Stalling after refuelling!

[mad-doug]

A new twist on the stalling situation. A few months back I filled up with fuel, got out of the petrol station, maybe 1/2 a mile and ... stalled. Took ages to get going again and had to keep the revs up, then after about 20 mins of motorway driving it seemed fine again.
... until last week, when I filled up with fuel, got about 1 mile and ... stalled! Managed to restart then it stalled again a few miles later. More difficult to restart this time, but got it going again and home. It then sat happily idly at 7-800 rpm for a few minutes no problem.
Anyone else have this one?
NB when it happened last week the car had been sitting in the rain all day.

I've also noticed that once it stalls once it takes a bit of effort to get it going again.

[lady topaz]

When mine did this it was diagnosed as a Lambda sensor, though why this should be associated with re-fuelling I dont know. I had one replaced and the car was fine. I did however have identical symptoms to you to start with and went down the dirty fuel route.

[nelly1]

lady topaz said:

When mine did this it was diagnosed as a Lambda sensor, though why this should be associated with re-fuelling I dont know. I had one replaced and the car was fine. I did however have identical symptoms to you to start with and went down the dirty fuel route.

I don't think re-fuelling itself is the problem.
When the engine is warm and is stopped, ie. for a fuel stop - heat soaks into the engine / fuel rail.
On restart the engine is looking for fuelling info. from the HEGO sensor (Lambda probe) straight away (this data is not used for a time after a cold start) .
If this info. is dodgy (made worse by the inconsistent hot fuelling) it could well cause a stall situation.

[TUS 373]

Quick question - how far are you filling the tank? i.e. making a full tank, or just topping up?

If it happens again, take the cap off and put it back on again. One cause is that the breather hole in the cap is clogged and it is forming a partial vacuum. Probably not this, but should at least rule it out.

[mad-doug]

Funny you should say that - when I take my fuel cap off it's definitely releasing a vaccum (every time).

Always fill it right up, rather than waste time looking for SUL/Optimax.

[rick111s]

mine has done this twice - both time when i filled right up. tried to start - very lumpy and would even stall which is not the best way of displaying how cool TVR's are on a garage fourcourt. It would drive very lumpy for a few miles untill the petrol starts to get used and would then be fine.

now i dont fill right up and it's fine not happened since and it's the same petrol station. I thought it was due to overfilling or just a TVR quirk of filling right up.?

[RTT]

Had identical problem when first filled up my Griff, released the petrol filler cap and cured it straight away. New (loose) filler cap fitted and never had it since.

[plasticman]

I think the problem is that when the fuel tank is purged by the manifold vacuum it sucks neat fuel into the carbon can if you have a lot of fuel in your tank.The engine then runs drawing additional fuel from the carbon can making a rich mixture. The best fix is just don`t fill your tank to the brim , David

[mad-doug]

this all seems to make sense - thanks to everyone for their help