horrible burnt gas smell

[js2kpdx]

There is a horrible smell of gas coming from somewhere in my 2002. When the windows are up, it is barely noticeable. Once they are down however, the smell fills the cabin. It's very noxious and has given me a headache after only a few minutes. The best I can describe the smell is something like bad gasoline, or what I envision that to smell like. It seems to take about 5-10 minutes of driving for the smell to become noticeable. I don't know much about car repair, but wanted to ask before going back to a garage. Thanks- Jon.

[napa02]

have you checked the conditition of you hood seals? do you have hood seals? if you don't the fumes get sucked in through the vents. changed mine made a world of diffrence.

[napa02]

whoops, just realized that you said no smell with windows up, there goes the hood seal idea. in the words of rosanne rosannadanna... nevermind

[Guest Anonymous]

Pull the trunk board over the gas tank, stick your head in the trunk and begin sniffing. Could be coming from the tank, or any the hoses, lines, or the filler neck.

Fix whatever stinks the most.

Search the archives.

[meyekel]

when you drive with the windows down it creates a vacuum and sucks the gas vapors from the trunk into the cabin. could be a fuel filler neck, trunk vents or pinholes in the tank itself too.

mike r

[c.d.iesel]

WITH THE CAR at idle open the hood and look under the

air cleaner and around all the engine bay for any visable

gas leaks/wet spots. If any are found,DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR

TILL IT'S REPAIRED. If under the hood is dry, look under the car for any gas dripping, look under the right rear(gas tank area) for any wetness from the gas tank, open the trunk and remove the right side

wood floor liner and inspect the hose and top of the gas tank, and

the filler hose entering the tank in the right rear fender. If all is dry,

start looking at the exhaust system for air leaks.................

[Mike Self]

Look at the seal between the trailing edge of the hood and the heater plenum chamber (it's mounted on the hood, just forward of the heater air intake slots). If it's missing or torn, it'll allow engine room fumes into the heater intake area.

While you're at it, check the side seals for the same area (the hood latch rod passes thru these seals). Same thing, and they go bad before the hood seal.

Finally check the "elephant ears" aka "socks"--the three rubber drain tubes at the bottom of the heater intake area that hang down into the engine room. They are closed at the bottom so they're normally sealed, but can open when water runs down in there while driving in the rain. If these these things are missing, rotted or full of crud (dirt, berries, small stones etc) so they don't close up, you'll get plenty of fumes into the cabin via the heater/fresh air vents. These rubber drain hoses are available from "the usual sources"--in fact I think La Jolla Independent reproed 'em a few years ago.

good luck

mike

[dubois]

or perhaps the only way: run a small propane torch along all the system, flame will change color, and NO the hose on your ear will not detect some of the leaks, been there - done that. CD is right, get to the root cause of the problem - forget about making your 02 perfectly tight either.

[swiftt]

Brunt gas... Hmmmm...

Every time I've tried to burn gas, I've ended up without any eyebrows...

Maybe it's oil? Check for oil leaks running onto the hot exhaust. This is a definate recipe for nasty smell! Couple places prone are the valve cover and/or oil fill cap leaking onto the exhaust manifold and burning off. Distributor and distributor housing leaking down onto the header pipe. Another place to look would be the transmission output seal and shifter seal leaking as they're right above the pipe. Differential seals.

Another thought is the carbon canister and fuel return lines. Depending on year and carb type, some of these may no longer be connected. If running a Weber, most people fail to reuse the return line to the tank. Check this and be sure it is properly plugged (it's located along the driver's side frame rail and ends under the battery tray). It typically won't leak liquid fuel but it will definately leak gasoline fumes if not sealed.

Check all fuel line connections between tank and carb. Both ends of the rubber line from tank to hard line under the rear of car, Under the hood check hard line to fuel filter, fuel filter to fuel pump, fuel pump to carb, and finally carb (if carb is leaking, replace gasket at fault and double check float level). Check tank filler tube and gasket. Gas cap gasket. Check rubber tubes running to expansion tank in trunk under rear parcel shelf.

Some mileage may vary on the things I've mentioned, and where they're at, based on the year of your car.

ONLY after you've confirmed no fuel leaks in the previous, should you get the torch out and look for exhaust leaks!