2004 ford explorer won't accept gas !!!

Yesterday my dad went to put gas in his 2004 ford explorer. He was getting gas out of a farm gas tank with a nozzle without auto. shutoff. As soon as he started pumping gas, gas poured out of the car's tank. Gauge says he has 14 miles to empty.

I noticed there was not a "flapper" at the top of the fill pipe on tank. Is there suppose to be a "flapper"? If so, could this be blocking the fill pipe? How do i go about getting it out ? Thanks in advance for any help !!!

Welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure if the 2004 Explorer should have the little door or not. My 2000 does, my 2004 Lincoln LS did, but my 2007 Infiniti does not.

He wasn't trying to fill the tank with the vehicle running, was he? If so, the Evaporative Emissions system may have been causing pressure in the tank and there will likely be a diagnostic code stored in the system now.

-Rod

Thanks for the welcome. The vehicle wasn't running at the time he was trying to put gas in.

It should have a flapper...now it's in the filler neck. You'll probably have to take the filler neck out and shake it...A LOT. Or you could replace it, but those filler necks were a couple hundred bucks if I remember correctly, so I'd probably spring for emoving it and trying to get the flap out. Your EVAP system should only have a couple of inches of water (real small) positive pressure on the tank, a couple PSI max. Shouldn't be enough to shoot fuel out of the fill unless there's a BIG problem.

I have seen this problem before, it usually happens when the owner has over filled the tank too many times and the evap canister becomes saturated with fuel, not allowing fuel to flow into the tank due the the negative pressure, or for alck of better terms , proper air flow. To check this you would have to drop the evap canister and shake it, if you hear or smell fuel strong, then you have found your problem. this is sometimes followed up with a check engine light and a code for the evap system.

Verified Repair: 06 Mountaineer wasn't accepting gas. (06-08 Explorer & Mountaineer)


Sypmtom: Would take about a gallon at a time, then snap off and hiss air out of the filler.

Repair: Dropped tank, removed carbon canister (EVAP canister -- about the size of a cherry bomb muffler, in black plastic snapped onto the top of the tank.

Tested evap canaster by trying to blow through with my mouth. There was some air coming through but it would build up pressure. It should NOT build any pressure in the canister.

I cut the canister in 1/2 with a sawzall once i removed it to find the plastic screen on the end stuck with soggy charcoal sludge. Note: 99% of the charcoal in the canister was bone dry. It had only gotten wet at the end where the vent tube from the filler attached.

I bypassed the canister with a 5/8" heater hose (as a temporary test). Tank accepted gas perfectly.

Unfortunately, wholesale price of the canister is about $300, exclusively at Ford.

I was told by a Ford tech that there is an updated filler vent assembly available. They had a few problems with water saturation into the vent.

I took the risk of not updating the filler. I was lucky enough to find a complete tank assy at a local salvage yard with carbon canister in tact, freshly pulled for about $150.

Works perfect!!!