Hi, ever since I bought my car there was a fuel smell coming from under the hood. Initially the fuel line that goes right under the alternator and then has fitting under the throttle body, was loose. So I tightened those fittings and the car picked up some power and ran great. Now, the smell is back. Its not as strong, but it feels like its coming from those lines. I check 'em over carefully but can not see a pinch of any fuel leaking. I know that it would be hard to tell, but when the car is running there should be at least a tiny bit of fuel lingering around. I looked over the lines and could not find a single leak. Still that smell was there, and rather perdominant. Do you think I should just replace the lines??? How worried should I be?? IT ONLY HAPPENS WHEN THE CAR WARMS UP AND HAS RAN FOR AT LEAT A HALF HOUR!
I am getting paid in couple of days, but need to drive my car. Do you think I should worry?? I tightened all the fittings (which two of them had some turns in em). I am kinda stumped on how to find whats going on. The smell is just coming from that area where those lines go under the alternator. Anyone have any suggestions of how to trouble shoot this?? If not, I'll just go replacing the lines, but I kinda wanna be on the safe side cuz I need to drive the car.

(Sorry about the long post)

 

charcoal canister could be doing it, fumes from the tank go directly into it


check all the rubber hoses to and from it,

trace them, look for breaks, cracks, etc

 

I'm no expert on this but this is what I would do. With the key off, you can apply 12 power to (I think it's) terminal G on you ALDL conector and it will run your fuel pump continously while the pressure regulator will keep sending the fuel back to the fuel tank via the return line. This should keep pressure built up between the pump and your injection system so you can look around and underneath your engine to see if it's leaking anywhere. DO NOT tighten anything up with the pump runing because if you break a line or crack a fitting, fuel is going to go everywhere and probably in your face! Gasoline evaporates very fast on a hot engine and a small drip-drip can be hard to find. TRUST your nose man!
if you can smell it, there's a leak somewhere. Good luck.

 

Sqzbox had a good idea about checking for leaks and you should try that. But I would have to think its more with the evap system b/c you said it is when the vehicle is warmed up. I would def. check all the evap hoses and canister like Fast86 said. To check for leaks just use a lighter in the engine bay...JUST JOKING! But seriously if you really want to check the evap system take your car to a tech and have him check it for you with his evap machine. This machine will apply like 2psi of nitrogen to the system and if it detects a leak of .020 or more he will apply smoke to the system to find the leak. Just a thought. The machine is really used for enhanced evap systems but it will work with your car. .040 leak is for 96 to 00 cars and .020 leak is for 00 to present cars.

 

Can I do the same thing if I blow smoke in my gas hole?

 

Well, drove the car today to school and back (about 1 hour trip) and there was no fuel smell where I used to smell it. I tightened all the fitting about as hard as I could (but still carefull so that they don't get all f'ed up). No smell so far. The only thing that smelled was the evap canister. I thought it should smell a bit, but I'll change the hoses on it. There are no apparent leaks, just smell of fumes. I tightened everything and so far its good. I will get into the canister as soon as I get paid. So far so good!