satiger

iTrader: (1)

Ok, here is the story.

My ES is 236k miles. Decided to do few maintenance as follows. Purchased parts at Sewell and Napa and used in indie mechanic to replace them.

1. Spark plugs and coils: Back side (near the firewall) of the plugs and coils were replaced without removing intake manifold. Decided to change the coils on the back as one of the front one started giving error code. Only the plugs were replaced on the front.

2. There was a leak on front passenger side CV. Purchased reman axle from Napa and replaced it. This is where is became little tricky and frustrating. The bearing housing wouldn't come out easily. In order to get better access, exhaust intake was taken out to push the bearing out. A new gasket was used while putting back exhaust intake.

3. Did pan drop transmission fluid change. Changed the filter as well. Also changed the fluid in transfer case (right behind transmission pan). Little history ; Last time I did transmission service was around ~ 1.5 years back (30k miles back) - it was a machine flush. I have been doing transmission services at around every 30-40k miles since I owned the car. This time when opened the drain plug, I could see cherry red fluid flowing out. Secondly, I didn't see any metal particles in those three magnets. Absolutely thrilled . Transfer case fluid wasn't cherry red, it was bit brownish-red.

After this service, started driving back home and felt gas smell in the cabin. Initial thought was may be spell over fluids getting burnt. However, smell didn't go away but got worsen in the following days. Took back to the mechanic with the suspicion on loose spark plug. Back driver side plug was loose and was tightened. Checked all the hoses and everything looked ok.

Came back home. Once again smell started but not with previous intense. When I stop at traffic light etc, could smell gas in the cabin not while driving. I couldn't smell gas in the exhaust pipe. While engine is on and hot, if I open the hood, I can't smell gas. However, If I sniff around, I can feel gas smell on the driver side, near the engine filter area but not on the passenger side. Also, one other important observation is, it's burning gas at much faster rate. Typically I get around 125 miles for first quarter of tank, but now it's around 80 miles.

Hard to assume fuel injector or something is failing as a coincidence. I didn't have any smell before doing the service work.

How can I trouble shoot this? Any leads?.

Sorry about the long post, though of providing all the info upfront. Thanks.

satiger

iTrader: (1)

Here is the update.........

Took the car to Toyota dealership and they confirmed there is no gas leak. Big relief. They informed me about transmission pan leak. Since I over filled, I took out some quantity using hand pump before going to the dealership. So I was confused as to why it continue to leak. That might explain the reason why I got gas smell inside the cabin as well as under hood on the engine filter side. Trans pan is almost right below that.

So, I took the car back to my mechanic to check the transmission pan. We used both silicone seal as well as gasket for pan. That silicone seal became brittle and didn't stick to the gasket. So, removed the pan, clean out the silicone seal and put a new gasket. Leak stopped. Apparently silicone seal for transmission (part no 00295-01281) and gasket together won't get along well!. Learned it in a hard way.

When I did the fix, I used 4 qts of Castrol Tansmax high mileage transmission. It's it type IV compatible.

Those who are with high mileage cars, while replacing the spark plugs, check the coils as well. One of the front one started failing and CEL came on. So, while replacing the back spark plugs, I replaced all three with new Denso coils as well. One of the coil plug from back was burnt (see the picture). But was continue to run fine and didn't give CEL!.

As far as gas mile, I guess car is back to it's normal gas mileage after 3 full tank gas filling and driven about 800 miles or so. Since the sparks plugs and coils were replaced, it might have taken time to computer to reset. I am not sure on that.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Were you able to get rid of the smell?

I would check all your fuel lines and fuel injectors under the hood. Check the line by the fuel filter, it's under the engine air filter, near the trans axle.

I also have an under hood smell that I cannot pinpoint, possibly from burnt off fluids. I noticed that it comes through the vent ports on the sides of the windshield cowl. As a result, the HVAC sucks up any vented gases into the cabin when I'm moving slow enough. It tends to only happen after driving for a while, so I think it has to do with the under hood temperature of any driveline components that are causing this.

mitmaks

Check your charcoal canister/hoses that run to and from it. They might have a hole of might come loose and cause fuel vapor to enter engine bay/passenger compartment through firewall.

satiger

iTrader: (1)

I no longer get burnt smell after fixing the transmission pan. Initial smell which I wrongly assumed to be gas smell is apparently from leaking transmission fluid dropping onto exhaust manifold.

mitmaks

burnt transmission fluid smells way different than raw fuel. These cars are known to have valve cover gaskets leaking as well, so oil will seep down onto hot exhaust and cause burning oil smell.