Strong gas smell
 

I have a strong smell of gas inside of my C6 and Garage. I know my gas cap seems to come loose and i wonder if that is the cause?

Not sure if it applies to the C6, but I believe the C5 has a sort of canister filter used for the fuel vapor recycling system. It is located above the passenger side fuel tank if I remember correctly.

From what I remember, when the filter gets clogged it could cause a gasoline smell. I was looking at all that stuff when I had to redo the fuel lines way back when I had to get rid of the kluge that Harwood did with the fueling system.

It is going to the shop for a oil change so we will see.

Did you ever find out what was causing the gasoline odor?

Think it is the cap. I just placed a order for a GM cap this AM. No leaks anywhere. Smell has got worse. Cap has not been fitting right and comes loose sometimes. I guess they go bad. Fills the whole garage and inside of the car with fumes.

Most times a bad or loose gas cap will cut a P0430 code.....
Andy

I get the light off and on. Not sure what else it could be if not the cap.

Is your car hard to start after it sits for a while?

It is a DD and runs perfect. Once the gas tank gets lower the smell is lee.

Well, if you aren't losing pressure in the fuel line, then that kind of rules out a leak in the fuel system somewhere. A leak would act just like a bad check valve, so you would lose pressure and starting the car would be harder until the fuel pump built fuel pressure back up.

Gasoline evaporates pretty quickly, so you might not necessarily see a wet area from a subtle leak. When I brought the C5Z back home from Aaron Scott's shop, one of the fuel injectors was leaking because of a damaged o-ring seal. That was bad enough that I could see fuel pooling around the injector, but if it set for a while, the fuel would quickly evaporate just leaving the odor behind. But there were other problems that made it difficult to pinpoint where the odor was actually coming from. Gasoline was migrating through the rubber hoses that had been put in the fuel system by Harwood. And the fuel vapor system had been completely disconnected entirely but the plumbing was all still intact.

Yeah, there was a pretty bad gasoline smell in the garage for quite a while, but I was able to get it all straightened out eventually.

BTW, if you have any suspicions about an actual fuel leak, you can put a dye additive in the fuel tank that will show up under UV light and will readily point out any leak you may have there. Even one that has long evaporated, leaving the dye as a residue. The dye stands out like a sore thumb. Actually gasoline itself will show up mildly under UV light too. That is how I saw the gasoline seeping through all the stainless clad rubber hosing in my kluged fuel system. Once I replaced it all with teflon lined hoses, it fixed that problem.

Personally, I would try to find and fix the problem as quickly as possible. Made me REAL nervous to think I was driving a potential torch when I could smell gasoline coming from somewhere.

No gas smell at all now. Once the tank gets below half the smells seems to go away. Once i refill i will see if the smell comes back.

Hmm, well my pressure "test" wouldn't apply to an actual leak in the gas tanks somewhere. It only applies to the plumbing above the check valve, since that is what is used to retain fuel pressure when the engine isn't running.

Since all of the plumbing for the gas tanks is at the top of the tanks, I guess there are a number of possible points of failure there that could be the source of a leak.

No smell at all now. Once refill i will see if the smell comes back.

Yeah, if you do smell gasoline at fill up, perhaps somewhere in the plumbing at the top of the gas tanks might have a leak somewhere. If that is the case, it would be hell trying to find out where exactly the leak might be at without dropping the gas tanks, however. Which looks like it would be a real pain in the butt job to do.

I replaced the fuel pump in the C5Z but luckily it mounted from the back instead of from the top. But it was still a very tight fit maneuvering the old and new pump even then without dropping the tank any.

Had to replace the fuel pump in Connie's pickup truck a little while back, which also mounts from the top, but in that case I just lifted the bed of the truck off of the frame, and got to it that way.

Not sure if there is a round door that will open with you stick the gas nozzle down into the tank? I don't see it when i look down into the hole. I get the new cap Monday.

Did some reading and it seems the fender would have to come off and the tank has to be pulled out and a part needs to be replaced. Seems to be a pricey job. Others say also that when the tank is half full the smell goes away and i notice that also. Also some say to remove the Gas cap when you turn off the car and let off on pressure. I sure as heck don't want to go to a dealer and scared they could see i have no Cats and turn me in. So guess i will live with it.

The only time I can think of that there would actually be pressure in the gas tanks is when the car has been sitting for a while, especially in the heat, and the gasoline has begun to evaporate. Normally when driving the car, the fuel pump would try to create a vacuum in the gas tanks as the fuel was being used to run the engine. In the old days, vented gas caps were designed to allow air INTO the gas tank as that vacuum was being created inside.

