it breaks down the charcoal and gets stuck in the purge solenoid.

I would suggest removing the purge and the canister to inspect for black dust or residue in the solenoid and raw fuel in the canister.

Let me know what you find and we can go from there. Thanks
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Monday, March 23rd, 2020 AT 1:48 PM
Tiny
JAMES YEOMANS
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
I don't even have to fill up. Just put gas in it period.
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Monday, March 23rd, 2020 AT 1:59 PM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Yeah. That is pretty typical of a purge valve that is stuck. What happens is when you are adding fuel to the tank it is kicking up a lot of vapor normally. This vapor is normally kept in the tank and then when it gets enough it is pushed over to the EVAP system. When it goes in the purge valve is normally closed, however when it get stuck open this allows that vapor into the engine and it actually floods it out because the PCM is actually dumping the normal amount of fuel plus this vapor and it is too much.

Clearly we need to check this first and go from there.
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Monday, March 23rd, 2020 AT 2:27 PM
Tiny
JAMES YEOMANS
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Do you know where that is located?
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Monday, March 23rd, 2020 AT 2:33 PM
Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Sorry. I meant to attach the process for both the solenoid and canister. Here they are:
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Monday, March 23rd, 2020 AT 2:45 PM

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