For the past two days, I have noticed the smell of raw gas fumes inside my car. It's the type of smell you experience whenever a tanker truck is dispensing fuel to a gas stations storage tanks. I don't know if the weather conditions are having an effect here. The last two mornings when I drove to work, the temperature was between 75 and 80 degrees. I ran without the A/C. No smell, no problem. On the way home from work, the temperature has been in excess of 100 degrees and I drove with the A/C on. After about 15-20 minutes of driving I started smelling the gas fumes. I popped the hood and there seemed to be a concentration of the fumes around my charcoal cannister. I removed the gas cap and there was a lot of pressure released. Has anyone else had this problem and if so, what did you do about it?

 

Sounds like the charcoal element is either plugged or contaminated. You might also inspect the hoses for cracks and the valve for flow.

 

So what are your thoughts on when it's occuring? If it was clogged etc., do you think it would do it all the time?

 

so if it is clogged or contaminated how do u go about cleaning it??. Is there a replacement filter in there or something?,.

 

It sounds like a venting equalization problem, all of the time. If the canister is fowled or the valve is plugged, you'll probably smell the gas tank fumes that are trying to vent but cannot. Some folks choose to simply eliminate the cannister and vent the hose to atmosphere. I'm not advocating that practice.

The cannister may be service-able. Remove it and turn it upside down. The filter may be removable for cleaning.

 

my camaro has a carbed 350 and i smell gas all the time, especially when i juice it. i removed all the fuel lines except one, so it must be just from the carb setup.

 

MIne's fuel injected, all stock. I had complained about this once before to the dealer way back when it was under warranty. I don't remember what they told me, but they were unable to do anything to correct it. This is the first time it has done this in a very long time. I did check my hoses and noticed that one was cracked/dry rotted on the end, so I cut it off and reattached. I don't know how to go about checking the valve for flow. I probably won't be driving it again until Monday, so I guess I'll have to wait and see if that makes any difference.

 

Once the car is a operating temperature, the charcoal canister purges excess gas vapor into the throttle body/carb to release the vapors. You may also want to check your fuel line connections for slight leaks, that burn off leaking fuel when the car is warm.

 

I drove the car today and it did seem to run smoother after I fixed a couple of vacuum leaks yesterday. I only drove it about 10 minutes or so. Did not smell any of the gas fumes I had been previously experiencing. Not quite as hot today as it has been. By the way, what is the round, ball looking thing underneath the front end on the drivers side? I couldn't find anything about it in any of my manuals. It sits pretty much underneath the front fender in the area underneath the charcoal cannister. It too has a vacuum line attached to it.

 

the round thing by the cannister is part of the cruise control . called [ i think ] vacuum cannister . do you still have the rubber seal on the rear of the hood ? with a/c in the "norm" position it draws in outside air from the screen vents below the wiper blades and engine fumes . i re-installed mine and no more smell/fumes . worked for me !!!

 

Yes, the seal is there. When I was experiencing the smell, I was running my A/C on max, which is where I usually keep it. Norm just isn't cold enough for me. I don't think the A/C was a priority on these cars.