I have a 2005 Town and Country with 104,000 miles on it. Once in awhile when I refuel, about 10-15 miles after, it chugs once or twice then the engine turns off. I restart the vehicle and everything is fine. It is slowly starting to happen more often and the mechanics said they didn't find anything wrong. It only happens after refueling and only does it once until I refuel again. I'm concerned because it has happened on the interstate before, and my wife and kids drive it most of the time. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

After refuelling the PCM on the vehicle detects a change in fuel level. Then, when the engine meets certain temperature and driving criteria, the PCM issues a purge command to the charcoal canister to remove the stored gas vapours. It’s at that point that all the liquid gas in the line gets sucked into the charcoal canister. The PCM expects to see gas vapours entering the intake manifold and it is prepared to adjust air/fuel mixtures to compensate. However, it is not prepared to see liquid gas coming into the intake. That’s what causes the engine to stall. Posted elsewhere also.

 

The fix? Replace the fuel tank or don't fill the tank when refueling. There's a valve built into the top of the tank that is supposed to prevent what QinteQ is talking about. Sometimes it fails and won't seal. It's not replaceable without replacing the fuel tank.

 

QinteQ, and Raptor 07, thank you very much for the detailed and informative responses. It's not nearly as bad as I was imagining, that is not a hard fix at all.

 

You are welcome jsank,

Its an easy cost free fix, just put in a couple of gallons less than fully filled.

 

Something like this happened to my daughter yesterday with our 03 Chrysler Town & Country. The only thing is that it happened several times. The last time was after she had driven about 50 miles. Could this be the same problem or should there be enough gas used to prevent it? I asked her and she said that she usually adds gas after the pump kicks off in order to get even dollars..

 

I forgot to say that the first time was right after pulling away from the gas pump.