Camry won't start after fueling

My mechanic immediately went for the purge valve in talking to him. He says he has seen this before. So he's going to test it and most likely replace it. Car has 275k mi.

 

ask him which one? there are two

 

there is one in the engine bay and another one at the charcoal canister.

 

Where you able to fix this?

 

There's another possibility.....the overfill valve on top of the gas tank.(sends gas vapors to canister)
Just replaced the one on my sister's Sienna.(Camry with a van body) Not the same symptom but hers was cracked and leaking down vacuum, throwing a code. PO442 small leak EVAP. SYS.
In reading about it, when it fails INTERNALLY, it's hard to start after filling.

Another Ethanol casualty if you ask me....along with her Cat.

 

overfill valve on top of gas tank? hmmmm....

 

isnt that the purge valve thats by the charcoal cansiter?

 

No, purge valves are on canister and another at engine. You'll have to drop the tank as it's not accessable from the fuel pump hole (I think, Siennas are different because of floor pan) This one is like 50 bux at dealer, no electric wire to it. Just a float controlled by vacuum. It's also called a back-flow valve.
Actually I know a few people with different makes that have the same prob. I need to talk to them about this. They've already changed everything else and are just accepting of the situation.
Google hard start after fill up Camry.....Do you smell gas after filling to the brim? Another sign as it saturates the can. It can fail like 3 different ways though

 

maybe check Camryworld.com

 

Nah, better ideas checking here.

 

Sounds like it is something going on in the gas tank - like something is getting stuck closed when the tank is filled up and then opens up again when the level is dropping.

 

It's true a lot of Camry specific forums are kind of ignorant to taking on their own work. A lot of "Do I need to go to the dealer for this". But this is getting to be a problem age for these systems so it's getting more common to see people who have figured it out. Thank God. I had no idea what I was looking at with EVAP systems. They changed them pretty drastically when cars went from CA legal to 50 state legal emissions. The early '00s are problematic that they didn't have the ECMs able to recognize what exactly was going wrong when these new parts of the system failed...hence, no code.

You're right, not much comes up just googling (in fact your case comes up pretty quick) then lots of unanswered probes about the problem. I prob. ran across it when digging how all this stuff comes together when your testing components.

But I did read about hard starting on a camry and it pointing toward what is essentially a vapor lock when filling up. This thing partly controls the purge valve. It looks to be in about the same spot as the sienna tank. I able to change it without disconnecting ANY hoses just by dropping it enough to barely get clearance to the front of the tank. You don't need a lot of room to change it. This guy had his vehicle very high. laughs. I just raised 1 side of the van and got enough room...letting the tank rest on 4x4s. He had the EXACT same problem I did....same crack so the code doesn't apply to you. Same component though. Like I mentioned, I think yours failed internally. Prob from overfilling. That's whay they say stop filling at the first click of the pump.
http://www.camryforums.com/how-tos/...replace-fuel-tank-overfill-check-valve-397076

 

I think I can access the top of the gas tank by removing the back seats..

 

nevermind lol

 

Doesn't exist yet.
@tcBob better get on that while he still can.

 

lol, I know it didn't. That's why I gave him the answer I gave him

 

ill be the moderator there

 

I had a nissan that did this. I replaced the fuel filter. Worked fine after that. Don't ask me why it doesn't happen everytime but only after fillup.

If you haven't replaced it I would still replace it anyways. May or may not work but worth a shot.

 

The fuel filter is internal, with the fuel pump.

It does have 350,000 miles.. . even if I replaced it anyways.. the car does deserve it..

 

I know
Sarcasm just doesn't work on the internet lol