How can you tell if it goes bad?

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Sportsman II 72 CC heads, Pete Jackson gear drive, Performance Resources chip, Edelbrock 1 5/8" headers and Edelbrock cat back exhaust, hi-flow cats, Trans-go stage 3 shift kit, Vigilante 9.5" 2800 stall convertor, SLP cold air induction, SLP roller camshaft, 24lb ADS injectors, AFPR, 3.45 rear end gears, and other goodies...

http://members.aol.com/jwnolte/raven.htm

 

Here is what i know. I had a lot of gas smell
after I shut my car off especially on hot days. Seemed like it was coming from the engine. My best friend works as a shop forman
at a local chevy dealer and was a GM chevrolet tech for about 25 years. He said the smell was
caused by a saturated canister but he also said that they get saturated real easy and replacing it would help with the smell but
might not last real long. He said to make it last make sure you don't overfill the gas tank. He also said once they are saturated
it is hard to get them to dry out but he thought it was possible if you could keep it from getting resaturated. I could not find an aftermarket canister so I sprung for the
GM one and it pretty much eliminated the problem. ( they told me it could not be rebuilt, but I would like to know that for sure) I had one of the service managers at the same dealship who I have known a long time tell me that gas smell was a big problem
for certian 3rd gen cars and Gm never did come up with a good fix.
Friends or not, I am not sure how much of this is Gm dealership bull**** so I don't know for sure. Anyone else got thoughts on this?....bob




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91 camaro RS convert
t-5
open element air cleaner
TBI spacer
Flowmaster muffler

 

Here's a strange one... We had a '96 S-10 Blazer (bought it used) and the first time we filled it with gas, it smelled like we put the gas IN the car instead of in the tank. We put down all windows and aired it out going home. A few other times it did it, but mostly only if the tank got filled. Then it started doing it with $5,$10, etc. We took it back to the dealer and the did a whole system check, found out the cannister was FULL (NOT caused by us), replaced it, tried to charge us for it, and told us everything else was fine. I took my happy a$$ over to the used car dept, got the manager, and basically got them to eat the charges, cuz that's how it was sold to us. AND they got in touch with the previous owner who just happened to fess up to over-filling it. Well, after all that BS and a new cannister, it STILL continued to do it so I took it back again. Cannister was good (imagine that) and pressure test of the system was good, too. We "tolerated" it for the time we owned it, but finally got rid of it last year. Last month when I was down in Fl. (with my new Blazer) me and my buddy went to the gas station and when the pump kicked off, he was over there and tried to squeeze more in the tank - talk about freaking out - that was me... That other Blazer was the strangest thing though - first time in all the cars I've owned that I experienced that.

 

What do you mean by overfilling it?? How can you overfill your gas tank??

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Godti
'89 Trans Am (Red)
305 TBI 5spd

 

Just fill it to the first click on the gas trigger. If you keep filling beyond that, they tell me its over filled.......bob

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91 camaro RS convert
t-5
open element air cleaner
TBI spacer
Flowmaster muffler

 

And why exactly is it bad to overfill your car??

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Godti
'89 Trans Am (Red)
305 TBI 5spd

 

I dunno, I've overfilled my tank a few times, I guess I never "really" overfilled it?

That filter on the bottom of the canister is a service item.. if it starts to reek of gas, you should replace it... Purolator makes one. Of course nobody remembers it, kind of like the filter on the back of the EGR solenoid. In fact nobody even SELLS that egr solenoid filter, but it's supposed to be replaced every 35,000 miles- go figure.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards

 

I don't know IF I buy the "overfill" reason. I ALWAYS overfill my tank and have done so for 9 years. No problem.

BUT, I did have a recall on my gas filler, which did eliminate the occasional smell of gas. I suspect other vehicles have a problem with the gas filler and GM doesn't want to fix it. Blame it on the owner overfilling the tank and saturating the cannister seems to be a bit of a cop-out.

 

My charcoal cannister is on a shelf in my garage. Been over a year without it and so far so good. No gas smell under my hood, except when the stupid FPR leaks

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The IROC Homepage
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"I didn't know a bored out Ford could go so slow" -Shenandoah

 

Even though I just got my canister replaced
I still smell gas, overfilled or not. so I don't buy it either. I also had a crack in
the full tank filler spout and GM fixed that but it didn't make any difference either.
I guess my info from the "dealership" is suspect even though I have a friend that works there.
Where is the servicable filter in the fuel canister?? I would really like to know this and replace it if possible.
Also, how do you just get rid of the canister all together? What lines do you have to plug, what wiring tdo you have to cap and where does the excess fuel go?
I am glad this topic showed up cause a friend of my has a problem with a gas smelling bird that he would like to fix also.
Thanks.....bob


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91 camaro RS convert
t-5
open element air cleaner
TBI spacer
Flowmaster muffler

 

Just flip the can over.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards