Gas Smell in the cab

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Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Threads
8
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73
Location
Katy/Nacogdoches, TEXAS!
When i fill my gas tank up all the way, there is a really strong smell of gas. I dont know if its a bad fuel line or not i replaced the gas cap thinking i wasnt getting a good seal but the new cap has just intesifed the smell. Any suggestions?:confused:
 
First suggestion would be to follow the fuel line from the tank to the carb and see if you can find a leak anywhere.

Since you're smelling it in the cab, I might check the fuel filter fittings first. Make sure the rubber hose is not brittle and cracked at the ends, and if there aren't hose straps on there, put some on and tighten them down.
 
I am going to do a carb overhaul this week so ill check the lines, thanks for the info.
 
Mine does that too sometimes..really hot days off road with a full tank I can smell probably fuel venting out the fill area.."full tank" does not last long so that usually goes away..

Couple months ago central Oregon went to 10% ethanol..right away the soft rubber hoses on my charcoal canister dissolved into mush. Truck smelled inside and out..thought I had a major leak finally sniffed it out to the canister..touched the hoses and they fell apart. I replaced them with some fuel line I had laying around..was able to make the bends with out ordering the pre-bent hose.
 
There was a thread not long ago either here or on Expe where one fellow advised me to inspect the ramps that the cap latches onto. One is easily bent by the new style of filler nozzles. Once that happens the cap doesn't seal because one of it's tangs pops off and you get fuel smell inside.

The short term solution for me was to not turn the cap clear to the stopping point, stop about 1/2 way.
The long term solution is that I'm going to change the fill-neck to use a later model screw-in type cap.
 
Also, take off the right rear quarter panel trim. Behind the trim you can see the fill tube and well as all the tubing that associated with the evap control system. There are quite a few rubber hoses. Check to make sure one is not cracked, etc.
 
Also, take off the right rear quarter panel trim. Behind the trim you can see the fill tube and well as all the tubing that associated with the evap control system. There are quite a few rubber hoses. Check to make sure one is not cracked, etc.

x2, I had the exact same problem, cab smelled like fuel when I filled up. At the base of one of the return hoses found in the passenger side rear quarter, the little "nozzle" that fed into one of the rubber tubes had rusted out and was leaking fuel when full. We just jb-welded it shut and put on a new hose, it's been great ever since.
 
If the above sugestions don't help...

Remove the quarter panel cover in the right rear.
look for signs of fuel down at the bottom.
Spray around the gas cap with a water hose and look for a leak inside.
The rubber gasket around the filler neck likes to crack and dry out and every time you fill up a little fuel runs down inside the body and could be dangerous.
 
i followed those lines, man it looks like all of the lines comming into and out of the fuel filter need to be replaced as well as the the lines that run the length of the body back to the tank, ill pull the quarter panel cover off and see what the return lines look like. Also when i was looking under the truck i found my oil cooler leaking and the hoses attached to it looking preety grim, i just had my engine re-built because of a busted cam shaft and when they had the engine out they didnt replace the cooler, who knows why, so now i have an oil cooler prob. with some nasty metal shavings in it from the broken shaft cycling back into a re-built engine. Is there anyway you can take the cooler off and re-build?
 
what about a front mount oil cooler and just run steel braied lines to the engine?
 
Also, take off the right rear quarter panel trim. Behind the trim you can see the fill tube and well as all the tubing that associated with the evap control system. There are quite a few rubber hoses. Check to make sure one is not cracked, etc.

x2 i had to replace most of mine from the tank as the hard ones on the truck rusted thru.
 
I noticed a smell of gas too when I use to fill up my tank. For a long time I never really tried to find the leak as there were no obvioius signs. Well, when I did the engine swap, I changed the fuel lines from the tank forward. That's when the leak became obvious and it was in the hard place to get to. Jack the truck up at the rear, use strong light to look above the area of the right hand axle housing , where the metal fuel line turns into rubber hose. My truck was leaking gas where the rubber hose connects to the gas tank. Someone in the past had either removed the gas tank or replaced the hose and did not do the job right. Once I looked in that area it was obvious that there had been a fuel leak for some time (grit and crap caked up in places). Its an area thats hard to see and hard to get to as well.

You could "smell it" only when you filled the tank. In my case it was obvious someone just screwed the repair or was too lazy to do the job right. I'm guessing it might have been when the fuel tank was replaced under warranty, as my friend who is a toyota mechanic checked out the truck when new to me and said it had no outstanding recalls.

Check out this area and see if its not the source of your issue, as that hose is a real pain in the @$$ to get to.
 

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