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So I get home last night and notice a slight hint of a chemical smell in my kitchen (next to garage) at 11:30. By 12 it is alittle stronger and by 6am today much stronger. The car has been setting parked all week so Im puzzeled as to how something other than a seal could be damaged. With key on engine off I dont smell anything at all under hood. But it gets slightly stronger towards the rear of the car. Currently I have the door up window open letting it air out. I am hoping its something as simple as a gas cap seal. I swapped my cap with my girlfriends RS both are 92.
So anyone have any advice on what to do next if its not cap seal? I dont see any leaks or puddles anywhere.
Update after pulling the car out and spraying it down and around the underside of car and rear wheel area I can smell the odor more towards the rear passenger side wheel.
Also forgot to mention I noticed this once a month ago after I got gas and got home. Smell coming from rear right wheel area, I assumed I just drove over a spot where someone spilled gas and it actually went away sometime after putting it on the garage. It doesnt seem to be fading away at all this time...
I had thought about that, but it seems like the smell would be stronger near drivers side though. I have never dropped a gas tank on a thirdgen but would the exhaust have to come off to get the tank low enough to change that.?
The gas cap is a good place to start. Vapor smell comes from a small leak/crack, that usually isn't large enough to leak fluid. Depending on where the leak is it may only occur when the tank is full or nearly full. A lot of the time it is the fill neck seal that causes this. My wife's Benz has this issue, there is a small crack in the plastic fill neck. I have to not fill the tank to keep the vapor smell from stinking the garage.
my car had the same issue, there is a recall from 1993 for it. Mine was never performed, so i took it to the dealer in dec when i got the car. They fixed it, no charge. due to the recall.
would the exhaust have to come off to get the tank low enough to change that.?
You need to lower (disconnect shock absorbers) the rear axle and lower (though not necessarily remove) the rear part of the exhaust system to get the tank out.
The gas cap is a good place to start. Vapor smell comes from a small leak/crack, that usually isn't large enough to leak fluid. Depending on where the leak is it may only occur when the tank is full or nearly full. A lot of the time it is the fill neck seal that causes this. My wife's Benz has this issue, there is a small crack in the plastic fill neck. I have to not fill the tank to keep the vapor smell from stinking the garage.
that seal you are referring to, I assume it is where the tank and filler neck join. I'm thinking it must be a small crack and has to be pretty high up to not leak any fluid at all. I still can't figure out why it's so strong on the passengers side. Either way I don't see how to get to that part of the neck without at least lowering the tank.
I have a 4th gen tank in my car, developed a leak at the filler neck that I noticed when filling the tank. The fuel runs out of the fuel neck, on to the heat deflector under the tank and then flows across to the passenger side, even in my fairly level garage.
I have a 4th gen tank in my car, developed a leak at the filler neck that I noticed when filling the tank. The fuel runs out of the fuel neck, on to the heat deflector under the tank and then flows across to the passenger side, even in my fairly level garage.
that makes a lot of sense. I don't know why mine developed a leak the day I put gas in and then went away for almost a month and just starts randomly one night when it's been parked a week. lol I went ahead and picked up a gas cap although I'm certain that's not Thebes issue now. I'll try to take a look around the filler neck Tomorrow morning.
I put a new gas cap on last night left it outside and pulled it back in the garage about 5 hours ago. I cant really smell anything now. The temperature is about 30 degrees cooler than it was yesterday so I dont know just how much impact that would have on gas evaporating. I am having a hard time believing that the cap would let that much vapor out so I plan on still getting under it and checking things out.
Update: Crunk the car up and let it idle 5 minutes and pull it into the garage. Once again I can smell just a hint of gas. After setting in there a few hours I pull it out and no signs what so ever of gas fumes. Other than the vent valve Im lost on what else could even cause an intermentent leak like this. Its sunny and warm so im leaving it outside all day to see if the odor will get strong again. Off work tommorow so I will get under it to inspect it further, im afraid if its that small of a leak that even dropping the tank and all that I may not be able to track this down. I appreciate all the from you guys so far.
One final side note, as long as Ive had the car when you untighten the gas cap it has ALWAYS been under alot of pressure. I thought this was normal since its done it 10plus years. After doing alot of reading last night apparently its not supposed to have that much pressure though?
