They will not get a letter since it is a TSB and not a recall.

They did release a TSB on it last friday. It effects Xa and Xb produced before a certin VIN. You will get a new fuel tank and possibly a new fuel filler neck depending on your vin number

 

Hmmm, I will ask my dealer about this when I go in for my oil change on Wed. I have a problem filling, but only with certain gas pumps, not all the time. I have to hold the nozzle up while fueling or it shuts off before it's actually full.

 

I asked about it and the guy at the service department didn't know anything about it so I told him to check into it, sure as shit, they are ordering the parts and will be changing out my tank and filler. Thx guys!

 

I just bought a brand new 2005 tC in Dec '04, and it has the same problem. The gas station pump clicks off as if it were full almost every time. I tried two pumps at two different gas stations -- same problem. If I rotate the nozzle, *sometimes* I can get a gallon or two at one time.

I'm going to bring it in to the dealer this week and hopefully they can get me a new gas tank or fill tube or something to correct it. It really shouldn't be this way. Our 2003 Camry works fine at the gas station. Go figure.

Update: The dealer knew about the problem on the XA and XB, but hadn't seen any tCs with it. They called the Scion "technical department" and Scion told them the car is fine and that I need to "hold the nozzle at a 45 degree angle to the rear bumper" in order to stop the problem. Oh, now I understand -- I wasn't doing it properly. Funny -- if this is a "design intent", why didn't someone at the dealership instruct me on the proper procedures for adding gas to this car considering it needs to be done in a special way that is different than any other car I've owned in the last 20 years!

FWIW, the dealer *is* able to put gas in the car at their gas station without trouble (they're 20 miles from my house), so it seems it depends on the particular gas station pump as well. I refuse to drive around my town trying to find a gas station that is "compatible" with this car. Certainly other auto manufacturers have proven it is possible to create a car that doesn't have these issues.

I called Scion and said this "workaround" was unacceptable and that I shouldn't have to choose my gas station based on the car, and I shouldn't have to use a special technique to fill the car with gas. They are going to escalate it to a "regional manager" who supposedly has the authority to decide whether the dealership will go ahead and make a change to the car to correct it.

The person at Scion did admit that the XA and XB had this problem previously, and that they did replace tanks and fill tubes on those vehicles to correct the problem.

I'll have to wait a few days before I'll hear from the regional manager, but it's getting interesting now...

 

I bought my tc a few weeks ago, and i keep having problems regarding the filler neck. The gas pump keeps getting stuck!! I have never seen anything like this. I seriously spent 10 minutes fiddling,trying to get the nozzle out of the filler neck! I haven't had any problems with the pump shutting off automatically before the tank is full (yet), but i thought it was very weird that the pump keeps getting stuck! Any comments/suggestions?

 

^^ As toyota_tech mentionned, seems like toyota released a TSB for the Xa and Xb model. Maybe you have the same problem with your tC, best advice, bring the car in to your dealer and ask them if there is anything they can do about it. If you read swbrains's post, seems like he might have the same problems as yours, you can wait to hear his update on the situation.

G'luck!

 

After speaking to the people at Scion, they had a Toyota technician go to my dealer and scheduled an appointment for my car while he was there. They ended up ordering and installing a new gas tank, saying it was probably some type of "vent valve" that is part of the gas tank, but it was easier to just replace the entire tank. This was *NOT* a newly designed tank like they made for the XA/XB with a different filler neck design (so I'm told), but just a new tank exactly like the original one. Their guess is that the vent valve in the original tank was failing.

When I drove it home, it had about 1/2 tank of gas in it. I stopped at my usual station near my house and stuck the nozzle in as naturally as possible, trying not to do anything special.

It started filling ok. Then, after about 2 or 3 gallons went in, I released the nozzle to let it shut off. When I restarted it, it clicked back at me and the same problem occurred. It kept happening until I decided to try the 45 degree angle deal. Rotating the nozzle 45 degrees while in the tank helped and I was able to get almost all the way full before it shut off again once. I continued to pump and it went the last few gallons to a full tank before clicking off (correctly).

So, it would seem that while this tank is better than the original, something is still funky, as the car still seems a bit hypersensitive at some points.

I mentioned these forums (here and at yoursciontc.com) to the representative from Toyota who was my case manager. I told her she may be interested to check them out just so they can see that it's not only my car having this problem. The local dealer had not had this problem on any tCs but mine so far and the Toyota case manager said they had not seen this problem either on tCs, so maybe if everyone having the problem called Scion and mentioned it, it would convince them look into it a bit more seriously). They issued a new gas tank design for the XA/XB when this same problem happened to those vehicles, and I wish they would do the same for this car, even if the problem isn't quite as prevalent or as consistent. After two gas tanks, it's either a design issue or really poor manufacturing of some gas tank related part.

 

seems that some of us don't have the tC's filling up problem.. I would bet that different parts suppliers were used for these parts.. something changed along the production line.. otherwise we'd all have the same exact problems..

 

Or, it could be that the part in the tC that causes the filler nozzle to shut off prematurely operates the same in all tCs, but some filler nozzles and pumps don't cause the part to act improperly. That is, it may depend on the filler nozzle, the pump (flow speed?) or some other factor related to which gas station you go to.

For example, my tC originally caused the problem at two different pumps at two different gas stations near my house -- it ALWAYS happened. Yet, my same car, when taken to a different gas station by the dealer (in a different town), NEVER experiences the problem.