Strong gas smell

[CHASZ51]

Originally Posted by Rich Z

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.