Fuel smell after hard acceleration (2 Viewers)

[sonk76]

I've been having a blissfully uneventful (read reliable) life with me cruiser lately. However, this evening I experienced an unusual fuel smell in the cabin (1st time ever), and wanted to see if you guys had any advice (I've done the searches and have seen a bunch of stuff around vapors and high elevations, etc. but not sure if those are the same as what I experienced.)

Here is the situation:

Environment
0) '06 LX470 w/95k miles (90k mile sevice completed)
1) Engine stock, w/4.88 gears + EMS cat-back exhaust (with silencer)
2) Altitude ~100 - 200ft above sea level
3) Temperate ~55 degrees F.
4) Car had been sitting parked for ~2.5 hours

Events
4) I started the car and drove normally (city streets 25 - 35 mph), casual acceleration/stopping, etc. for about 2 miles (~5 min)
5) I get on a high-way on-ramp, and floor it from about 5 mph to 65 mph, letting the engine rev to red-line on each gear
6) Let of gas at 65 mph and cruiser on high-way normally for 1 mile, take off-ramp
7) At end of off-ramp start noticing a distinct fuel smell in cabin, which remained even as I rolled down the windows and drove about 35 mph.

Eventually (After 2-4 min) the smell faded--I had my windows open and vent on max blower, and I couldn't detect any additional fuel smell.

Any thoughts on if this is "normal", and if not, where should I be looking at for a culprit?

Thanks!

 

[sonk76]

A picture to make thread more fun

From past weekend.

 

[2000UZJ]

Certainly not normal, I run my truck pretty hard and don't have any fuel smells. I would run through the gears like you normally do on a closed road/open parking lot on the weekend and pop the hood shortly after. I remember a thread back in 2007 or 2008, the guy had issues with the fuel filler neck and it was causing a fume leak through the rear driver quarter panel into the cabin. It could of been a random occurrence. I have some pretty weird smells come into my cabin after a very hard drive. I wind out first and second (redline, full throttle) just about every drive. My main smell is money flying out of my wallet.

 

[SanDiegoCruiser]

My 2006 V8 4 Runner had this exact issue (same engine as LC) The dealer replaced the cats and the smell went away...

 

[mgilvan]

I have a question,
Has it smelled since ? What I'm trying to see is , if this happens on daily basses since it happened first !
It is possible that u have a leak in ur exhaust system !
Could it be smell from another car in front of u ?

 

[APKhaos]

Take a good look around the fuel rails. I had a persistent fuel smell that was hard to trace. Turned out to be a fuel injector o-ring seal had failed. One banana job to refresh the injector seals.

 

[sonk76]

I did some more driving today, but could not reproduce today.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll inspect around the truck some more to see if I find evidence of any of the issues mentioned here.

 

[ENGINE er]

mine did this after some steady climbing with low RPMS, i popped the gas cap off and the fuel tank was pressurized while running. plugged in a scan gauge and the engine was running a LITTLE on the warm side, say 230 or so. Once it cooled down, smell went away and drove 350 highway miles home without issue.

 

[ntsaint]

mine did this after some steady climbing with low RPMS, i popped the gas cap off and the fuel tank was pressurized while running. plugged in a scan gauge and the engine was running a LITTLE on the warm side, say 230 or so. Once it cooled down, smell went away and drove 350 highway miles home without issue.

Same exact thing has happened to me twice, while in low range and steadily climbing. Strong fuel smell in the cabin. No occurrences except for those two.

 

[westwardCruiser]

Reviving old thread here...

Had the windows down yesterday and pulled out with some hard acceleration and once I got up to speed it smelled like someone had just poured some gasoline. I thought "hmmm, that's strange", a few seconds down the road I notice my CEL is on. Scan Gauge reported a p0430. I cleared it and have been on 3 drives since and it hasn't returned (fingers crossed).

My 2006 V8 4 Runner had this exact issue (same engine as LC) The dealer replaced the cats and the smell went away...

Has me a bit worried, I really would not like to buy new cats. Could this be related to a coil or spark plug that is on it's way out?
(I replaced all 4 O2 sensors 1 year/10k miles ago to satisfy a p0420/p0430 code)

I'll report back if it continues to happen.