starbai

Hey guys,

I've done a lot of searching here on the forums and on facebook and I'm not coming up with a solution, or at least a plan of action.

I have been getting an intermittent strong smell of gasoline from my S2000 after a 20-30 minute drive or so. This happens about once a week, I can smell a strong scent of gasoline coming from the car as I get close to home (off the highway sitting at stop lights) and when I get into the garage at home its quite pronounced. If I lock the car up in the garage and come back about 10 minutes later its so strong that I feel if I were to light a match in my garage the whole place would go up. If I get in the car and go around the block a few times it seems to disappear. Only to return a week or so later.

Observations that I hope will help diagnose:

• Doesn't matter if its a fresh tank of gas or half tank left
• I use primarily Shell Vpower, once in a while BP 93 grade.. never any cheap stuff.
• I obviously checked everywhere I could for leaks and I see nothing.
• The scent does not come from under the hood anywhere. I've sniffed around till I got dizzy its definitly not there.
• A lot of threads have suggested replacing the gas cap, which I have done with a brand new OEM one and its still happening.
• The scent is strongest from the rear, driverside wheel well.
• I have zero CEL codes
• Car seems to drive perfectly fine, doesn't bog down doesn't hesitate

I'm not sure what else to look into at this point. Some threads have suggested this has to do with the EVAP system. I have looked into it in the service manual and it seems like quite a complex system, with no CEL I'm not sure where to begin.

Please guys any help would be really appreciated. Again I've done a fair amount of searching here on the forum and the only clear suggestion has been to replace the gas cap which again has not fixed my problem.

Thanks in advance

Slowcrash_101

Look at the fuel rail, sounds like you have a leak. Look at the fuel pressure regulator, pull the little hose see if it's wet or smells of gas.

AE_Racer

The charcoal canister is near the driver side rear wheel well. It has a sorta skid plate, just in front of the rear subframe brace. You could look there and see if anything is loose/open.

zeroptzero

The fuel line runs past the driver side wheel well, put the car on jackstands and run it for a bit with the wheels removed and poke around with a flashlight in a vented area. Maybe activate the fuel pump a few cycles before running the engine and see if it happens when the fuel system is pressurized, if you don't find anything then run the engine for a bit after that and re-inspect.

jkelley

Can I just say... this is a beautifully written question, bravo! lol. This is how we should all pose our questions haha

Sorry I can't help though, I'm a dummy lol

windhund116

This is where I'd first look. Looks for pinched, loose, cracked hoses. Bad hose connector fittings. Dislodged charcoal canister. Connections to the top of the tank. Etc.


Good luck!

notaloafer

x2. I had a similar issue on my Toyota Pickup Truck and that was the culprit.

Jarshie

second this. shine a flashlight around the canister hoses and valves that are in the area. make sure not to spray or clean anything before hand, as the fuel vapor (or worse) should light up compared to how dry everything else will be up there

Slowcrash_101

Yes and make sure to use a flashlight and not a lighter to look down there.

starbai

no smell or indication of a leak under hood but i'll double check it...

I'll try this thanks for the suggestion i didn't look there yet.



Will try this too...


We all help where we can bud, thanks anyway!


Thanks bud, yea sounds to be the most logical but I dont understand why the smell would be intermittent if this is it... will check to be sure though!