Gas Tank Empty, but Gas Pump stops pumping like full?. HELP!

[LunchBox04V]

Hey folks. I was baffled and thought I would pass it on to you. So a gal I have been dating bought a Subaru (on my sudjestion :wink: ) is having a little trouble. It is a 1997 Impreza Outback Sport with the Gen 1 2.2 and 5MT. When she went to put gas in the car (car at <1/4 tank) the fuel pump clicked off like it was full. The car has been driven less than 100 miles in the last month as it was titled and the rust was worked on. She called me and I was totally at a loss. Any ideas? Any help would be great, not to mention net me a few bonus points. :grin: Thanks for all the help.

[green97gt]

there is a vent somewhere to let air out as gas goes in, i dont know where it would be on her car, on my van it is just a tube that runs parallel to the big one you put the gas nozzle in

if that gets clogged the gas your pumping in will not flow into the tank at a reasonable rate and the auto shut off on the pump is triggered.

example: imagine pouring used oil into a funnel that fills the entire opening of a gallon jug..the oil wont go down the funnel fast enough cause the air cant escape. thats why i always put a screwdriver in the opening to allow the air to escape around the funnel.

hope that made sense.

the tube on a subaru MAY vent thru the charcoal canister, OR it might just run next to the filler neck. i dont know, but it should be easy to find. try dumping some seafoam in it then blowing it out with an air hose.

[LunchBox04V]

I figured that was the problem. I didn't know how it was set up on Subaru's.... I have never worked on the gas tank/fuel systems yet. lol I called Jerry and he said that he has never heard of an Impreza or Legacy having that problem, but I guess Forresters have it happen every now and then. I will have a look and see what I can do. Thanks for the thoughts.

Any other thoughts? Any tips on how to check/clear the vent? lol Thanks again. I might be getting a free dinner out of all this! :cool: :wink:

[green97gt]

free dinner is always good!

i would imagine any car that has sat for a while is susceptible to it.

so according to my FSM, at least on a 97 legacy the air vent hose is right next to the fill hose, jack up the car and take an eyeball under there.

should be easy to spot. unscrew the clamp near the tank and blow air thru it, then run some seafoam or cheaper B12 chemtool to disolve any remaining gunk, and assure its clear.

or if your lazy you should be able to see the vent hole when you remove the gas cap, blow air into that, or use a piece of wire or something, then run fuel cleaner down it, but that may end up with a small amount of gunk in your tank.

[iampetro]

i forgot about his lol. my old BD used to do this :-(

all i did was stick the gas pump in all the way, then pull it out a good inch and then it sat at a different angle and i could fill it up without it stopping every 5 seconds :roll:

it doesn't take long to find a sweet spot where you can fill it but then again you could always fix it for her :grin: in the case of a girl and points i'd go for the gold :smt023

[LunchBox04V]

I am going to go and look at the vent for her. Always good to help a gal. :smile: I will see what can be done, and replace and fix as needed. Thanks!

[d1giPhux]

Yup.. had to do this to both of my subaru's before..

'vent control solenoid'.. its located under the bread box (looks like a loaf of bread) on the right side of the car behind the wheel..

that should fix your problem.. stupid vent solenoid!

[Huffer]

The other thing to do is just use a different angle on the fill tube. You should never leave a pump unattended anyway.

[d1giPhux]

^ that only works for so long.. when the problem happened with both my cars.. you could do that for a while... but then it got increasingly worse and would take like 15 minutes to fill the tank on my car.. or longer.

[LunchBox04V]

Lol yeah she is not one to set it and take off. She was just to the point where it was taking 15 minutes to full the tank... I will check the solenoid and the vent tube to make sure the problem is fixed. Haha thanks for the help, and the bonus points.

[Huffer]

Good call. I never fill my tank all the way anyway - it's unnecessary extra weight because I pass 3 gas stations on all my travels.

I run lean. :lol:

[httrdd]

Good thread! Learn something new every day! :smt023

[iampetro]

15 minutes to pump gas!!!! WTF?

i had this happening on my old car, you pull the pump regularly and it stops quickly. It took me 1 night of standing there taking forever to fill up before i found that pulling it out an inch and tilting the but end of the pump up fixed this. I f someone stood there for 15 minutes doing the same thing, getting the same results and just kept on doing it... :smt011

i have to admit if i saw this happening to someone with another Leggy i'd walk over and help them but any other car and i'd just laugh :smt016

[Grafton]

Good call. I never fill my tank all the way anyway - it's unnecessary extra weight because I pass 3 gas stations on all my travels.

I run lean. :lol:

must be nice to not have to fill up every day and a half

[d1giPhux]

15 minutes to pump gas!!!! WTF?

i had this happening on my old car, you pull the pump regularly and it stops quickly. It took me 1 night of standing there taking forever to fill up before i found that pulling it out an inch and tilting the but end of the pump up fixed this. I f someone stood there for 15 minutes doing the same thing, getting the same results and just kept on doing it... :smt011

i have to admit if i saw this happening to someone with another Leggy i'd walk over and help them but any other car and i'd just laugh :smt016


like i said.. the 'putting the end of the nozzle' trick.. only works for so long.. then it will no longer work and it will still click off ever 3 seconds. I'm telling you.. its happened to me more then once. I'm assuming this is because the pressure builds up in the lines and such and sure.. if you hold the hole open for a little bit to vent.. you can fill a bit longer.. but that trick only goes so far / so many refills. but yeah.. you can stick the very tip in.. and you may get a LITTLE better flow.. but it does not make the process light years faster.

[iampetro]

i just remebered that i used to not be able to pull the gas handle all the way

having it flowing slower seemed to help.