99rx

iTrader: (6)

Taking grandma around today and she gets out and says "what's that gas smell?" I told her don't worry about it, it's probably nothing. Well we get home and she says "you have to come smell this, it's not normal". So I did and indeed she was correct, it was not normal. There was an unusual smell of gas between the passenger door and back passenger fender. Decided to check later to see if there were any codes pending in the system, no CEL light on. There was one though, a P0171 (Bank 1, system too lean). Now I have been reading all about it on here, and most say to clean the MAF and change the PCV Valve, possibly clean the TB and IACV. I plan on doing two of these things tomorrow. But one thing the threads failed to mention was the gas smell. Can anyone help me figure out what this might be? I thank you in advance!

salimshah

You have the gas filler pipe, the gas tank. plumbing and exhaust back there.

During winter start ups the exhaust can flow back in the garage, so eliminate that.

If the smell is prominent after gas fill ups, then the filler pipe area can be a problem.

There are times when an incline can raise the level of the gas in the tank (high point). Think about that too. So try to fill up to 1/2 tank and see if the gas smell goes away.

For fuel pump and top plumbing, you have to go from above (rear seat). You will have to do some dis-assembly.

Fuel leaks always leave a trail .... wet mark and not necessarily drips. All you need is a clear sight and protected light.

I would have expected a cel light and in its absence, I tend to lean towards exhaust blowing back.

Lastly, there is a 'smoke test', where a visible gas is introduced at low pressure. Then it is a simple matter of tracing the leak.

Salim

carguy07

Does the CEL on the dash work?

99rx

iTrader: (6)

I'm going to temporarily rule out anything to do with the filler, because that is on the drivers side and the smell is coming on the passenger side.
Yes the light works. It came on a couple weeks ago when I didn't tighten the gas cap all the way. The code showed up on the scanner as pending...