Overfilled gas.. twice.

I agree forgot to mention that. Makes a lot of sense.

 

So maybe I’ll have to make a call to the local dealer then. Since it sounds like they’ve officially acknowledged that it’s a problem..

Edit - are you taking your wife’s truck into the dealer?

 

I am taking her truck in to have it looked at

 

Keep me updated! I just tried a third pump/different gas station just to be sure.. and yup, same thing. I triple checked to make sure the nozzle was completely inserted etc.

 

here in hawaii we do not have nozzle flips gizmos plus just recently (Costco) now you have to push the nozzle into the gas fill hole so the rubber seal on the nozzle is collapsed properly and hold it there or gas will not come out. when i fill my gerry can i have to pull up the rubber part toward me and hold it to get it to fill the can.

 

Can you test at those same stations but don’t have it set at the highest flow rate? That’s a bit of a pain, but, you know, science…..

 

Ha, science. I suppose I could, but at this point am I risking damaging to the charcoal canister by overflowing this often? (serious question)

 

Sucks about the fuel spraying out. Id be pissed if my new Truck had that happen. For what it’s worth here is the fallout of always topping up.

https://youtu.be/jPiiqcDxDxY

 

Interested to see what they say. So the fuel level triggers the "click" auto-shutoff and then gas comes out. Wouldn't it have to be some sort of air venting back in the system somewhere, or getting a pocket of air somehow and pushing a certain amount of gas out once full as it tries to escape? Such a weird issue, hope its easily resolved OP. good luck

 

Wear the cheap flips when you are filling in case of fuel spew.

I'm pretty sure a $5 pair doused with fuel will be less painful to toss in the bin than a $70 pair.........

but I've been wrong before.

 

I would take it to your Dealer. No issue with my 2021 Tacoma. Make sure you take it in with the fuel level a bit below full. At Ford where I worked (now retired) I would be required to take your truck to a gas station and verify by adding gas. I had the ability to monitor fuel tank pressure during filling and see if there where any issues with the venting. That's how new vehicles monitor for evap leaks. The PCM monitors the fuel tank pressure sensor for changes while running the evap monitor. I would expect the Toyota system to be very similar.

 

Funny you mention that, I ended up taking it in last night and they called me this morning explaining that they were not able to do any diagnosing due to the tank being too “full”. I tried to explain to them that I had driving the truck about 30 miles since my last fillup, but since my gauge technically was at the full line that they would not be able to do anything with it.

So where I stand now is that I have to run the tank down to “half” and come back another day. This beginning to be quite a headache..

 

30 miles......gee, that is about 1.5 gallons of fuel used.....maybe 2 gallons.

The dealer needs to "fill" the tank attempting to replicate the complaint. 2 gallons, isnt much fuel for the Tacoma.

 

Isn’t overfilling from “half” a tank versus being 1.5-2 gallons less the same thing? What diagnostic difference would that make? I also explained to them that the first time this happened my tank was at 2/3’s full..

 

The difference is the amount of "air/vapor" being displaced to equal the fill rate. Much more needs to be displaced with a 10 gallon fill versus a 2 gallon fill.

If the "air/vapor" can't get out, then the fuel will back up in the fill tube.

Just follow the dealer's suggestion and allow them to diagnose the issue.

Technically, a tank half full of fuel is also half full of air/vapor.

 

How far away from the dealership is your daily routine?

Can the dealership send a tech to observe your filling near the dealership on your next fill-up?

I would think there is a way to pressure test the fuel fill and evaporate system without actually having to fill the tank with gasoline. I mean, you only get one shot to diagnose a fill based on pumping gasoline until the tank is full. Then what? Drive for 200 miles just to test again for 1-2 seconds of near full fuel tank vapor barf? Do they add 200 miles to your warranty for driving it so they can diagnose? Come on WTF, they are just kicking the shit can down the road until you don’t complain about it anymore and live with a workaround probably.

 

About 30 mins/20 miles in the opposite direction of work unfortunately..

And that was my immediate reaction, they’re brushing it off. The tech I spoke with didn’t sound like he cared too much and asked if I knew how to pump gas properly..

 

Filled up at a third station and no overfilling issues. Towards the end of the fill I watched to see if any gas came up and none did. I filled up with the lever locked in the fastest flow setting. Tank was a tad more than 3/4 empty.

 

This is definitely a Tacoma problem, albeit not universal, and maybe not always due to the same cause. We took delivery of our 2021 TRD Off-Road in early September, and the few times we have pumped the gas tank to full, fuel has come pouring out of the filler neck at the same time or just before the pump has clicked off.

The first time it happened to me at Costco, I thought that maybe I had not inserted the fuel nozzle all the way into the filler neck, or because I had the pump set to the fastest setting and that particular pump was set too fast. New vehicle quirk; something to get used to, perhaps? The second time at Costco, I made sure to go to a different pump, put the nozzle in as far and it would go, and use the slower automatic fill setting. Same result. Gas poured out and ran down both the outside and inside of the left rear fender of the truck, and I had to drive home and rinse it off.

My wife, who drives the Tacoma daily, tends to not fill up but buys gas $10 or $20 at a time. However, the same thing happened to her when she tried to fill the tank at Costco. So even though we've been pumping gas at our local Costco for several years, into various vehicles, without incident, maybe it's a Costco + Tacoma thing? Nope.

Today, my wife called and told me that it happened to her when she filled up at a Pilot station by the Turnpike, several hundred miles from our home. She told me that knowing the problem we've been having with fill-ups, she tried to avoid an overfill by manually holding the lever to keep the pump running, holding the pump handle straight and inserting the nozzle all the way in, and filling the tank slowly. She released the lever as soon as she heard/ felt the handle click, but gas ran behind the fender onto the ground. She said she wasn't sure where the excess gas came from, but my guess is the very slow and deliberate way she filled up minimized the volume of excess gas that spilled out of the filler neck, but gas spilled out, nonetheless.

I have theories. From what I have read about this issue so far, it seems likely that this is a design and/or manufacturing defect in the EVAP system, where the system's protection against overfilling -- routing enough gas vapor to the filler neck to trigger the gas pump's automatic shut-off -- is not working. I am thinking this could be a blocked hose or maybe a stuck valve. Less likely but possible, given what I suspect is a considerable distance from the filler neck to the gas tank, is a design and/or manufacturing defect allowing the fuel filler to be kinked in the assembly process or from the vibrations of driving the vehicle, causing fuel to back up faster than any pump's automatic shut-off can deal with it. Or maybe it's both.

I am going to take the truck back to the dealer. Given what others have posted, I will take it in with less than a half-full tank, and suggest that they check the fuel tank pressure while filling it with gas.

I have two questions, which I hope some here can answer:

1. Has this happened to you with your Tacoma, or any other EVAP-equipped (post 1996) vehicle, and if so, what was the diagnosis and repair?

2. Assuming this is a defect that can be remedied, should I also insist that the dealer replace the entire EVAP system, or at least the charcoal canister, given the damage that overfilling can cause to these parts? I intend to ask that the service tech inspect the entire EVAP system, but I am concerned that they will just tell me I have nothing to worry about... only to have the system take dump later on.

 

I would be more concerned with damaging the evap canister which can throw an engine code . Maybe get it documented by a dealer . 109k on mine . Fill it till the click and it's never done it once.