RavenTai

I have had my 99 LS400 for a few months, sometimes had a very strong raw smell of fuel in the cab for about an hour directly after fill up, longer if the car was parked after filling up, drove me nuts.

I don't know if this is unique to my LS or not not but I will post up the fix maybe it will help someone,

I pulled the trunk apart today and found there is a drain hose from the scupper under the filler neck, this hose is suppose to travel down and then pass to the floor of the body (see shadow finger point in pic below) and out through a slot between the rear bumper cover and the right rear quarter panel, mine was pulled out and just loose in the trunk area, apparently any spilled fuel was just puddling under the trunk floor until it evaporated. easy fix push the hose back through.


but I while I was in there found another problem, the bottom half of my gas tank is corroding on the outside. mostly just the white sacrificial corrosion of the galvanizing, but in quite a few spots it is red rust, especially at the bottom seam. I could not really get a good picture of the worst of it. earlier I also found rust on the steel bars under the rear seat, especially towards the back near the tank, this is a clean southern car, these are the only two places I have found any rust to speak of,





anybody know if the rear vents under the trunk floor on both sides are the cabin vents? if so cabin air must pass by the tank, just a theory but I think during the winter when the fuel is cold soaked all night warm moist cabin air generated when you drive to work in the morning must pass by the cold tank and condenses water onto the tank, that explains why only the bottom half or so is corroded , most of the time the upper half is empty and the skin of the tank warms up quickly.


seams like this could be a problem after a few years, for now I wiped the back side of the tank down with break free CLP, should slow it down, but I really should pull the tank out and paint it. I could try to make a vapor barrier between the cab and tank/trunk but I think the cabin uses that area for ventilation exhaust

AandSC

I know his is an old post, but had a strong fuel smell in cabin after fueling up today. Was worse after sitting for a while. Found the drain line from the fuel filler area had somehow migrated its way up into the trunk. Put it back through its hole and think that will fix my problem.

AandSC

So it turns out that I had two problems causing the fuel smell in the cabin. The first was the fuel drain line that was venting into the trunk and the second was a bad fuel cap. Replaced the fuel cap this afternoon and things are back to normal.