Smelling Gas in Your Car

nothing was said on the age or condition of your car.

could be anything, break anywhere along your fuel line metal or rubber right up to your carburetor, gas tank may have a leak.....

Carburetor? I remember when the carb guys were saying that they could do anything with a carb that can be done with fuel injection, but I think those days are gone. -- JHF

P.S. I don't recommend using a match to find the leak, although, that could be very effective.

Internet auction sites (names withheld) are fabulous for solving problems like this. One simply lists the item, then a few days later, someone shows up with some money and takes the problem away.

Don't forget that you can also donate the car to a charity. It depends on your local tax laws but sometimes the write-off will bring more money than a sale.

I see the problem, its right there.

Don't you see it.

I'm pointing right at it.

All you have to do is let a mechanic see this and he'll know what to do.

Don't forget to bring your wallet with you.

I suggest you stop filling the car up with gas until you've fixed the leak.

Put the car on a lift and inspect it for leaks.

Well, it could still be a defective gas cap, but the likelihood of that is low.

Other causes may be the filling station pump overfilling your tank and the tank is doing its job by purging the excess.

Lastly, the plumbing between the tank and the fuel system and the recirculating plumbing for the fuel system may have a small leak.

Some of the older cars used rubber that is not compatible with the ethanol blends in the gasoline and leads to hoses that crack and leak.

Better service centers have equipment to "sniff" for fuel leaks and can pinpoint the problem with relative ease.

For peace of mind you might want to let a shop or dealer handle this since there is always a risk of fire anytime fuel or its vapor are leaking.

maybe bad EGR valve?

Add the nomex suit and you are a go!

Unless you have a very old car the check engine light would have come on if the gas cap was the problem. It's a sealed system and most cars run a check on it every other start. By chance in filling up at this new gas station did the gas back up and come out the opening some. Some of the hoses run through the trunk. The seal around the fill inlet maybe bad and it ran down the hose. Check for the smell in the trunk. The insulation and carpeting would could have soaked it up. You can try removing the carpet and the insulation that's is fouled and drying it

If not you have a fuel leak. I would get it to a mechanic.

mg777-

You didn't mention what make or model auto you have so I'm going to presume you have a 1972 Triumph TR-6 (British Leland) convertible. Either the rubber hose between the cap filler neck and the gas tank filler neck has come off on one end, probably the tank end. When you fill the tank all the way the gas fills to a level above the neck and drains out into the trunk. To fix it take the front panel off the trunk to gain access and either tighten the loose clamp or replace it, best to replace.

If you don't have this model car borrow a LEL (Lower Explosive Level) meter from the fire company (or do it at their location) and sniff your way to the leak. Any half good fire company will have several of these. Use the rubber hose attachment to get a specific location and not the non-hose ambient air sampler. LEL reading will increase as you get closer to the leak or pooled residue from the leak. Try it, You'll Like It! Much better than ripping everything apart to find it.

Good Luck, Old Salt

You didn't mention what make or model auto you have so I'm going to presume you have a 1972 Triumph TR-6 (British Leland) convertible.

That's weird. I had one of those and it always smelled of gasoline. It was during the sports car drought before Miatas came out. I'm glad I unloaded it and got a new Miata.

Rixter-

I kept on smelling some gasoline, more so right after filling up. Immediate solution was not to fill the tank up all the way. Finally, when it got really bad I filled the tank up and got an extra 5 gal can of gasoline. Went home, jacked the car up, removed all the panels in the trunk that I could and looked intensely. Couldn't find anything until I had brother add more gas to gas fill. Saw gasoline clearly leaking from the upper connection to the filler cap neck. Replaced and tightened the clamp and no more leak!

Sure do miss that car. Had to sell it because family was getting too big. Miss tuning and balancing those Stromberg side draft carburetors. Also having to replace the 6 universal joints very frequently. Before I bought it new, someone told me that to own one of them you had to be your own mechanic, and frequent one.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Hi Old Salt,

I basically had Spitfires in the olden days. I went through three of them. I messed around a bit with those side draft carburetors too. And I recall lying under the car banging on those U-joints on the back wheels of the Spitfires. There was just one on the axle, so it didn't take too long for the needle bearings to get chewed up from the torque.

