Nissan Repair: gasoline, vent line, nissan altima


Question
I drive a 1998 Nissan Altima Altima GLE.  Is it difficult to locate, change or clean this vent line?

Thank-you very much,
David
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Followup To
Question -
When I try to fill my gas tank, I can only put in a penny at a time.  The gas pump continues to kick off and gas spews out no matter how I turn it.  It just started happening when the check engine light has come on.  The code is 1446.  The light went off eventually.  But when I tried to fill up again, I had the same problem and when I drove off the check engine light came on again.  Any suggestions?
Answer -
What model do you drive?  If the car has difficulty taking gas have you tried a different station?  If you have the vent line is probably stuck.  If you look under the car where the gas fill pipe goes to the tank there is a smaller line that follows.  This line is most probably plugged.  It allows the air to vent to the gas neck and keeps the fuel nozzle from spewing gas.  when the tank is full the pump turns off.  If the vent line is plugged you will get a pre-mature shutoff and spewing gas.  If you leave the gas cap loose or the car has been topped off really full you can get this code.  Also, there is a small chance of you running over something that has pulled the cannister vent loose under the car.  But, since the light went off I would imagine you had either the over full condition or the gas cap was loose.

Answer
If you look in the gas filler neck you will see a small hole that connects to a pipe that runs to the gas tank along with the filler neck.  This is the vent line.  If you cannot access the vent line through the filler neck you will have to jack the car up and disconnect the vent line from the filler neck and clean it out with a wire.  Bailing wire, or a flexible wire, that will not get stuck, is preferred.  Just run the wire the length of the vent line and your blockage should be cleared.  While you are under the car you will see the small diameter line that runs the length of the filler pipe and that is the one you want to clean out.