Hi there,

I am new here so I will introduce myself: I am Jasper from Nijmegen, The Netherlands. I own an XJ6 from 1981 (which I will sell), and I just bought a 1994 XJ6 3.2 with 165000km on the clock. Of course, the petrol tank was practically empty when I bought it this monday so I filled it up, no problems at all.

Yesterday, it was a bit above 3/4 full, but anticipating a long drive I wanted to fill the tank up. I couldn't, the petrol nozzle from the gas pump kept ''clicking'' thus indicating the tank was full. I tried various positions but it kept clicking. After a few minutes, I had filled the tank with about 2 litres. I tried again at another gas station, same problem. When I look into the filler tube, I can see the petrol. So the petrol won't go into the tank somehow. What could be the problem?

 

Before you start getting into anything too complicated or expensive, there is a vent next to the filler tube. It can sometimes get blocked with debris. Using a piece of wire should unblock it if that is the problem.

 

Hi Jasper,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us.

On our '93, the tube that StuG circled in his photo is a drain that allows rainwater to drain down under the car instead of filling up the petrol filler compartment.

On U.S. specification cars, the fuel tank is not vented to the open air. Instead, an evaporative emission control system (EVAP) controls venting of tank vapors into a carbon (activated charcoal) canister. The vapors are then fed into the engine intake under appropriate operating conditions. I can't recall whether European spec cars are different.

One possibility that occurs to me is that your fuel level sender or sensor may not be operating properly, and your tank may actually be closer to full rather than at 3/4 as indicated. The fuel level sender is mounted on the back side of the fuel tank and can be accessed by removing the spare tire, jack, and the carpeted trim panel. You could try tapping on the sender with the handle of a hammer or some similar tool to see if the level on the gauge changes.

The only other thing I can think of is that you might try adding petrol with the engine running in case the pressure control valve that opens to allow fuel vapors to escape from the tank into the carbon canister might have been stuck closed.

Note that in the late XJ40s the fuel tank is designed to never fill to more than 90% full in order to allow for fuel expansion and vapor collection. But 90% full should be indicated as 100% full on the gauge in the instrument cluster.

Cheers,

Don

 

Agree with Don, your tank is probably full already!

 

Don,

Thank you for the correction. I mistakenly thought that was venting for the filler tube.


Stu

 

Id have to think the gauge is lazy and doesnt feel like saying full. Carry a gas can for insurance and run a while to see where the needle goes.

 

Thanks for your replies guys!
I blew air through the ventilation pipe of the gastank itself and it seems to have solved the problem. I could fill the tank up again afterwards. So I guess it somehow got clogged, which seems a bit strange to me.

On this European version, there is a vent on the top of the tank which leads to the top of the filler tube via a rubber tube, just below the filler cap.

This is the car in question. It seems to be the late Gold edition. There is no gold badge on the back though.