I tried filling the gas tank and after a very small amount of gas it overflowed and air bubbled out when I removed the fill nozzle. Obstruction in the tank vent system? 2017 Prime. Because I don't know how an automatic shut off nozzle works, I drove to a different gas station, and the tank filled normally. Bad fill nozzle at the first place, or a problem in the tank venting that (temporarily) corrected itself? If it is a tank vent problem, then I need to find and fix the problem. Any ideas?
I would want to be sure I had a problem before trying to fix it. Since this happened one time at one gas pump and didn't happen at the next pump, I would suspect a problem with the first station. When I had a problem with the tank vent system on my 4Runner, it pulled a code and a light on the dash. If you have no code and if it doesn't happen the next time you fill it, call it an anomaly.
I'll echo the "try another pump" repair. A few years ago, I bought a used BMW sedan from a local dealer. On the way home, I stopped to fill the tank and it would not take any fuel, despite the gauge showing 1/2 tank. Failed vapor canisters are a common and expensive problem on these cars, so I had fears of expensive repairs that would mean that I grossly overpaid for the car.w Going to another station "fixed" the problem, and it never recurred.
You have clicked by mistake the black button on the right that says the filler door had been shut. Go back in the car and turn the ignition on then shut it off and push the button on the dash that opens the filler door and go back to filling it up.
I had the same problem on my 2015. The dealer repaired it. It seems to be a common problem. There must been a service bulletin on that repair. They knew exactly what to do. It seemed like a simple repair.
Here is my guess. Since OP's PP is a 2017 model, the fuel port door latch does not have a protector around it. It has been reported in several treads, that inadvertently pushing the pin causes the fuel neck valve to close, which resulted in the fuel spill if you start pumping. It can be simply remedied by pushing the fuel door open button in the lower left of the driver-side dash again. For the 2018 and newer models of PP, Toyota put a "guard" around the fuel door switch to prevent this from happening. See the photo in this old thread: Caution when getting fuel
General advice: Don't DO anything unless and until you can duplicate the problem. And eliminate any possible "operator error". I had a similar problem once when fueling a motorcycle. Gas splashed out everywhere. Looking at the end of the fill nozzle, it was damaged and there was a big chunk of metal across the opening. The station manager thanked me for reporting it and promptly put a "yellow bag" on the pump.
@tedjohnson and @Salamander_King have almost certainly nailed it. 99.99% chance that you accidentally pushed on that door latch button and told the car you were done fueling, prompting it to seal the tank.
Thanks for the information. I don't think I inadvertently pushed the button, but maybe.... I'll watch for this in the future.
Actually, you can test it in your driveway. Just push the release in the cabin and unscrew the fuel cap. Then push the black pin manually and I'm pretty sure you'll hear the valve close. Then you can re-push the button in the cabin, and it will open up again. It's been awhile, but I'm sure I tested this back in the day when this issue first came up in the Gen 4.
The same thing will happen if you don’t fill up within 30 minutes of opening the fuel fill door. It may be that the door was released earlier somehow.
