gasoline gushing on rear tire when filling up

Hi,
The past two times I have filled my tank, gas starts to flow all over my rear tire where my fuel door is! I talked to a mechanic once, and he said that the gas station probably had a faulty nozzle and it overfilled and came out of my vents outside of the opening.

Then it happened again at a different gas station! I have had my car for over 5 years and this hasn't happened once to me, now all of a sudden twice in two weeks!

Someone told me that I am just not holding the nozzle in tight enough, but this has never happened to me before. I don't put up the little auto-stop lever on the gas pump, I hold on to it so the pump will let up when it is full. It doesn't though! I get in a full tank of gas, then my tires become drenched in gas.

Any thoughts? They would be greatly appreciated!

I believe the gas nozzle has a series of holes toward the tip of the nozzle. I believe these holes are something to do with auto stop feature (I am guessing). I tested this feature by plunging the tip of the nozzle into a portable gas tank. It seems that if you plunge the tip into liquid, the auto stop feature kicks in. With that, I can only suspect that you did not plug the nozzle all the way in....

Wajangchang

There is a recall for that problem but it will depend on what year you have, Its for a loose fuel tank filler neck and that sounds just like what you have

Thanks for all of your help! There was also a recall for a cracked fuel tank. I got mine checked out and they said it was OK. This was a couple of years ago, but do you think it could be acting up now?

Thanks again for your replies!

If fuel is leaking out while you are filling the tank i would bet on a loose /cracked filler neck tube.

If fuel is leaking out while you are filling the tank i would bet on a loose /cracked filler neck tube.

Could this have anything to do with why my check engine light is on and my car runs bad (rough idle, no power, etc.)?

If it has the OBD2 computer system 1996 and newer it could set a cel when the system does a fuel tank pressure test BUT that would not cause a no power or bad idle problem

*sigh*...the saga continues...thanks for the reply.

Not sure about this particular year/model but a lot of these systems have to hoses running to the tank. One is large (filler hose), and one is smaller (vent hose). It sounds like you could have a cracked filler hose but if the vent hose is clogged, this could screw with the auto stop feature of the pump. If it keeps clogging and unclogging, the gas could rush to the top too fast. One odd thing is that usually when the filler hose is fine, and the gas overfills it comes out the top and then runs down the outside of the car, not the inside. Sounds like the filler hose is bad...