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Gasoline Smell? (Moved)

8K views 18 replies 13 participants last post by  UncleSam 
#1 ·
Wondered if anybody else has had this problem? Every once in a while I get a strong smell of gasoline, not consistant just random. Plus I'm getting around 10 mpg in the city, Ive got a lead foot sometimes, but not bad enough to warrant this kind of MPG! I took my car into the service dept, the mgr said that they couldnt find anything by hooking up the comps and that for them to look further that they would have to smell the gas fumes themselves. Told me to bring it straight to the service dept next time I smelled the fumes. But of course it only happens when Im on the other side of town and by the time I get to the dealership the fumes have ceased to be. I didnt get this bad of gas milage when I first got the car, the fumes started showing up around 4000 miles and the mpg has gotten worse the more miles I rack up. Ive got about 7000 miles on her now.

Any help anybody?

Thanks,
PastorC
 
#2 ·
I am in the boat. service says 'bring it in as soon as it happens'. Well after about 20 minutes, the smell is gone. Someone said they had a bad O2 sensor go, and I asked about that, but the service guys said it would show up on the diagnostics; which they said they did, but nothing showed. I also noticed under the engine cover what looked like water spots around the right side fuel rail. Specifically arourd a part that looked like a fule pressure regulator, but I don't know, perhaps it leaks or bleeds off on occasion? It hasn't happened for a while, but the last time was when I nailed it for about 5 secs then let off quickly.
 
#4 ·
I developed the same problem last Summer driving down from the Rockies. I heard a pop towards the back end and smelled fumes intermittently for the rest of the drive to CA. It turned out to be a cracked fuel tank (!) which was not covered by warranty as the dealer considered it must have been caused by an accident.
 
#5 ·
Have had the same problem as you guys with the raw gas smell, as well as the smell dissipating by the time they get it up on the lift at the dealer. Even though it is a very intermittent problem, I usually notice it more after I have had to brake hard to come to a stop when I have a full or near full tank of gas. I couldn't find any visible leaks prior to taking it to the dealer. After talking to several people, one advised that there is a large round disc or plug, for lack of a better description (I don't know the technical name for the part), through which the fuel line and other things go into the gas tank from the top, and that there is an O ring around it that may have gone bad. This seems to make sense. Sudden braking on a full tank of gas could cause gas to leak pass the O ring and onto the top of the tank. At my earliest opportunity, I'm going to do several hard brakes and try and get the car in the garage and up on jack stands to see if I can feel anything wet on top of the gas tank before the gas evaporates and the odor dissipates. Since some of the posts on this problem are a little dated, I was wondering if any of you got the problem resolved on your cars and it turned out to be what I am referring to.
 
#7 ·
Why? This is not normally a thing that need service. I know when I pulled my Neon SRT-4s tank for the Stage 3 upgrade somewhere over 50K, the sock was dirty, I mean stained, but otherwise perfect. Unless you know for a fact that its clogged, I wouldn't even bother.

Now, heres the good part, if for soem reason you need to. You dont drop the tank at all. Pop up the bottom back seat cushion. See those two flaps in the sound insulation? Flip one up. the fuel tank access is there, you can remove the cover and then remove the pump/regulator/level sensor, filter sock.

Maybe remove the rear seat before you try your test, see if any fuel is sloshed out there.
 
#10 ·
Pulled the back seat out and found the two flaps that you were talking about that allowed access to the fuel tank, but no leaks there. Also found quite a few others posts on this site, under different threads than this one, where several other Charger owners are having the same problem. So far, can't find where anyone has posted a solution that has worked for anyone.



No problem. Figured that would be the most logical thing to do, since your going to see if it's leaking there. :bigthumb:
 
#6 ·
I've noticed the smell occasionally, but I really just think its because of the aftermarket exhaust. Since I bought the car used I can't vouch for the quality of the installers work. But I mean with 5" tips (borla) and no cats what else could it be? I thought that bad 02 sensors just decreased gas mileage (could be wrong). If its something else let me know so I can get it fixed when I take my car in for service.
 
