I have a 92SE auto. Within the last two months I noticed a gas smell in the cabin of the car the smell seemed to be stronger after I fill the tank. My mechanic couldnt figure out where it was coming from so I posted the problem here on the org. A lot of guys were really helpful and told me about the old fuel lines. I checked and had all of the fuel lines in the car replaced but to no avail. Since this is my third Max I knew about the fuel filler neck recall so I thought maybe it would be that so I took it to a Nissan dealership and they said that my filler neck was in perfect shape I thought that they were lying so I took it to my mechanic and let him check it out and he said the same thing. I then took my car to Midas hoping that they could possibly figure something out. The guys kept my car for about four hours just to tell me that they could not figure out where the gas smell was coming from either. The guy at Midas said that the only thing that he could think of is whether the car was dumping to much fuel and the cat couldnt burn it off fast enough so that could be the cause of the smell in the cabin he told me after running the car for a long period look underneat the bottom to see if my cat was glowing a bright orange color. I just came back from a 2 hour drive and looked under the car but the cat looked fine. I dont know what to do. Does anyone have any other suggestions.

 

just a couple of possibilities that I can think of:
Leaky injectors.
Leaky gas tank/ sending unit *
I consider the gas tank a good suspect because " the smell seemed to be stronger after I fill the tank" which would imply a rust pinhole in the tank.

 

exhaust gas analyzer

 

Anyone else. I want to write these thoughts and take them with me tomrrow and have them checked. so any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

 

I say check the rubber fuel lines and the charcoal canister.

 

When you remove the gas cap, is there pressure??? You should have pressure. If not you have a leak someplace.
Check the injectors and seals for leaks. It maybe hard to find, but if you see a real clean surface on an injector, that maybe the leak.
If the injectors are not leaking, and you don't have pressure when you remove the gas cap, you'll need to drop the tank. Probably rusted, a hose cracked, or the seal for the sender/pump leaking.
You should also check the charcoal canister. Sometimes they get saturated with gas.

 

Someone else said something to me about the charcoal canister I would think that three differnt mechanics would have checked this but I guess I'll grab my FSM and go see what I can see. Thanks so far guys and keep them coming.

 

Try lighting a match.... works every time. j/k



If you can smell the gas under the hood, and its not the hoses, then I would suspect the injector o-rings.

If the smell is in the car, I would suspect the fuel pump cover seal (its under the back seat!).

 

have you checked the vent hose for small cracks? That is a very common cause of gas smells. Also the charcoal canister will fill up with gas over time if you top off your tank at fill up.

 

That is what I was going to say. Check the evaporative hose for cracks. B/c if you like to top off your tank, then the extra fuel will slosh around the tank and spill into the evaporative hose (vent hose). My vent hose is cracked up to the point that is actually leaks a little fuel on the ground if I top of the tank. But that is the only time I decided to top of the tank and I had nothing but problems.

:Mr Macky voice: Topping off is bad.

 

fuel line tape is holding mine together right now, I am just too lazy to go get a new hose to replace it.

 

Checked the charcoal cannister and its fine. But I dont have any pressure. I removed the gas cap today to fill up and i noticed that there was no pressure and once again when I got home tonight I removed the gas cap and nothing. Worst case senerio lets say I have a leak in the tank how much should I expect to pay.

 

dealer list on tank is $348.
Don't show any aftermarket.
used show as low as $18.52 or car-part.com
if i remeber i'll get you labor time in the morn

 

Thank you. Id appreciate it.

 

ya know lately i had been havin gas smell around my car...and i remember the guy who filled my tank tuesday night topped it off completely so...that probably my prob. thanks!

 

Labor time is 1.8 hours
Total with new straps, new tank, and new filler hose(not neck). and $90 hour labor rate
$687.71

 

i didn't read any of the above posts so excuse me if i'm repeating someone elses post.
i used to get a gas smell in my car too. i replaced the two hoses which connect the fuel rails together and the smell is gone. when the car was started cold i could look at the fuel rail hose and see the gas leaking out. once the hoses warm up the leak would go away and so would the smell. anyways my point is....if you haven't already, change the hoses that connect the fuel rails together, do it.

 

I get it too, but only in the real cold wheater comes in through the air vents and dissapears as soon as it warms up a bit.

 

The fact that I dont have any pressure surely reveals a leak but does it neccessarily have to be the gas tank itself. Im s**t out of luck if not because I dont have $700. Could a hose or a leak somewhere else cause the loss of pressure.

 

the answer to your question is yes. BUT the vent hose from the fuel filler to the tank (around 5/8" I believe) may have a pin hole in it and that is all it takes. I took my car to the dealer a few years ago to get the recall done, they replaced the filler but not the hoses and they were cracked! So I had to fix it myself

 

Got bored and looked through my catalogs and lo and Behold! I found a gas tank $200 Brand new + shipping

 

So are you saying that there is not way to find the leak?

 

You do this yet?? It MIGHT take 5 minutes Check the fuel lines to the tank also. You can see it with the cover off

 

It's not really hard to drop the gas tank.
Try to do it when the tank is almost empty.
Jack the back of car up,
Use jack stands to hold it up,
Take off the drivers rear tire,
Remove the panal covering the fuel filler hose,
loosen the clamps,
Loosen the two bolts holding the straps that hold the tank up.
Reach up and disconnect the hoses and wires from the top of the tank. (I think you can get to these from under the rear seat bottom)
Have someone help you hold the tank up (or use the jack) and drop the tank.
If you have holes in the top of the tank you can patch them. Check at the auto parts store for a repair kit.
Replace all the hoses and remember to use only hoses made for fuel.
It's not hard to do, but can be messy.

 

I cant belive I almost ordered a new gas tank. Took the car to the fifth mechanic today. Low and behold he said its the evap cannister. I just went to Nissan and ordered one, the damn thing cost 150.00 Hopefully this guy is right I hope he wasnt wrong and I spent that 150.00 and the smell is still there. thanks for all the imput and suggestions guys. I'll update the post once I have it installed on Wednesday and I drive around a bit.