azkaty

Gas pump did not turn off and gas flowed out of the tank! I am really worried that I have saturated my carbon filter canister..

Never had this happen in all of my driving years.

What are the chances that I will have to have the the carbon filter replaced?
It's about a $600 job from what I was told.

I drove Eboni about 30 miles on the highway after that happened..so far no codes, but it does smell like gas inside the car a little.

Anyone else do this in your SC? What should I do? Is it likely to take some time before a problem( code) shows up? Or may be I will be lucky?

Please let me know what you think.. I am really angry at the station, and I have filed an insurance claim. I expect a call next week.

Katy

mrblister

I would be interested in knowing more about the carbon filter cannister. Where is it and what does it do other then the obvious. I assume it must be in the gas tank somewhere in line with an overflow line ???

VVTiBob

As you probably know the charcoal canister is part of of the emissions system of the car. It's function is to trap and store evaporative emissions from the gas tank and carburetor. The canister traps the fuel vapors and they stick to the charcoal, until the engine is started, and engine vacuum can be used to draw the vapors into the engine to be burned along with the fuel/air mixture.

While it not a good idea to overfill the tank for the very reason you mention, I suspect a completely filled/saturated system would be throwing trouble codes right away due to malfunctions detected by the vacuum system.

If the car starts misbehaving there's a quick on-vehicle inspection procedure where the technician can hook up to the car and test the VSV (vacuum switching valve) assembly.

I'm not sure about the 2010 model, but the my 02 has two features that can help. An inline filter before the canister, and a drain port too.

azkaty

thanks Bob.. can you tell me is it possible it may take awhile before the trouble
shows up? Is it possible codes may not show for over lets say 100 miles?

What will the car do ( or not do) as far as driveability? Would it stall? Get poor gas mileage? I need to get a quick education here as I think this gas station may try to give me a hard time about this.

Also is it possible the gas will just evaporate from the canister, and that will be the end of my issue?

Katy

tentoys

I doubt you will have a problem or it would have shown up right away. For what it is worth, I've topped off my 99LC and the '04 Tundra i used to have from day one, though both warned against that practice. Never a problem.

robertrios

iTrader: (11)

this happened in my RX once and after a few days of driving the smell went away and I never saw any codes...you should be fine.

huy33

So for now Katy, just head to the store to buy some Febreze and air fresheners.

azkaty

Thanks to all my friends here on CL.

So far, the entire car has been cleaned, the car has been washed, driven about 50 miles. NO codes so far.

So..hopefully the rest of the obnoxious gas smell fades away.

Had a VW bus one time that was obvious that the charcoal canister had been compromised. In the hot weather, you could really smell the fumes when the outside temps went over 70 degrees.

I will see what the dealership says.. also will have an emissions test done..which should tell me "pass" or "fail".
Katy

Harold57

I have done that a few times with my '02 and never had a problem. The only times that I've smelled gas fumes in the car was after such an incident where the overflow got on the gas cap and transferred some of the gas to my hand.

azkaty

I am having what is called an "active " test of the charcoal canister, which is with the engine running. Somehow they open the system, and they can see if there is gas in the canister. About $140.00.

I understand now that the canister life has been shortened, so I still feel that I should get the canister replaced-- by the gas station.

Katy

scorpio74

My 07 has the same two features as well. The smell should go away in a day or two. I overfilled my sc 3 times already and the smell of gas went away in a day. You should be ok.

azkaty

The active test came out fine.The % of gas showed at a level per a new car. So I am ok. I will watch for any mileage drop, or any issues with filling the tank, which is another indication of a problem with the valve.

Now I just have to get reimbursed for all the money I spent to get to this point, and my time off of work as well.

Katy