Complaint 1981379

Complaint Summary

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM

Owner Narrative

For as long as I've had my car - 2017 till now - it's had what I term a "hiccup" after receiving gas. The engine would slightly shudder for the first 5-10 minutes after I filled the car with gas. This was not from overfilling the tank as I never max out the tank. I didn't think much about this until a few months ago. A few minutes after filling my car with gas, the engine shuddered severely and the RPM dropped to zero. This caused the engine to die and left me unable to exit from the turn lane. No warning lights appeared on my dash. I turned on the hazard lights and rolled down the window, but eventually all the lights inside the car died. I was stuck in a left turn lane, unable to move. I had to stick my hand out the window to direct other cars to drive around me. I requested a tow via my car insurance company and the drive arrived within ~15 minutes. The tow truck driver was able to restart my car and we towed it to the local Ford Service center. I explained the issue to the service department, but they were unable to replicate the issue and thus did not resolve it. Since then, the same issues has occurred every time I refill the gas tank. Regardless of how much gas is added or how full the tank was after receiving gas. After adding gas, I have begun immediately parking at the gas station to wait out the engine shudders. They do stop after ~10 minutes, but during that time they have caused the engine to die again. In the past weeks, I've also begun to observe a minor engine shudder even when stopped at a red light. I have never observed a warning light. Online research has shown a number of other people experiencing this issue. It seems the likely cause is a faulty fuel vapor purge valve. This valve may be allowing liquid fuel to flow to the engine, causing the engine to shudder and die. I will be taking my car to a different service center in hopes of the issues being resolved and not getting stranded again. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Owner-submitted narrative on file with NHTSA. Complaint narratives are self-reported and have not been verified.