Since shortly after we got this 94 Fleetwood, we've had some fuel smell issues.
First, we had a fuel smell in the cabin pretty much all the time, but not outside the car. This was most evident during colder weather and was present from engine start. The fuel pressure regulator was checked and we found fuel residue and a smell of fuel in the vacuum hose going to the regulator. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator with a new Delphi unit and the problem went away.
Once the weather started warming up, we've noticed another fuel smell issue. On warmer days, there is occasionally a fuel smell again coming from the air conditioning system. It only seems to occur if the car has just come to a stop or turns a corner. This time, you can smell it outside the car around the passenger front side. It dissipates within half a minute or so. Fuel economy may be down a bit (not entirely sure), but power seems fine.
We recently discovered some rodent damage to the area around the purge valve that I posted about earlier.
I'm going to be repairing that this weekend, based on information I found in the archives, but I wanted to sanity check this and make sure I'm not missing any common troubleshooting or fix steps. Alternately, does this sound like I'm on the right track?
Things we've done:
- The fuel pressure regulator has been checked, no leaks or smell of gas there.
- Checked the gas tank - hoses on top still seem to be intact and connected.
- Gas tank seems to be mildly pressurized when the cap is removed on a warmer day - there is an outflow of vapor (not an inflow) for between 3 and 15 seconds when removing the cap.
- Examined the engine bay evaporative emissions hoses and noted they're disintegrating and seem like they might be porous.
It seemed to us that the fuel smell was related to fuel tank pressure spiking when the fuel in the tank was significantly agitate which increased vapor pressure. Between that and the gnawed nipple and maybe the hose that vents to atmosphere, that could account for the fuel smell.
Things we plan to do:
- Replace the purge valve and Rochester valve/vacuum valve with new Delphi parts. (We found them on sale at Amazon and Rock Auto for stupid cheap when we were looking for something else.)
- Replace that gnawed nipple with some emissions hose as noted here.
- Replace the canister hoses with new emissions hose as listed here.
- Replace the original gas cap with a new one.
Am I forgetting any potential causes of the fuel smell in this area? Does this seem like a rational conclusion or course of action? Thanks in advance.
First, we had a fuel smell in the cabin pretty much all the time, but not outside the car. This was most evident during colder weather and was present from engine start. The fuel pressure regulator was checked and we found fuel residue and a smell of fuel in the vacuum hose going to the regulator. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator with a new Delphi unit and the problem went away.
Once the weather started warming up, we've noticed another fuel smell issue. On warmer days, there is occasionally a fuel smell again coming from the air conditioning system. It only seems to occur if the car has just come to a stop or turns a corner. This time, you can smell it outside the car around the passenger front side. It dissipates within half a minute or so. Fuel economy may be down a bit (not entirely sure), but power seems fine.
We recently discovered some rodent damage to the area around the purge valve that I posted about earlier.
I'm going to be repairing that this weekend, based on information I found in the archives, but I wanted to sanity check this and make sure I'm not missing any common troubleshooting or fix steps. Alternately, does this sound like I'm on the right track?
Things we've done:
- The fuel pressure regulator has been checked, no leaks or smell of gas there.
- Checked the gas tank - hoses on top still seem to be intact and connected.
- Gas tank seems to be mildly pressurized when the cap is removed on a warmer day - there is an outflow of vapor (not an inflow) for between 3 and 15 seconds when removing the cap.
- Examined the engine bay evaporative emissions hoses and noted they're disintegrating and seem like they might be porous.
It seemed to us that the fuel smell was related to fuel tank pressure spiking when the fuel in the tank was significantly agitate which increased vapor pressure. Between that and the gnawed nipple and maybe the hose that vents to atmosphere, that could account for the fuel smell.
Things we plan to do:
- Replace the purge valve and Rochester valve/vacuum valve with new Delphi parts. (We found them on sale at Amazon and Rock Auto for stupid cheap when we were looking for something else.)
- Replace that gnawed nipple with some emissions hose as noted here.
- Replace the canister hoses with new emissions hose as listed here.
- Replace the original gas cap with a new one.
Am I forgetting any potential causes of the fuel smell in this area? Does this seem like a rational conclusion or course of action? Thanks in advance.