Other Fuel System Tank Assembly problems of the 2004 Chrysler Town & Country

After fueling, left the station and drove approximately a half mile when the van's engine stalled and the van lost power. It was quite dangerous since I had no control over the vehicle until it coasted to a stop. An internet search revealed many people experiencing the same problem caused by a faulty valve in the fuel tank.

This vehicle stalls after refueling. I google the problem and I found numerous complaints from people with this problem all having Chrysler/Dodge vehicles. This is a huge safety concern as the vehicles tend to randomly stall after refueling. Several mechanics posted the cause as being a defective value on the top of the fuel tank causing the problem. This is one of those posts. Shops are reporting a problem with the gas tank on Dodge caravan, grand caravan, Plymouth voyager, and town and country vans. Shortly after refueling, drivers experience engine stalling. The stalling may repeat several times. The problem is the vapor/liquid separator valve located at the top of the fuel tank. The valve is designed to prevent liquid fuel from entering the charcoal canister/emissions system. When the valve fails, liquid gas can enter the line and fill the charcoal canister. After refueling the pcm on the vehicle detects a change in fuel level. Then, when the engine meets certain temperature and driving criteria, the pcm issues a purge command to the charcoal canister to remove the stored gas vapors. It?s at that point that all the liquid gas in the line gets sucked into the charcoal canister. The pcm expects to see gas vapors entering the intake manifold and it is prepared to adjust air/fuel mixtures to compensate. However, it is not prepared to see liquid gas coming into the intake. That?s what causes the engine to stall. Unfortunately, the only fix is to replace the entire gas tank. Chrysler does not sell the vapor/liquid valve as a separate unit. Once the tank is replaced and the charcoal canister purged, the problem goes away.

Engine stalled after fill up without any warning. After refill as car left gas station engine rpm went down and engine stalled. It happened in unexpected places like entering busy road or starting from traffic light. Driver gets no warning like check-engine light indicator and engine just stops. Asked dealer to check the problem few times, but minivan was returned back and dealer could not repro the problem. Did not feel safe to drive as I had no idea when to expect engine to stop working, till I found internet forums mentioning this failure and the only way to resolve this issue was to replace fuel tank.

Purchased van used from a Toyota dealership in may of 2010. Reported within days to dealership that van had a stutter when at idle. They gave it a tune up but it did not resolve the issue. Warranty purchased with van did not cover the fuel system. Stuttering continued and became worse as the years went by. Van began to die when idling, especially if turning left which put us in danger a number of times. Also, we smelled fuel. We replaced the tank in 2013. However, our mechanic informed us at the time that it had a design flaw and the same issues would occur in a matter of time. Tank was fine for two years. Within a month of the warranty expiring it began to stutter at idle again. It helps to not fill the tank completely. However, it smells of fuel and continues to stutter at idle. We will not spend another $1500 to replace the tank as with the design flaw the issue will just reoccur. Chrysler needs to recall the gas tank and create a design free of faults.

For the last couple of years, every time we fill the gas tank on our 2004 Town & Country it stalls after driving begins. On multiple occasions it has stalled in front of several lanes of oncoming traffic. The engine totally dies and all power steering is lost. After restarting it runs fine. We have had multiple occasions where collisions have been barely avoided and this is my wife and children in that van. It has been reported on multiple online automotive forums as a common problem. The Chrysler mechanic immediately new the problem when I described the symptoms. He said it is caused by a faulty sensor in the fuel tank and they see it very frequently but unfortunately Chrysler does not acknowledge the problem. This is a serious safety issue and I hope Chrysler decides to do the right thing and it does not take a loss of life to get their attention. I assure you that it is only a matter of time before this becomes reality.

For the last 5 years every time we fill the gas tank on our 2004 Town & Country with gas is stalls after driving between 50 and 150 yards. On multiple occasions it has stalled in front of several lanes of oncoming traffic after pulling out of gas stations. It has also stalled in front of fast moving oncoming traffic when turning left across oncoming lanes. When it stalls, the motor quits and all power in steering and braking is lost. The van must be put into park in order to restart, which means coming to a complete stop in front of traffic. After restarting it runs fine. We have had approximately 9 occasions where high speed collisions have been very barely avoided, usually with children in the car. It has been reported on automotive online forums and from mechanics as a common problem resulting from a faulty sensor in the Chrysler fuel tanks. Unfortunately Chrysler does not acknowledge this fact.