Cannot fill fuel tank more than 4l

Hi all,
For the last few days, we haven't been able to put more than 4l into our diesel Passat. This is now with trying 2 different stations. Each time, I can see the diesel fuel overflowing up against the nozzle shutting it off. If I fill very slowly, I can get a bit more fuel in.
Has anyone seen this issue on a Passat NMS? I've spoken to the dealer quickly and they've not heard of it as such. I am just out of warranty. I'm thinking that there is some sort of venting system or flap at the base of the filler? Does anyone have a diagram?

At this moment, I've parked the car in my very slightly heated garage to help any ice melt which might be causing the issue

Just a thought, maybe take a wire coat hanger and straighten it out, shove it in the fill pipe to see if you can feel a restriction.
Because of where I spend the winter where they do not use small nozzles, I totally removed the restrictor to limit only small Diesel fill nozzles to fit. But that should not cause your problem.

Jetta_Pilot said:

Just a thought, maybe take a wire coat hanger and straighten it out, shove it in the fill pipe to see if you can feel a restriction.
Because of where I spend the winter where they do not use small nozzles, I totally removed the restrictor to limit only small Diesel fill nozzles to fit. But that should not cause your problem.

Click to expand...

I am going to take off the wheel and the inner fender well to see what I can see. It's now been in the garage for about 16 hours - it's not 20c in there, but i'm hoping that it's warmed the plastic enough to prevent me from snapping it.

sorry for the bad news but you're not the first person to have the issue, some digging from wayyyyy back looks like some parts may be in order (and no this isn't considered a wear and tear item).

I've always noticed that to "brim" the tank on our NMS, I had to slowly trickle in fuel and even when I saw fuel, it slowly disappeared and I could get another 1 cup in before I saw fuel and repeated again.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=435457&highlight=fuel+tank

best of luck

740GLE said:

sorry for the bad news but you're not the first person to have the issue, some digging from wayyyyy back looks like some parts may be in order (and no this isn't considered a wear and tear item).

I've always noticed that to "brim" the tank on our NMS, I had to slowly trickle in fuel and even when I saw fuel, it slowly disappeared and I could get another 1 cup in before I saw fuel and repeated again.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=435457&highlight=fuel+tank

best of luck

Click to expand...

That's not very good news.

Yesterday, I took off the right rear wheel and the inner fender cover and got a good look at the vent itself. It's an aluminum pipe that has a rubber cap on the top that has a few holes in it. I took it off and cleaned it but I'm not sure if it was blocked or not. I then put it all back together and was able to fill the car. I'm going to mention it when i go in for my water pump next week so that there is a record of the issue. I really hope that I don't need a tank.

maybe they changed the tank design for the '15 vs the 12-14's. From that link sounded like you couldn't access/service the vent.