If the car weren't so much fun to drive, I would never have put up with the maintenance. Miata is just as much fun and reliable too.

Rixter

Rizter-

Yes, many hours spent lying under the car. Got so good with the universals that I began to stock 1 or 2 at home and bought a "U-Joint" removal clamp (based on a c-clamp). Became very proficient at replacing them. Usually took me longer to clear the garage of the kid's toys than it took to go from up with jacks to down with jacks. Like you probably, after a while I could tell when the universals were going simply by the needle bearing noise and not the "feel" when shifting.

Sure do miss the TR-6 and the Spitfires. Don't miss changing the universals, replacing the freeze out plugs especially the one on the back of the engine, caulking leaks from under the hood to the legs compartment, patching up rust spots with tape till I could fix them, replacing the tops with the windows that always got more opaque with sun exposure, etc. I must have done something right though. Most of these TR-6's had to have the tranny rebuilt/replaced by 50,000mi. and the engine rebuilt/replaced by 75,000mi. I sold it with 105,000mi on it and never did these!

Ah, for the good old days!

Good Luck, Old Salt

OS,

I wish I'd had one of those U-Joint clamps. I used to bang on the U-Joint housing with a hammer until the bearing cap backed out. There was not much room to swing the hammer and after awhile it got really heavy. And dirt falls in your face. I don't think I miss the good old days after all.

Rixter

My Chevy 4X4s had 6 U-joints.

Rixter-

Yes, that's how I found out I needed something better than the hammer and brass "chunk" of round stock. I did about 4 of them and then saw the c-clamp apparatus at a very complete parts distributor, a real big Jiegundo place. It looked like it might work and I asked them what it was. I pulled out my money faster than my wife can when dress shopping! Took it home and waited for the next one to go. About a month later the opportunity to use it came. After figuring out the finer points of using it there was a flash and it was like the "shade tree mechanic angel" tossed some magic dust on my dirty pile of rust and dirt on the driveway and an old and worn u-joint.

If you are interested or just curious drop me a note on the e-mail section and I will forward some pictures. That goes for anyone else who is curious.

Good Luck, Old Salt

I have had a number of the TR-4s. The secrete to the carbs appeared to be keeping them free of oil and dirt. I used a rubber hose as an audio pipe to listen to the throat of each carb to fine tune the balance.

Yes, U-joints were a constant replacement.

TR6 had mechanical fuel injection (aka PI or petrol injection) in Oz. Still each throttle body needed balancing.

Some folk pulled out the 'troublesome" PI system and replaced it with SU carbs (not strombergs) turning it back into a TR4 engine.

The PI TR6 was bloody quick. Shame about the rust.

thanks for all the comments, its a 2004 Volvo so I will take it to a mechanic and definitely tell my husband not to ever touch including fill up my car.

<...tell my husband not to ever touch ...>

It's not worth getting into a stink about it.

We have a Chevy Impala and we had a gassy smell inside and we found a gasline fitting in the egine compartment that had a bushing/seal that had dried out. Replaced the seal and problem fixed.

About 12 years ago, My dad had a Chrysler Dynasty. He had park it in the parking lot, went into a store, meanwhile a pedestrian must have smell gas from it, when he returned the police arrived and he was been ticketed.

The unfortunate part, his appointment at the shop to check it out and repair it was in 1/2 hour.

I'm not going to give out the name of the cop, so I'll call him pimples.

Is it possible you spilled some gas on your clothes when you lifted the hose from its pump socket or afterwards when you put it back? Sometimes we don't wait long enough to drain out all the gas remaining or just hurriedly pulling /putting that gas nozzle to or from!

It is natural when you fill the interior of your car up with gas that you would subsequently smell it for quite some time - regardless of if you replace the gas cap or not.

This is one instance where turning the radio up will not help.

It could be the gas filler spout is not an integral part of the fuel tank and the rubber seal between the filler spout and the gas tank is leaking. I had that happen on my car, it was not one of Ford's 'Better Ideas'.