Stalling after refueling

[Paul Harrington]

My daughter recently bought a '99 SL1 (50K miles and manual transmission), and it runs fine except for "bucking", as she calls it, shortly after refueling. After fueling, it will run for a mile or so, and then start lurching and stumbling. Downshifting helps a little bit, but she ends up having to pull over to the side of the road and let it sit for half an hour or more. After that, it runs fine again. The first time it happened she had it towed to the dealer. When they checked it the next day, they couldn't find anything wrong.

It sounds to me like water in the gas tank, so we've told her to run Heet through it. She doesn't drive it much (a tank lasts several weeks), so she's only been able to run two cans through, and it hasn't cleared up yet.

Does anyone have any other ideas, or is this a common problem with these cars?

 

[Guest]

Maybe check the gas cap, to see if it is venting as it should. And /or try filling only 1/2 of what it would take to fill it full. To see if it is still "bucking".

 

[apl]

Also check the fuel filter.

Maybe check the gas cap, to see if it is venting as it should. And /or try filling only 1/2 of what it would take to fill it full. To see if it is still "bucking".

 

[Mark Walters]

Hi There,

I work for a Saturn dealership, and this has happened to several of our customers. Our service manager believes the problem can be caused by two things:

(1) a loose gas cap

(2) filling the tank with the engine running.

Both cause problems with the pressure in the tank.