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How big is a '97 GC gas tank?

4K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  Chrysler1924 
#1 ·
Even when on fumes, I have never pumped more than 18.5 gallons into the tank, but for the first time in my experience, the automatic fuel pump shutoff didn't shutoff while I was filling my van last week.

The fuel light hadn't come on but I was close - just over an 1/8th of a tank showing on the guage. When all was done, gas was gushing out of the filler neck past the nozzle and "rubber cap", and my receipt showed 19.5 gallons pumped. I don't think more than a quart or half gallon spilled, certainly not three gallons, but I expected to only take about 16 gallons to fill the tank.

How much fuel could be put in the tank if really filled?

Anything I should be concerned about?

Thanks,
Jeff
'97 DGC, 3.8, 136K
 
#2 ·
The tank is ~20 gallons, that said, my bet is that you got ripped off. Were I in your shoes I'd call the Department of Weights and Measures (or whoever in your state is responsible for policing sales and measurements) and report the station. I'd also go to the station and complain about the accuracy of that particular pump.
 
#3 ·
According the owners manual it says the capacity is 20 gallons. However you should never fill the tank to the point you have the filler neck full. From looking at a removed tank there's extra room in the tank where it would max out over 20 gallons but that's a bad thing to happen because of the CANP system. You could easily contaminiate the canister with raw fuel and end up with an EVAP code problem and even a rich driveability problem...
 
#4 ·
There was a problem with the 96 vans with the gas tank. They were officially 20 gallon tanks, however, there was a problem with some of them. If my memory is correct, some of the tanks did not have proper holes in the baffles internally so some gas remained trapped and a fill up from empty took only about 16 gallons. Another possibility was collapsing gas tanks. My 96 Grand Voyager had the tank replaced.

I agree with Shipo that 19.5 gallons without the low gas alarm warrants a check of that gas pump.

Frank
96 Grand Voyager retired
99 DGC Sport retired
07 T&C SWB 17600 mi
 
#6 ·
There was a problem with the 96 vans with the gas tank. ... My 96 Grand Voyager had the tank replaced.
Uhm... I had no idea that this was a problem. Can you elaborate? Was this a recall? Was there a TSB? :help_wsig
 
#5 ·
As others have said, the capacity is about 20gal, but yes you can get more in there (but shouldn't). I overfilled my tank by 1.7 gallons once, which brought the fuel level up to about an inch below the top of the filler neck. Upon realizing what I'd done, I immediately drove the van for almost an hour to use up the extra 1.7gal - yes overfilling can damage the EVAP system components.

As an FYI, on my van, the gauge stays on "Full" until 4 gallons have been used, then moves down one mark for every 2 gallons used. So the "halfway" mark means that 8 gallons remain, not 10.

- G
 
#8 ·
Interesting...

No Incomplete Recalls or Customer Satisfaction Notifications Exist
I was really happy when I first read this thread and found out that there was a TSB/recall on the gas tanks of the 1996 vans. For a while I've been getting a smell of gas whenever I fill up my 1996. Almost as if there was a fuel leak. The problem being, I could never see any fuel spillage. But whenever the tank is full I could smell fuel for the first couple of days before the tank got burned down from completely full. However, I just re-checked the VIN number with Chrysler (my '96 VIN) and it came back saying that no incomplete recalls or customer satisfaction notifications exist for this van, which means all of those services have been completed. So now I'm confused... what was this problem all about? Did it only affect some 1996 vans, and not others?
 
#9 ·
A TSB has nothing to do with a recal. and TSB's are not covered buy any kind of campain or free repairs.

I found some fuel system recals due to defective rollover valve/vent tube, fuel leak at fuel pump module, fuel injector rails, filler tube

TSB's fuel gage accuracy, rough idle after fill up which involves a fuel tank replacement but NOT a recal, fuel sloshing thump tsb,
 
#10 ·
That's the one thing I HATE about NJ is that it's "illegal" to pump your own gas. Everytime I fill up the gas jockey always "over fill" the car even if I tell them NOT to top it off. Then again in about 3/4 of the gas stations in the state employ people who dont know how to speak english.
 
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