Gas smell when car is driven hard...

[manny]

I was enjoying the coupe this afternoon drive home from work and I suddenly smell gasoline from the car. The windows were down and I did fill up from the morning but whats up??? Any information on this...anyone else experienced this.

[SilverStreak]

Check your exhaust pipes for lots of black soot and build up, could be you're just running rich.

Worst case, you have a leak somewhere, gas line, fuel pump, filter, etc...

[manny]

Yikes, sounds bad. No sign of black smoke at all but will check next time I'm at the dealer. Cheers...

[SilverStreak]

Don't smoke around your car for a while, just to be safe...

Were you behind anyone on the road, like a Harley? My Harley always smelled like gasoline...

[Neil]

Check that no gas sloshed out and puddled beneath gas cap. Occassionally, the drain hole gets plugged and needs to be cleaned out.

[Gary-TulZa]

Strange! Let us know what you find...

[Ldogdotcom]

That happened to me a few times, and it turned out to be a the gas cap that wasn't on correctly. It was tight, but not correct. I'd turn it until it stopped, then lock it, and then a lot of gas smell. Want a fool proof test? Drive in a circle (in a parking lot preferably) and increase your speed. If it's the gas cap, you'll see gas on the ground. Then take the cap off, make sure it's on correctly, and repeat. Good luck!

[manny]

I figured it out, Neil was correct. There was a little amount of gas on the rubber part beneath the gas cap. I'll just clean it out, hopefully it will work.

[Uj2]

You may also want to check what Ldogdotcom said. That happened to me as well. Looking at the cap all seemed OK but when removed it was obvious it was not on correctly in the first place...

[manny]

Cool....will do that as well. Thanks guys, fopr a while there I thought I had something serious.

[Neil]

Manny -

Glad to have helped out.

Same thing happened to me during this year's One Lap of America. I was convinced it was something serious.

Bill Arnold, a Master Tech from CA, driving in the Vintage Import class, diagnosed the problem.

So nice when it is simple and easy to fix.

Neil

[manny]

Yeah....nice not to spend money....seems like if something happens to our bimmers, it always breaks the bank. Thanks again guys, you are a wealth of knowledge.

[blondie]

There's one more problem that cause this symptom- a loose connection at the fuel regulator under the driver's side floor. This has happened twice on my Z3. The difference is that only the driver can smell it- the passenger couldn't smell anything both times. I've been told Z cars are somewhat prone to this problem.

It's still an inexpensive fix, though- just snug up the clamps.

Q

[manny]

Thanks for the info Blondie...will check that out as well.