Wierd Problem With My Mini-Van

[Kevin Herber]

I have a 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan with the 3.8 liter. When the temperature gets around 50 here (that's cold for Central Texas!!!) I can't put gas in it. It acts like the air does not escape as the fuel goes in. The gas comes up the tank neck and triggers the pump nozzle cut-off.

I've tried this at various gas stations so it must be something with my car.

When the temp warm up all goes back to normal. Any ideas?

[Doug Shepard]

I dont know if this is at all relevent to your problem, but on my 2001 Aztek the nozzle shutoff is constantly triggered if I have the nozzle inserted all the way. I have to withdraw it about an inch from being fully inserted for it to work as it should. My problem is at any temp, but have you tried playing around with how much of the nozzle is in the filler?

[Anthony Anderson]

Same thing as Doug said. If you insert the nozzle too far into the filler neck, the curve of the nozzle causes the gas to hit against the inside of the filler neck, which in turn triggers the nozzle shut off. Just like Doug said, try backing the pump nozzle out an inch or so. Try rotating the nozzle if needed. Good Luck, Bill

[Kevin Herber]

Thanks for the replies. I was suspicious of the same thing so I tried inserting the nozzle barely into the neck and the same thing happened. The weird thing is that this only happens when it gets around 50 degrees and colder.

Something is not working and is associated with temperature.

Is there some sort of valve that allows the air to escape as the tank fills? I'm thinking emmission controls here. :confused:

[Jim O'Dell]

Does it make any difference slowing down the fill rate? I don't know about a valve, but it is possible that a return vapor line is slightly kinked. There should be a vapor line that runs from the tank, I think, up to the filler neck. Might be able to see it if you look under the vehicle there by the filler neck. Might be worth a looksee. Jim.

[John Shuk]

Try a different station. Another thing to try is turning the nozzle sideways or even upside down. Some filler necks just don't work well with some nozzles. My truck from work is testy and I have to avoid certain gas stations if I want to fill up.

[Joe Pelonio]

If the vent tube is kinked you should be able to fill by keeping the tip of the nozzle out a bit to allow air to escape around it. If that doesn't work something else is wrong. It seems like warmer weather would make a
kink worse as the hose softens, and you have the opposite problem.
Still I'd poke my head under there and see if the rubber tube that connects the filler opening to the tank or the vapor tube next to it might be kinked. One more thing, I saw this happen once to a guy that was trying to fill a full tank, his gauge was bad.