Forum Discussion

Vibrant93's avatar
Vibrant93
Explorer
May 03, 2019

Fueling a gasser...

I tired the search but didn't come up with what I was looking for. Do any of you have issues when fueling your coaches with fuel? I have an '00 Suncruiser with the v10 and it takes forever to fill the tank with gas. If I'm at 1/4 tank it'll fill like normal up to about 3/4 tank and then it's a good 10 minutes to get the tank the rest of the way full. I literally have to keep clicking the nozzle handle as it doesn't want to take fuel. I'm assuming it's some sort of pressure/venting issue with the tank but I was more or less wondering if this is something common? The 1st couple of times out with the coach after we bought it I was only filling it 3/4 full and thought I had a fuel sending unit issue. After doing some mileage tests I realized we were never getting it full!
  • The fill and vent hoses are suspect. I'd check to be sure one or the other wasn't either cut a little too long or not pushed far enough onto the metal fittings causing a kink in the rubber hose.
  • 4x4van's avatar
    4x4van
    Explorer III
    As Matt said, check the vent line very closely. My last RV suddenly developed the problem; I would have to drive up on a leveling block to fill the tank it was so bad. Turned out that a mounting clamp for the vent line had come loose, allowing the vent line to sag, creating a dip in it. That dip filled with fuel, and would no longer "vent" while filling. Reattached the line to eliminate that dip, and the problem was solved.
  • Vibrant,

    I have seen this problem a lot and even had it myself and managed to fix it.

    Check two things:
    Take apart what ever you have to so you can inspect the fill plumbing. It should have no pinches or dips in the run. Do what ever you have to do to fix those.
    There is a small line that will most likely accompany the fill pipe, and this is a major headache. This line is called the "Fill Vent" and come off the top of the fuel tank to let the air out of the tank as it is filling. If it has any dips in it, those will collect wet fuel. Then filling the tank will blow those up to the fill neck and shut off the nozzle. Do what ever you have to do to make that line not dip.

    I fixed this on both my coach and a friends (different manf.) My fueling time went from 45 minutes to 10 and really full. His is better but he won't say how much.

    Matt
  • I had the same issue on my small Class C. The problem is in the design of the filler neck & tube. The easiest solution was to just turn the handle between 60 to 80 degrees sideways to the forward and that solved it. Can now fill up at the fastest setting without any issues. I could have done physical changes to the filler parts and system but so much easier to just tilt the nozzle.
  • There is a vent tube that allows air to escape as the fuel fills the tank. This vent tube gets plugged since these coaches sit for awhile. Usually they're plugged by some insect that decided it'd be a nice place to call home. Find the vent tube, clean it and your problem will go away....we just don't fuel enough to keep that vent open, or we have too many bugs.....Dennis

    BTW... you only need to post once. :)
  • On a truck I had I would have to turn the handle of the fuel nozzle up instead of down. This allowed me to fill the tank full at a faster rate.
  • Yes, have had that problem since we purchased it, and the former owner said it was consistently a problem as well. My solution has been to lower the stabilizers on the fill side and jack up that side of the RV during filling, essentially making the fill angle more steep and less chance for the fuel to bubble back into the fill line, causing it to kick back off. Seems to be working well for me for the past few years. So far, no problems with doing that.....
  • Try checking the tank fill hose from underneath. There may be a dip in it that fills up as the tank fills, making the last 1/4 slow to accept fuel.
  • Never had that problem with either Class A I've owned, but did have that issue with a Jeep Wrangler.

    In that case, the flexible fill hose, between the fill port, and the tank, has a tip over valve inside. It's a butterfly valve that's intended to shut the fuel hose off if the vehicle rolls over.

    But mine was made of plastic, and eventually failed in the mostly closed position. Would only take fuel slowly, and kept "burping" gas. Major PITA.

    I couldn't source the part from Chrysler, but someone on a forum found a direct replacement part from GM: https://amzn.to/2UZyJOK

    The swap wasn't difficult and completely solved the issue. Good luck with your gremlin!