2006 Chevy Cobalt Starting Issues

by Hayley Jo
(Ohio)

I have recently bought an 06 chevy cobalt used. I have had a few issues with the car, but one of the issues noone can seem to figure out is when I put gas in the car it seems to not want to start or it wants to stall out. This problem only occurs when gas is put into the car. Do you have any ideas what could be causing this problem?



Steve Says,

Hi Haley Jo. Thanks for using my website.

There are several things that came to mind when I read your question. The first and most common is a problem with the evaporative control system on your car. This system is supposed to catch all of the fuel fumes and store them instead of all of the gas fumes being vented into the atmosphere. When the fuel in your gas tank heats up it expands and causes fumes to leak out of your tank. The evaporative emmissions controls take those fumes and put them in a "charcoal canister". This part is basically a plastic can with charcoal in it that will absorb the fumes, then send them back to the fuel tank when it can fit them in again.

One of the parts in this system called a "purge control solenoid" is what lets the fumes go into the charcoal canister and flow back to the fuel tank when it is ready. If this valve has gone bad then it could be letting liquid fuel flow into the evaporative control system which could cause your car to stall or run rough. Some cars will have this problem even when this part is not bad if the drivers continue to fill their gas tanks even after the pump has clicked off. To rule this out just make sure that once the gas pump clicks off the first time don't put any more fuel in your tank.

Any good repair shop can test this system to see if this part is faulty. If that is not the problem then you need to have your fuel system tested to see how much pressure is in the fuel lines. Sometimes fuel pumps start going bad and get worse when you put fuel in. The reason for this is because the fuel is stored in underground tanks that stay cold. When you add a full tank of cold fuel it causes the casing of the fuel pump to contract which makes the pump bind up and causes it to not put out enough fuel pressure to run your vehicle. This is not as likely in your case because most of the time it sounds like your car runs just fine. It is still a possibility though.

I hope this has helped. Please leave a comment if you need more help or when you figure out the cause or your car problem.