I don't believe modern cars use vented gas caps any longer. But there has to be some mechanism to compensate for the vacuum being created in the gas tanks while driving. As I mentioned before, there is a canister that is used to recapture fuel vapors from the fuel system that has been known to emit a gasoline odor.

Anyway, hopefully the new gas cap will fix the problem.

there was a recall about the gas tanks cracking at where the fuel pump goes into the tank up top.

I will check with a dealer.

As long as i keep the gas below half a tank it is fine. I am not paying the money to get it fixed. I would just sell it cheap as is.

So the new gas cap didn't help any?

No. It is a known problem with the tanks and a $2k job at a dealer. So it stays as is then when the fuel pump goes one day i will get it taken care of and kill two birds with one stone.

The recall didn't apply to your car?

Don't know of any recall.

I thought Robert mentioned one.

Maybe that was the C5. If you put in gas smell from C6 and do a search a ton of stuff comes up and it is a 2 to $4000 job. The whole car has to come part. Just no way i am doing that. Maybe it will burst in flames and i can get out the easy way. So i will drive it till it won't go anymore. The newer C7 are even worse with the A8 trans and T/C. So no way i would touch one of them.

Well, I certainly hope the fuel pumps are robust and reliable, since I guess the labor bill would be about the same for that job. :ack2:

What would be bad is getting the tanks fixed and then spending another 2k+ to have a fuel pump go bad later down the road. I will take it to a dealer Fri and see what they say on any recalls. Looks like the C7 also has gas tank problems.

Maybe i should just trade it in now and get a Mustang again. Or just drive the wheels off until it can't go anymore.

Perhaps using offshore made parts in American cars is catching up to American car manufacturers. Of course, as long as the service departments at the dealerships remain a profitable section of their business model, they really don't have much incentive to make these things super reliable.

One good thing about the Jeep Wrangler we bought, they offered a lifetime warranty for a relatively reasonable cost. Which I bought, of course.

But I guess car manufacturers really don't want to give their customers incentives to hold onto their vehicles for a long time, thinking they WANT people to keep on coming back buying new vehicles as replacements to the failing older model. And of course they keep on raising the prices of the new vehicles, which is pricing them out of the market of the average buyer.

Buying a car designed to only last for three years, yet paying off the loan you needed in order to be able to afford it in 7 years or more is a recipe for a real headache.

Too bad about the C7's problems. I read that the C7 Z06 has problems with engine overheating. I'm guessing it's not all of them, but who the heck wants to roll the dice on an expense like that? Not this old retired guy, that's for certain.

Few people hold on to their vehicles more than three years these days. That's why the lifetime warranty works for the parts houses and the dealers. It's a numbers game.

That was the way i was for years. I was doing it every 3 months years ago trying out everything. This C6 is a 2013 with 26k miles looks new. But with no cats and headers i don't think a dealer would buy it. But i do have all the factory parts that could go back on and it could be detuned back to factory.

But i love the car and the power it makes so i will hang onto it as long as i can.

I don't believe we have ever had a vehicle that we kept for less than 5 years, and many for at least 10 years, new or used. My biggest concern is that replacement parts will just become completely unavailable, unless I want to dig through a junk yard to "pick and pull".

Never much felt the pull of getting a new vehicle just to have a new vehicle. We need a good reason to move onto a "new" vehicle.

Heck, I think I need to buy new tires for the vettes, not because they are getting worn out, but because they are getting so old that the rubber is probably getting hard and brittle.

I sold Connie's 2007 C6 on CraigsList and that worked out pretty well. Dealer's really don't want to give you anything for your vehicle anyway.

In my teens and twenties I think I was getting a new car every six months or so. I just wish I had held onto a few of them. In the later years I've held onto some for as much as 13 years. It does get hard to find replacement parts on some of them. I think it's easier to get parts for a 63 Corvette than it is for a 98 Corvette now.

https://gm.oemdtc.com/6376/15682-03-...let-corvette/3

15682-03: Special Coverage – Primary Tank Module Flange Fuel And Vapor Leaks – 2007–2009 Cadillac XLR & 2007–2013 Chevrolet Corvette

Thanks for that info a lot. I was reading older thread before this recall thing came out. I am going to the dealer this morning.

If is covered and no charge. They start work next Tuse. Still hate to think of my car being taken apart.

Yeah, I understand the concern. But if would be a LOT worse if you were going to have to fork out the money it would cost you if it was on your dime.

Glad you found that it was covered under a recall.

This has gotten me thinking that maybe I need to be sniffing around my 2009 Z06 too....

Get it done before it it too late if you think it needs it. It is 10 years so you are about there.