Hey folks, glad to see that there is such an active maxima enthusiast community online. I am a VW owner, but my girlfriend drives a 1995 Maxima.

About 2 weeks ago, we began to notice the smell of fuel in the passenger cab, as well as in the engine bay. I have tried to trace it down to a leak in the fuel lines with no success. I also thought it may be a clogged fuel filter, causing backpressure ( and thus a leak), so i replaced the filter, but the smell is still present. The CEL has also thrown some strange codes, like P0505 (IAC/AAC valve problem) and P0608 (Control Module VSS Output "A" Malfunction). Those two codes were retrieved by the "flashing light method". She took it to a shop, and they said that they couldnt connect to the computer, so if she wanted them to fix it it would probably take at least 3 hours just to diagnose the problem.

So, I would love to hear if anybody has any ideas as to what could be the source of a fuel smell problem... Thanks all!

 

I'd look near the back of the engine bay near the fuel filter.. sounds like a fuel leak... and that is BAD...

 

had that horrid smell once. Turned out to be a seal on one of the injectors.
thats my 2 cents

 

Thanks floridamax. I will do a closer inspection of those seals. The smell reall gets nasty in the cab while stopped. It's coming through the heater vents...

Bags, I replaced the filter last week, and I am pretty certain that the leak is not coming from there, though it is in theory one of the most likely candidates.

 

It looks like that's the culprit (hopefully it's the only leak). I want to replace the whole set of o-rings, so do I need to remove any parts (ie. intake manifold, intake manifold collector...) to be able to remove the injectors to change the o-rings or is there another way? If so, I am guessing that the gaskets for those intake parts would need to be replaced too, correct?

 

If you replaced the filter last week and you didn't have the smell before I'm guessing that it's the fuel you spilled while taking out the filter. That or the hoses aren't snug enough.

 

Actually, the smell was present for about a week before changing the filter.