Filling station nightmare...nozzle stuck in filler neck!!

[marky2027]

What a day!!!! Been stuck in a meeting all day and had to fill the car up on the way home. Went to a Total filling station, re-fuelled as normal and then....disaster! The nozzle wouldn't come out of the neck of the tank. Tried all sorts of pulling,twisting, turning but it was completely stuck. Had to get RAC to come out and it took two of us and along screwdriver to get it out. The woman in the station had said that it had never happened before and that they were brand new pumps!!! I assured her that in 19 years of driving and refuelling several different vehicles at work this had never happened to me before. The manager then called in for a fleeting visit and she told her to get my details in case I damaged the pump!!! What about my car like???!!!
The plastic of the filler neck is now all gouged and I'm hoping that no plastic has gone into the tank although if it has then the filter hopefully will stop that from trashing my engine!!
I've noticed in the past the profile on the underside of fuel nozzles looks like little bumps, semi-circular. Both me and the RAC bloke think the new design of the nozzle is the culprit. The shapes are triangular but it means that when you withdraw the right angle could get wedged which is what has happened. I am going to research different stations tomorrow to compare and then get the dealers verdict on the damage to the car. I will be taking it up with Total though. Moral of the story.....IF YOU ARE FILLING UP AT TOTAL BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!

[steve1975l]

I have heard about this before. Doesn't it get stuck on the flap?

[Duncan]

You're not the first for this to happen to, and it's not just Total pumps either.

Not happened to me but several other people have reported the same experience - it's the flimsy anti-evaporation flap thing that gets caught/bent backwards if the nozzle is pushed in a smidge to far. The ridges on the pumps don't help but neither does the flimsy flap.

[Inspektor]

Sounds like you had a really bad one.
You're not the first for this to have happened.

http://www.vectra-c.com/forum/search...archid=2434609

Made me paranoid about filling up after it happened to me

[john_k_sri]

You're not the first for this to happen to, and it's not just Total pumps either.

Not happened to me but several other people have reported the same experience - it's the flimsy anti-evaporation flap thing that gets caught/bent backwards if the nozzle is pushed in a smidge to far. The ridges on the pumps don't help but neither does the flimsy flap.

Yep, when it happened to me on my previous Vectra 'C' I was told that VX were fitting a modified flap. I didn't help matters by pushing the nozzle in too far, as the 'C' was the first car I had which did not (in my mind) require you to push the nozzle in as far as it would go, which I had always previously done. Since then I take care not to do so again.

Another thing which annoys me and only happened once was when the pump did not click off when the tank was full with the result that my shoes got petrol on them. And those pumps that keep clicking off well before the tank is full. When that happens I get really pi$$ed off.

[Big Sig]

Unlike some activities its best not to stick it in all the way

[marky2027]

Didn't search the forums before I posted because I thought this was a new problem. However it wasn't the metal flap it got caught on, it was the triangular shaped ridges on the nozle got caught on the plastic neck where the flap is hinged

[steve1975l]

Unlike some activities its best not to stick it in all the way

I was going to say that but thought better of it.

[spoons]

Vectra's hate filling stations...

Just be thankfull that the car didnt slip its handbrake whilst the filler nossle was stuck and rip it all out the ground.

Gotta love the Vectra ...

[ed taylor]

[QUOTE=spoons;754641]Vectra's hate filling stations...

Mine loves to visit filling stations.