Mysterious gasoline smell

[gbizzle27]

I seem to have the smell of gasoline all of the time while driving the car. I have not lost any gas mileage at all. There is no leak under the car. There is no gasoline around any part of the fuel pump. Does anyone have any idea where this smell would be coming from? I have a 4 hour drive back home on friday evening and do not want to have to put up with it the whole way. I am in Harrisburg, PA if that helps. Thanks

 

[twr]

More than likely it's an over saturated charcoal canister. Nothing you can do to fix it, other than replacing it. Just make damn sure you don't have a fuel leak.

 

[gbizzle27]

Where is that canister located?

 

[hawkeye18]

to be fair, it's not usually the charcoal canister's fault; it's the canister purge solenoid that ceases to function, and its function is to vent the charcoal canister into the intake. Put your finger on the skinnier of the two vacuum lines on the intake by the throttle body (the one that runs down towards the ground by the coil pack) and trace it down to its next intersection; that's the canister purge solenoid (or CANP solenoid).

They are easy to test; apply 12V to the two terminals and if it goes CLUNK then it works and the problem is either your wiring or - yes - your canister. Odds are good it no longer goes CLUNK. They're about $20-$30 at AAP and replacement is as simple as the two vacuum lines and one connector; it just hangs there.

Make sure you note the flow direction; I'm pretty sure the arrow is supposed to point towards the intake.

 

[Off Road SHO]

But first...check all the hoses going to and from the cannister purge valve and charcoal cannister. If you're smelling it all the time, it sounds like the tank-to-cannister line is cracked and allowing the fumes to flow into the cowl vent. Those lines are always cracked when I dismantle a SHO.

Tom

 

[cobrakidd03]

not to hijack the thread but I have a gas smell right at the fuel cap area. I have looked for leaks and nothing. Any Ideas?

 

[gmorrell]

Yep, there are several failure modes for a saturated charcoal canister/gas smell, and the smell may be worse when running the A/C, and as hawkeye pointed out, it's probably not the canister's fault, the canister gets saturated because it's not being purged.

1. Cracked purge hoses from the canister to the throttle body.
2. Non-functional purge solenoid valve (in-line between the canister and throttle body in canister purge line)
3. Clogged metering orifice in canister purge line.
4. Fuel vapor line between fuel tank and canister can get abraded by the accessory pulleys and allow fuel vapor into engine compartment.
5. The solenoid driver in EEC which drives the canister purge solenoid can get fried, leaving EEC unable to energize the solenoid and vent the canister.
6. Could also be a malfunctioning vent valve in the gas filler cap.

It doesn't particularly hurt to just bypass the canister purge valve with a simple hose connector, the canister will purge all the time, instead of just under warm part-throttle cruise as EEC commands.

Ford's TSB fix for this problem was positively laughable. The kit supplied 18 feet of rubber hose that was to be connected to the canister vent and then routed along the chassis to the back bumper where it simply vented the saturated canister to the rear of the car. Don't actually fix the problem, just jury rig around it.

 

[UnseenSHO]

I had a strong gasoline smell around and inside of my car i popped the hood to find a hole in one of the lines spraying gas all over the engine bay..was scary to say the least thank god i found it in time lol

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

not to hijack the thread but I have a gas smell right at the fuel cap area. I have looked for leaks and nothing. Any Ideas?

See post #4 :wave:


Any time the Purge Solenoid stops working, you will build pressure/vac in the tank. Hot temps make is worse.

 

[rubydist]

I had this problem on my red 94 a long time ago. The canister was saturated, as typically is the case. There is a thread on shotimes that describes how to wire the purge valve to be open all the time, always venting the canister. After doing this, and about a week's time, the smell was and continues to be gone. So, you don't always have to replace the canister.

 

[Eastcoast SHO]

the last time i smelled gas and no leaking, it end up being my fuel filter