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  1. #1
    FEP Senior Member burntorange84's Avatar
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    Default fuel fill up: gas smell in car

    Guys,

    If I fill up with gas, and the gas sprays a bit back out of the neck, it automatically stops the gas pump, but the spit-out gas that drains down the inside of the filler/gas door and the sheet metal of the car is filling up the interior with gas fumes. I just got done overhauling the gas tank with a new check valve, but it is this gas fume problem that had me replace the filler neck and rear hatch gaskets while the tank was out. After filling-up and airing out the car, there are no more gas fumes....thus my question.

    There is a plastic housing inside the filler door that seems to be the seal-off of the gas filler system from the interior of the car. Has anyone had this housing fail in sealing out fumes or is there a rubber grommet in there I may need to replace?

    thanks in advance,
    -j
    _________________________________________
    1984.5 Mustang GT: org. 5.0, 5spd, 3.27's;
    GT-40's w/93 exhaust; t-bird TC brakes....

  2. #2
    FEP Super Member mustangxtreme's Avatar
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    There is a seal between the plastic housing and the body that can fail.
    Dave

    If common sense was common wouldn't it just be sense?

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  3. #3

    Default

    There is also a seal between the housing and the filler neck. And there is a drain hose that
    leads down to the bottom of the quarter panel.

    When you had the tank out, did you blow compressed air through the tank vent line, to make
    sure it's clear?
    Cheers,
    Jeff Cook

    '85 GT Hatch, 5-speed T-Top, Eibachs, Konis, & ARE 5-Spokes ... '85 GT Vert, CFI/AOD, all factory...
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  4. #4
    FEP Senior Member burntorange84's Avatar
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    thanks guys,

    Looked at the seal around the box, just from the outside of the door and it looks good. The filler neck seal was fine; I inspected that when the tank was out. If I could have bought that seal, I would have just replaced it, I just couldn't find one at LMR, NPD and the mcparts places. The fuel does leak down the drain of the box of the filler system, a little gas was down below on the exhaust pipe.

    I'll blow compressed air thru the line today. I plugged the hardline at the tank and pulled vacuum from the nylon line at the front of the car to test the integrity of the vent line from the tank to the canister hook up; it held vacuum solid. But I'll yank the new vent line hose off at the back and verify it is clear. I'll also inspect the restrictor in that line to make sure it's still clear.

    I drove 40+ miles yesterday and this morning there was not a gas smell, but I did leave the garage cracked for a few hours before closing for the night. The fuel vent check valve was bad on my car. Hard to test while installed in the tank. When I yanked it and blew thru from the inside there was no resistance. The new valve clearly allows the tank to keep a small amount of internal pressure and then purges when the pressure reaches a specified amount. Thanks Jeff.

    Unless I find something, I'll need to pull the rear interior quarter panel and maybe the tail lights and replace some gasket or grommet...I've got a leak when I fill up...

    -j
    _________________________________________
    1984.5 Mustang GT: org. 5.0, 5spd, 3.27's;
    GT-40's w/93 exhaust; t-bird TC brakes....

  5. #5
    FEP Senior Member burntorange84's Avatar
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    Jeff,

    I blew compressed air thru the line and it was fine, the line restrictor was clear also. I've got to check the purge system once again; just from starting it up and running just enough to move it around the garage, the garage smelled a bit of gas the whole next day.

    -j
    _________________________________________
    1984.5 Mustang GT: org. 5.0, 5spd, 3.27's;
    GT-40's w/93 exhaust; t-bird TC brakes....

  6. #6
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    I had a similar issue with a hard to trace gas smell inside the garage, I had replaced the tank and everything in it including the neck seal etc. so I knew that wasn't it.

    I turned out to be a small 4" rubber hose that joins the hard fume line to the plastic line right under by the passenger side rocker panel on my 86 vert, that little hose had deteriorated and was leaking gas fumes. Cheap easy fix, but hard to find.

    I hope this helps.
    Original Member of 'The Anti-Cowl Hood Club' and 'The Ten-Hole Mafia'.

  7. #7
    FEP Senior Member burntorange84's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheWizard View Post
    I turned out to be a small 4" rubber hose that joins the hard fume line to the plastic line right under by the passenger side rocker panel on my 86 vert, that little hose had deteriorated and was leaking gas fumes. Cheap easy fix, but hard to find.

    I hope this helps.
    Thanks,
    That hose was replaced years ago. A few posts back, I stated that I tested that line from the tank to the canisters and it blows thru and even holds vacuum well. I've got some more testing to do.

    -j
    _________________________________________
    1984.5 Mustang GT: org. 5.0, 5spd, 3.27's;
    GT-40's w/93 exhaust; t-bird TC brakes....

  8. #8
    FEP Senior Member burntorange84's Avatar
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    oops wrong thread.
    Last edited by burntorange84; 04-07-2016 at 12:58 PM. Reason: wrong thread
    _________________________________________
    1984.5 Mustang GT: org. 5.0, 5spd, 3.27's;
    GT-40's w/93 exhaust; t-bird TC brakes....

  9. #9
    FEP Senior Member burntorange84's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JACook View Post
    ...... And there is a drain hose that
    leads down to the bottom of the quarter panel.
    I finally got some time to fix some things last weekend. Oddly, I found a large grommet missing on the passenger side below the fuel door. Thinking I found my entry of fumes, I was proud of my find. I then proceeded to remove the driver taillight to fix some misalignment. I then realized it leaked a little and then decided to remove both lenses to clean the reflectors inside. Upon removing the passenger taillight I happened to see a small 6-8 inch hose that was in bad shape. It looked like a sun roof drain hose. Sure enough, I found the drain hose for the filler box. If I hadn't found this I would have grommeted-in the gas fumes. I then cut the grommet and ran the new hose out to the rear bumper mount. Why have gas drain on top of the passenger exhaust pipe? Mine use to have single exhaust.

    Years ago while at Bondrant's School of High Performance Driving, I saw a 94 GT spewing out gas over the passenger tail pipe and quarter panel in the turns; we all had just gotten refueled while doing lots of laps and they used quick fillers with no caps. My next time around that car had caught fire; lucky the pace car quickly flew out there and put it out. No body was harmed. But if I can re-route that hose, I recommend you do. Not sure if factory dualed cars have that hose above the tail pipe?

    -J
    _________________________________________
    1984.5 Mustang GT: org. 5.0, 5spd, 3.27's;
    GT-40's w/93 exhaust; t-bird TC brakes....

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