I took the Stang out for a weekend drive after giving her a nice bath yesterday. Since the ambient temp dropped down to about 34F-40F, I wanted to test out the Tr-3650 with the synthetic Redline High-Temp ATF. According to Tremec, if I use a synthetic ATF in my Tr-3650 in cold weather, I will get shifting issues, the world would end, and a blackhole will form where our sun once stood in space. Luckily nothing bad happened and I even *thought* that the trans shifted smoother than ever when the ATF was cold. I wonder what would happen if I used an even thicker ATF like MTL in the TR-3650?

I went to top off the tank since gasoline futures are about $2.05/gal which can only mean a gas price spike this week. I started getting the click-off again, so I turned the nozzle upside down and proceeded to fill the tank. When it did click off, I got a huge squirt of gasoline all over the fender, bumper, and my sneakers. A C6 Corvette owner across from me was laughing his a$$ off like so:

I also notice that my Stang likes to drip from the driver's side muffler joint. She drips enough that a large puddle will form in the garage and it ices up if the ambient drops below 32F. I even noticed this when the car was FULLY warmed up after a 60 mile highway trip. Has anyone else observed a similar occurrence? I understand that water from the exhaust is normal, but there's nothing dripping out the passenger side muffler joint and I don't hear an exhaust leak from the driver's side.

 

Where do you live that gas is only $2.05 a gallon?

 

I was referring to unleaded gasoline futures:
http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/index.html
It was about $2.04-$2.05/gal.

I filled up this morning at $2.88/gal for 87 octane.

 

Ahhh... my bad. You know, all this talk about the gas fill issue.... I have only had it happen once, at one station.

 

Condensation happens in all exhaust systems. Does your car sit for days before you start it? If it does, you may have more water than average. I start my SVO once a week, and it'll drip for 10 minutes...

 

I drive my Stang everyday. It will pour water out of the driver's side muffler joint (not out of the tips mind you) even after driving it hard for 60 miles on the highway. This tells me the cats are doing their job, but the lack of water from the other side is kind of weird.

This was my 3rd gas fill issue. I've experienced this problem at 3 different gas stations. I have filled the Stang without any problems at 2 of these stations in the past.

 

Is the engine running when it backwashes?

 

Regarding MTL - I'm currently running a 50/50 mix of Redline ATF and MT-90. I was running RP Synchromax since last winter but noticed as the temps got hot around here (100+), it didn't seem like it was doing a very good job. The gear box was getting chatty and the fluid smelled kinda funny.

An old post on here from TDS recommended a 50/50 mix of ATF and MTL. I went for bust and used MT-90 and standard ATF since it was all the performance shop had on the shelf. I love the mix and so far no problems. Like you I'm waiting for the winter to see if I get hard shifts or create any black holes in the solar system...this week it is getting colder - 97 degrees!

 

LOL @ 97 degrees. The coldest I've driven the Stang in is around 20F last winter but with the standard factory ATF. With the Redline High-Temp ATF, I've driven it in 34F-40F and it shifts fine.

 

I tried something different today. I popped off the fuel cap as soon as I pulled into the station. It takes a few moments to process the credit card, so I figured I might as well let it vent out any vapor/fumes and equalize the pressure in the tank (or whatever she needs to not be so temperamental). Consequently, and probably not as a direct result, the tank filled up without any drama.

I'm going to keep a close eye on this thing and figure out solutions or things to do to prevent it from spitting out gas.

If the fresh air intake for the evap solenoid were indeed clogged, you would get a DTC. I know this for a fact because a spider built an egg sac in the tube of the 03 E-250. Whenever you removed the gas cap after a drive, it would make a HISS (large amount of vacuum built up in the gas tank) and there was a DTC / MIL. After the eggs hatched and the baby spiders dug a small hole, the gas cap didn't make the hiss sound but the DTC was still set. After I cleared the tube and installed a makeshift filter, the DTC was no longer set. I believe there is an article somewhere that describes clearing the tube for the S197. Again, if this tube WERE clogged, there would be a DTC.

 

It doesn't have to be clogged totally to restrict the fuel flow at high speed delivery. When you are pumping 14 gallons in 60 seconds, that is pretty high flow.

 

The tube was completely clogged in the E-250 and it NEVER clicked off the gas nozzle prematurely nor did it ever spit out gas from the filler neck. A partial clog will still result in a DTC being set. In addition, that fresh air intake doesn't always operate. It only works when requested by the EVAP system through the solenoid. I may take a look at the S197's tube but based on my past experience with this exact component, it's unlikely to cause a vent issue considering the solenoid isn't even active when you're pumping gas with the engine shut off.