“All the GM people know exactly why…”
Getting gas is something most drivers do on autopilot. It’s a part of the car having experience that you know you have to do on a regular basis, and once you’re there the actual act is pretty mindless.
Pull up, insert the nozzle, wait a few minutes until it clicks off, scoff at the price you just paid. Rinse and repeat in a few days.
One driver added a piece of equipment to the process that left a bystander confused.
In a viral TikTok with more than 318,000 views, content creator and car enthusiast Cory Todd (@ctoddpse) recorded a man filling up his GMC Yukon truck at a Chevron station.
Todd films a man with an unusual fueling setup.
Instead of simply putting the nozzle in the tank and filling up, the man has a large funnel in the opening into which he’s pouring gas.
However strange it seemed, people theorized that there must be some good reason. Commenters supplied plenty of possible explanations.
Several commenters seemed to immediately recognize the issue with the leading theory being about the truck’s EVAP or charcoal canister.
“He needs to fix EVAP canister,” a top comment read.
“Funnel was cheaper than fixing that EVAP canister,” a second agreed. “All the GM people know exactly why he’s doing that. Takes me like 30 minutes to fill up,” another added.
One person offered a workaround in case the issue was that the nozzle keeps stopping.
“You can pump with the handle upside down if it keeps shutting off,” they wrote.
Another seemed inspired.
“I’m going to start doing this just to make sure the gas is actually pumping and not just taking my money,” they joked.
“Lmao, I had no idea this was a thing,” Todd said in the caption. “Apparently, y’all did.”
Vapor canister, charcoal canister, and EVAP canister are three names for the same thing. It is a central part of a vehicle’s evaporative emissions system, which keeps smog-forming fuel vapor from escaping into the atmosphere.
The canister contains activated charcoal that captures vapor from the fuel tank. When the vehicle is running and the conditions are right, a purge valve allows the engine to draw in and burn those stored vapors.
This system also plays a role while the tank is being filled. Adding liquid fuel pushes vapor out of the tank, and that displaced vapor normally travels toward the canister and its related components. If the canister becomes clogged, the vapor can back up toward the tank and make fueling difficult.
United Tire explains that a small opening near a gas nozzle’s tip must continue drawing in air while fuel flows. When gasoline covers that opening, a mechanical system stops the pump. The click is normally a safety feature that indicates when a tank is full.
Without the automatic shutoff, fuel could overflow onto the vehicle, ground, or person holding the nozzle. But the same mechanism can activate early if gasoline splashes back up the filler pipe and temporarily covers the opening.
United Tire recommends that instead of squeezing the trigger completely or locking it into its highest notch, the driver in this situation should use a lower setting. Less forceful flow may reduce splashback and allow the tank to fill without the nozzle stopping every few seconds.
Repeated shutoffs do not automatically mean something is wrong, but if the tank is consistently difficult to fill, that could indicate a more serious issue.
Motor1 has reached out to Todd via TikTok direct message and comment and to Chevron via contact form. We’ll be sure to update this if either respond.
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