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kameraguy
01-05-2004, 09:23 AM
Of all the strangest problems i've had with my car, this one takes the cake.

Was running low on gas last night and went to Chevron to fill-er-up. That went un-eventful, except I was now down $26.

Anyhoo, I drive home, approx 2 miles from the station.

When i get out of my car, I immediately hear what sounds like a "gurgling" sound from my trunk area. I'm like WTF. It sounds like liquid that's being emptied from a large plastic bottle, like when you pour out a 2-liter soda bottle and the air inside is escaping, causing irregular flow of the soda along with a "gurgling" sound. Sorry, I don't know how else to describe it....

Except it was loud enough to hear outside the car.

It was definintely where the fuel tank was...and I can imagine it must be the gas.

This happenned for about 5 minutes off-and-on. It would make the sound for 10 seconds...stop...then come back a few seconds latter.

Very un-nerving!

I was thinking my gas-tank ruptured or something, but so far I haven't seen any leaks from the car. No gas smell outside the car either.

I started the car this morning and it was fine. No more sounds at this time.

This is the first time i've ever heard this noise. And of course i've fueled my car hundreds of times.

Has anyone else experienced this? And any ideas what this could be?

I did some research on the internet and the only thing I came up with that may have something to do with it is the purge-valve in the fuel system. But I don't know if this would cause such a sound...and why now.

TIA :confused:

Brabus
01-05-2004, 10:03 AM
Could just be air bubbles escaping from inside the tank... I dunno why it would surface now if you've never heard it before... Maybe the uber cold weather we're facing these days?

kameraguy
01-05-2004, 10:39 AM
I hope it's nothing to worry about. Like all night I was thinking my garage would explode as the pilot light to the heater might trigger some leaking gas fumes.

Maybe I'll park the car outside from now on :(

pnsji
01-05-2004, 11:43 AM
Maybe the fuel pump? or fuel filter?
I never have this problem before.

kameraguy
01-05-2004, 02:17 PM
My friend at work told me the sound of the gas could have been due to excess pressure built up against a full fuel tank if I drove the car hard after getting it filled.

I do recall driving my car WOT a few times after getting it full on the way home (something i usually do not do...hehehehe).

Does anyone know if there is some sort of "pressure regulator" for the fuel tank...something like a purge valve to let excessive pressure out of the tank?

And is it possible to build up pressure driving a car hard in a short period of time? Maybe the tank was REALLY full this time around and the sound I heard was indeed the tank equalizing pressure......:confused:

This is completely hypothetical, but it's the only thing that makes sense to me now. I hope this is on the right track.

Brabus
01-06-2004, 09:08 AM
Perhaps opening back up the gas cap and rocking the car a bit will help all the air bubbles escape...

kameraguy
01-06-2004, 01:41 PM
I opened the gas cap when i started to hear the noise, and it didn't have any pressure.

But even after opening the gas cap and putting back on, the sound still occured for a few minutes.

Not sure what the heck it was, but it hasn't happened since. I suppose i'll have to wait for the next time I fill it up and see if it happens again. Grrr.....

Goldeni245
01-06-2004, 08:37 PM
it's happened in my mom's ML a few times. You could hear the gas moving around and making a "thunk" noise. Our car never blew up heh

kameraguy
01-15-2004, 02:42 PM
hahahhaa, glad to hear it never, uh, exploded.

Well, at least i'm not the only one. I tell you, it's the freakiest noise.

It hasn't happened since though, so hopefully that was a fluke....

Eurosport
01-15-2004, 02:48 PM
if you open the gas tank also don't be suprised if check engine light comes on, computer thinks something is wrong because of no pressure in the fuel tank, light goes off of course after cap is back in place and pressure builds up again.
just 2 cents
i'm not much help at your problem though :(