Are all your emission goods still in place?
Is the underhood charcoal canister still there?
Are all the vent hoses from the tank to the canister and
TBI connected?
There should be NO pressure when u loosen the gas cap.
The hanging fuel tank vent (pic above) would be my first
suspect along with the cracked filler neck.
But yet again if the filler neck was cracked then there would be no
pressure build up in the tank ......only a gas fume smell or leak.
I'm currently working on it now trying to rule out every possible suspect before removing anything else to drop the tank seeing is I really don't want to fight with the rear axle. I just cleaned the tank relief valve and it's currently airing out. There is NO pressure from the cap now that it is off. And I thought about the cracked filler neck or even a crack in the tank. If either of those were the case then it should have NO pressure at all when removing the cap, unless my logic is just that dumb.
Everything under hood minus the things that ran to stock air cleaner are there. Air tube is not connected to the cat considering it was removed 14-17 years ago and before I got the car. Neither of those factors should effect the tank I don't think since it's been like that for years. However I just discovered on the bottom of the tank on passenger side right where the tank strap is there is a huge spot of old residue where gasoline has been there. It's a massive area. Big enough if it were a leak then it should have left a nice puddle. The top of the tank is dry though. I don't see how it could be cracked or split enough to leak that much and still have all that pressure under the cap. Plus what would cause that to just randomly happen in my garage after being parked for a week. I'm lost now and I'm not so sure I should drop the tank just yet. I will upload pics of the bottom of tank.
I got it. After cleaning the area and watching it. There is a tiny pin hole in the tank. It is small enough that it is almost completely evaporating before it has a chance to even drip. I literally could watch gas vapors spread out across the metal. I will see if I can find some sort of epoxy to temporarily bond to it until I can get another tank.
I got something by permatex. I can't remember what the name of it was though. It seemed to be sticking fairly decent. We will see tomorrow morning if it will do any good.
OK so the tank repair worked wonderful for right at 10 months and this thing starts leaking again in the same place a few months ago. Patched it again with not so great luck and it leaked again in 2 days. I cleaned it up really good and took alot of time this final attempt at sealing it.
Well this time it sealed for about a month and literally just started leaking again an hour ago out of the blue. I done trying to repair it so its time to replace it. So I am open to recommendations on which brands to avoid and whats worth buying. I found alot of different ones listed on summit racing but honestly not sure whats the best bet.
Well Ive seen where it was leaking before and its not a huge place. But I figured if I have to go through the trouble of taking this thing out it would be better to just replace it. I havent seen a thirdgen in a local junkyard in quite some time here. Why do you recommend using an old one versus buying a new aftermarket one? Is the fitment that bad on most of them?
Fix what you have. Ive done it a couple of times. Brazing the neck is easy. Fitment guaranteed
I am going to check today and see if there are any shops around that repair tanks. I honestly dont know any local off top of my head. After doing alot of searching last night it seems everyone has the same issue with the spectre aftermarket ones. The filler neck doesnt fit right. I see dorman offers one too but for similar price I imagine its similar quality.
Okay so after checking around some today I have had absolutely no luck with local places that will repair tanks. I was checking out the tanks on hawks website, Ive not heard any reviews on theirs. Are they as bad as the spectre ? http://www.hawksmotorsports.com/tank...ion-14-gallon/
This is one I found as well as a cheaper option of used tanks.
I have never seen anything like that here, I wish there was something like this local. A friend of mine informed me of a radiatior shop out of town but not to far away that he thinks may do repairs on fuel tanks. I will try to contact them tomorrow and verify this. I cant believe that nobody offers any quality replacements for these cars. It just seems like replacing one would be better than repairing one and risking it leaking from the same place again.
Metal tanks suck, if I were the OP I would just do the plastic 4th gen tank swap and be done with it
Not only will the tank never rust through, but your car wont lose fuel pressure when taking corners anymore.
Just my 2c
I have been reading up on this some. I figured buying a stock replacement would have been easier than hunting down one from a junk yard but I may be wrong. It looks like you still have to do some modifactions though to make it work dont you? Seems like it would be a similar amount of work as making the spectre ones work.
If the tank is rusty inside, it's not worth fixing. If it's just a pinhole, it can be fixed without worry of a leak again.