#11 ·
For all you owners who have had a problem with a raw gas smell, I found the cause of it in my car. When I changed my spark plugs at 30,000 lbs., I didn't torque them. I just hand tightened them, which was a mistake. When I went to change the plugs 3 weeks ago at around 60,000 miles, I found 6 or 7 loose spark plugs. Also, the 2 seals at the top of the rubber spark plug boots, under the coil pack, that seal the opening in the valve cover that the plugs go down into, didn't seal properly on cylinder 5 (which is the side of the car I was smelling the gas the strongest, and also one of the cylinders where the plugs were loose), because I found a layer of dust/dirt coating the wall of the cavity/opening/well, whatever you want to call it, that the plugs go down into. I know that at the end of every cycle in a 4 cycle engine, there is a little bit of raw gas left on top of the piston. However, it is usually such a small amount that I would have never thought that loose spark plugs and 2 boots not sealing could have caused the odor of raw gas as strong as I smelled it at times. However, I guess with multiple plugs loose and a cylinder opening not properly sealed could have caused it, although everyone I mentioned it to didn't seem to think that this could have been the cause. But, ever since I installed new plugs, which I torqued this time, and made sure the boots sealed properly around the opening in the valve covers, I haven't smelled raw gas one time. This is after I took the car to the dealership twice and three independent garages, and paid hundreds of dollars trying to find the problem and, for me, it turned it to be something simple I did not do that I should have. I hope this helps some of you who have experienced the same problem.
 
#12 ·
I hope that works for you, but I doubt that a loose spark plug would have enough gas fumes leaking by to be detected by smell. These engines have very long spark plugs. If it was leaking that bad it should have had a rough idle.

I have had the gasoline smell come and go and it has always been in town where I couldn't tell if it was me or the car in front of me. I changed my plugs for different reasons than yours (stalling problems) and none of mine were loose. My exhaust is 100% stock also. It's very concerning to get that wiff of gasoline and not know where it is coming from.

My wife's sense of smell is more sensitive than mine and she swears she smells gasoline nearly every time she gets in the car.
 
#14 ·
All,

I notice the gas smell when running the air condition. I noticed it after changing my plugs as well. I am going to check to see if any are loose and if any of the boots are not sealed correctly.
 
#15 ·
All my plugs were loose as well. I tightened them but still have the gas smell when running the air conditioning and at a stop. Not sure what the hell is causing the smell....
 
#16 ·
Okay. I found the problem. When I changed my plugs I went from the factory champion plugs to E3 plugs. As I said above after this switch I started smelling gas when my car was at an idle. Fisrt time I smelled gas I went back and checked the plugs and sure enough some were loose. So I re-tightened them. Smell was still there. I found out from Mikecrad (previos post on this issue) that he also went from factory to E3 plugs and had the same problem. I checked the plugs again this weekend and they were all loose again. I went to the store and bought factory champions and replaced the E3's. No more gas smell. It was the E3 plugs. They kept backing out even after I had tightened them twice. Not sure why that is but the factory campions are working great and no gas smell.
 
#17 ·
Have you guys seen the pic of the cop car burning on the home page? No explanation given, and none forthcoming by the way the article reads. Actually, my Charger has never done this, but my '10 SRT Challenger has done it 1 time. After looking at this picture it kinda scares me. Dodge is pretty good about not finding major problems. Look how many people have complained about the motor dying for no reason at all-and they havent been able to find that problem for 5 years.
 
#19 ·
Talladega County Shop Foreman

Yes we have a fleet of Chargers and so far 2 of them have done this. we found terminal in top of fuel pump cover where wiring connector plug in getting hot enough to melt plastic around it and a hole develops in cover. Drivers only complained after filling tank. You can see a black spot in top of left side fuel pump cover right behind wiring connector plugs in.
 
#19 ·
Talladega County Shop Foreman

Yes we have a fleet of Chargers and so far 2 of them have done this. we found terminal in top of fuel pump cover where wiring connector plug in getting hot enough to melt plastic around it and a hole develops in cover. Drivers only complained after filling tank. You can see a black spot in top of left side fuel pump cover right behind wiring connector plugs in.
Yes! My 2011 had this problem. Melted plastic around connector pins created a hole. I remember reading about a fix somewhere? For now I just changed to pump.
 
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