I just recently bought a 92 Firebird Formula. I went to the gas station today to fill it up and walked away to clean the windows. When I came back and the pump had stopped at 19.4 Gallons! Since then my car has a smell of gasoline while I drive, even with windows down and T-tops off. Everywhere I read the tank is only supposed to be just over 15 gallons. Even if the tank was only 15 is it possible to overflow it that much. I didn't pay attention under the car at the pump, but later on I've noticed no sign of leakage.

 

sounds like the pumps shutoff valve wasn't working and it filled up the evap system. and probably filled up the charcoal canister and all the lines.

 

Excuse me joining in, but what would you do if it had filled up the canister? Wait for it to evaporate because the fuel's in the evap system or set about dismantling components? Sounds silly I know....

Mark.

 

My guess is you just overfilled and spilled it. It would be impossible for the gas to anywhere except into the tank and out the filler only. Also since its a 15.5 gal tank empty, 19 + gals seems like like alot of spillage. I hope the pumps at this station are correct.

 

This was my first thought. . . may want to use a different gas station.

As for the fumes, check the area where the filler neck meets the tank. If there are fuel stains it is a good possibility that area is leaking. Your '92 actually has a recall on this.

There was another guy that also was getting fumes. Upon a tank drop he found that when a previous owner had mounted stereo stuff he had drilled too far and put holes in the top of the tank :0

RBob.

 

I looked up from under the car and I saw the gasoline stains where the neck meets the tank. When I called the dealer they told me that there was no recall on it (just the seat belts). So it looks like I'm going to have to do this myself
Is it possible to fix this without dropping the tank. I've dropped the tank once before and it wasn't much fun. can I use some type of filler on it?

 

The dealer is incorrect on both recalls. The seatbelt recall is for older cars (red plastic release push button falls apart) and the fuel tank recall is for the '91 and '92 cars. Try another dealer?

Anyway, I don't know of any sealant that can be used. Maybe some epoxy will do the trick. Use a thin epsoxy and brush it around where the neck meets the tank.

RBob.