I havent seen anything to indicate that it is rusty, but Ive not taken it out yet either. May end up having to get a shop to do it as fast as the epoxy fails ugh.. Was hoping it would hold out until I got the time to tackle it. But the best I can tell its just a pin hole leak.
I finally got in touch with the guy that owned the radiator shop out of town but unfortunately he has shut down his shop and only does small jobs on the side in his free time. I ran across this tank on summit which is decently priced https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-255014/overview/ . It seems to have decent reviews but doesnt come with the lock ring. Does the stock lock ring usually transfer over to the replacement tanks without any fitment issues? I dont want the car to be down for days more just because I cant find a lock ring to work.
Its gettin' too hard to find a old school radiator shop that will repair a
radiator or gas tank nowadaze. Its just buy a new one and take it out
of the box and install it!
Most new radiators are just the plastic side tanks clamped to the new
aluminum core. Most shops won't bother with these because they
usually leak within a short time anyhoo.
I just replaced my sisters vw plastic and alum. leaker with a copper
and brass replacement. It costs more but will last years longer!
For a pinhole I'd try a screw with a gasket under the head. Nothing to lose at this point. But if it's rusted inside to the point that the rust caused the hole, time to replace that tank. Gas leaks blow (up).
My 82 had a pinhole in it and I used a tank repair that looked like putty.I sanded the area and cleaned before hand and it worked great and lasted for a couple of years until i sold the car,that was twenty years ago.I would run the tank near empty and jack the passenger side up to shift the remaining gas away from the repair area before putty the putty on.
Or just replace the tank altogether,that is what I would do if this happens to my 88.
any kind of putty or glue on a gas tank leak is just like a band aid on a bullet wound.
I agree with tracking down a plastic 4th gen tank. everyone whos put one in a thirdgen is completely satisfied and it's definitely the route I'll be taking the next time I have to drop my tank.
OK update:I ended up breaking down and getting the dorman tank from summit racing part number: RNB-576-183. I just picked the car up this afternoon. All in all its not so bad for the price but the original gas cap definetely doesnt work right with it. I ended up grabbing one for a 79 camaro and it seems to work fine. And like pretty much everyone else with aftermarket ones the filler neck sets differently in the car, I had to pump gas slower than usual with the new one. Other than that I guess its ok. Something sounds kinda like its vibrating loosely back there at a very low idle (maybe exhaust) idk I will have to get under and check everything over soon.
I have one other question in regards to fuel tank pressure. I have paid more attention to the pressure of my tank since I originally started this post. Ive noticed today even with the car not being driven any when I loosen the gas cap I still have a ton of pressure that seems to be building up. Ive disassembled and cleaned (twice) the fuel tank vent valve mounted on the rear axle which seemed to helped a little at first. Ive been reading up on things that can cause excess pressure and will try to pin point it ASAP. But what all negative effects can the excess pressure cause? Is it possilble for it to build up enough to damage a tank or any other components?
You should have pressure in the tank. My very first job was pumping gas and I remember opening up the gas caps and pressure coming out. It is also part of the evap emission system, the system keeps the gas fumes (emissions) from entering the atmosphere. When you start your car there is a valve that opens which sends the fumes to the intake through a hose to be burned. Gas caps are also pressure checked at inspection stations to make sure they can hold pressure and not release any emissions to the atmosphere.
I was under the impression that it should be very little pressure. This is a ton, like enough that I can hear the metal tank make noises as the pressure is released. Im not trying to have that sucker pop on me on a hot day lol. On my girlfriends 92 RS she has very very little pressure when i open hers.
Also I was giving everything a quick glance near the evap canister and I seen this 3-way air tube that has 3 vacumm lines coming from it. Center one that shoots down under the engine bay, what does it connect too? mine was unplugged and tucked under the washer fluid tank for some reason.
Also I was giving everything a quick glance near the evap canister and I seen this 3-way air tube that has 3 vacumm lines coming from it. Center one that shoots down under the engine bay, what does it connect too? mine was unplugged and tucked under the washer fluid tank for some reason.
You should have one line that goes to the intake somewhere, this is to purge the fumes from the tank. If you don't that could be the reason why your getting too much pressure.
05-11-2017, 08:58 AM
