Standard equipment in my cars

 

What’s the status and update on this?

 

I let it sit from Friday evening - Tuesday afternoon then took it for a spirited 20 min drive, no smells. I did the same thing yesterday, one drive to pick up the kids and another to grab dinner, no smells.

The real test will come today and tomorrow after I fill up the tank and drive it in the exact conditions in which the smell previously occurred. Will update, but hopefully things have worked themselves out.

My service advisor said he spoke to the master tech who said it's possible a small amount of fuel got into the evap canister, and constantly driving it around once it was in there allowed the canister to continue to build vapors which would then prevent the fuel that got in there from being able to evaporate out, resulting in the smell. A few days to sit without driving may have allowed the fuel in the canister to dry up thereby eliminating the smell.

I cancelled my appt for today and rescheduled it for Dec. 6. I think that is enough time with the holiday week coming up to drive it in all manner of circumstances to see if the smell is reproduced. If it is, I'll take it in. If not, all's well that ends well I suppose.

 

Something that I do not see mentioned is that this kind of issue can be caused by topping off your gas tank when you fill up. The gas can overflow into the evap and soak it and eventually cause it to fail. It's not supposed to happen, but it does.
When filling up stop once the handle pops on the nozzle from the gas pump. Don't try to get a few more ounces in.

 

Absolutely. I never top off. It's possible the pump auto stop was not functioning properly though and resulted in a bit more fuel than normal going in

 

I Top Off all the time - Never an issue

Lou

 

Filled the tank and drove about 65 miles today. No smells yet! 👍🏾

 

well this problem seems to have gone away on its own for me. I cancelled my dealer appt. Hopefully it doesn't repeat itself, or if it does, at least the car throws a code so I don't have to play whack a mole with the service department to diagnose.

 

Well...it got over 80 degrees today for the first time in a while, and I drove 120 miles, and I filled up the tank on the way home from nearly empty (no top off, stopped at first click and it took about 18.5 gal). Got home and the gas smell has returned. 1 hour after parking I went in the garage to grab my sockets and it hit me full force.

At this point since the car isn't throwing a code, there is no noticeable loss of power, I am just going to leave it be over winter and see what happens come spring when temps get back reliably around 80 to see if still happening, at which I'll take it to the dealership. I am questioning if there is a bit of a rougher than normal idle going on though, sometimes I can feel pulsing in the seat and hear the engine tone changing with the pulsing while the car is idling in P or in D with my foot on the brake, but I have no idea if what I'm feeling is something new or just normal.

 

Man that really sucks. Don't understand why it comes and goes on what appears to be 'random' times. Look on the bright side, at least you are on the Lexus Dime.