Gasoline smell in your garage

[Ruadhd2]

My garage is attached to the house. A general foyer and my wife's business office are affected by the strong smell of gas from my 7 in the garage. I don't think there are any leaks in the car and the gas cap seems tight,

 

Spousal unit is a super clean, super anti-toxin person and is complaining that the 7 will have to sleep outside for the winter,

 

Don't think fumes are strong enough to ignite a fire, but it is pretty rank in there.

 

Ideas? My car was manufactured by Rotus in 1990, but it has had so many mods and rehabs that only the body, frame,instruments, suspension and brakes are original. I heard it is common for older cars to stink up garages.

 

 

Anybody else with a smelly 7? Any atmospheric solutions to the garage? I guess I could put some cows and chickens in there to change up the mix.

[Off Road SHO]

If you have an attic scuttle hole in your garage, place a 20" box fan up there instead of the sheet rock cover and turn the fan on low. We do that here to exhaust all the heat from the parked cars. Yes, older cars tend to exude gasoline around gaskets and fittings.

[bsimon]

How much braided stainless steel hose is in your fuel system? Most single layer nitrile hose (Earles, Aeroquip, etc.) weeps a bit of fumes. Not enough to be dangerous, just stinky. Fuel injection exacerbates the situation as 3-5 Bar of pressure is retained behind the injectors when you shut-down. The stink especially noticeable if you have long runs of hose from the tank to the engine bay.

 

I hard-lined my chassis and switched to convoluted PTFE Goodridge 910 fuel hoses. No more stink. No more bitching from the missus. :hurray:

[Ruadhd2]

Where do I get convoluted PTFE Goodridge 910 fuel hoses or similar for automotive applications?

[bsimon]

Pegasus racing, here.

If you want to retain the stainless look, use the Goodridge 811 hose.

[pi7ot]

If you have a Birkin, it may be the vapor catch tank for gas fumes.

It is located behind the passenger seat back and is a small aluminum cylinder and a bunch of coiled tubing.

If the catch can gets full or there's a lot of vapor coming out of the gas tank, you get the heavy scent of fuel in the garage.

 

You'll probably have to seal the house off from the garage .

The good thing about this experience is that it just as easily could be CO leaking into the house.

 

m

 

m

[BusaNostra]

She only smell it on winter.

Air is heavy....you can smell lots of things not only gasoline.

 

Just take the hose and drain it.

See you summer.

[turboeric]

Does the car have a functional carbon canister? It is designed to mop up fuel vapour. Carbs especially will evaporate all the fuel in the floats - not sure about your car.

[MHKflyer52]

Try switching off the fuel pump if it is electrical while the engine is running and let it run out of fuel. This will use all the fuel in the carbs float bowls and the fuel lines. I do this with all my carborated cars and it seems to work plus it prevents someone from starting the car unless they know to turn on the fuel pump first and let it build pressure, kind of an anti-theft devise plus it keeps the float bowls form becoming lacquered from the gas.

The other thing would be to put a bathroom exhaust vent into the garage to vent the air. You could put it on a timer so it does not run all the time if you wanted.

[slomove]

If you happen to have a fuel cell it may weep if older. Mine does, actually it dribbles gas when standing more than half full. There is somewhere at least one pinhole and I guess I need to replace the bladder soon. But then I have been living with it for the last 2 years.

[Croc]

Have you thought about putting the wife outside for winter? She definitely would not smell any fumes then...

 

 

:leaving:

[MHKflyer52]

Have you thought about putting the wife outside for winter? She definitely would not smell any fumes then...

 

 

:leaving:

 

:smilielol5: Now you are one brave man if your maried to post that suggestion....:smilielol5:

[Ruadhd2]

My wife has a special hand gesture just for the guy who suggested her sojourn outside for the winter.

[Ian7]

I second the comment #10 above. My older LSIS car stank up the house something awful, eventually had a new alloy fuel tank fabricated to replace the old one - instant fix. Was weeping enough to stink, not enough to see liquid drips.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Ian7
reference number added

[MNlotus]

my 2003 caterham super 7 dedion does the same thing. it always smells like gas when i have a full tank. it just recently started leaking a bit too, dont know exactly where it is from, ill have to check. i have just been starting the cra and running it to get the level down, would this work?

[pi7ot]

my 2003 caterham super 7 dedion does the same thing. it always smells like gas when i have a full tank. it just recently started leaking a bit too, dont know exactly where it is from, ill have to check. i have just been starting the cra and running it to get the level down, would this work?

 

 

A couple of potential spots.

1, where the fuel level sender is bolted to the tank.

There should be a Gasket between the sender mounting plinth and the tank top.

 

2, Perhaps a two clamp splice of rubber pipe between the fill aperture and the solid pipe to the top of the tank. 2 potential leaks there.

 

3, any vapor recovery system/vent from the fuel tank .

 

m

[Kitcat]

MNLotus:

 

I eliminated my full-tank gas smell when I tightened the hose clamp on the rubber fill-tube at the top of the tank (in the boot). Now I just have a gas smell on hard cornering (auto-X style).

 

Mike M.

[glenntwincam]

my 2003 caterham super 7 dedion does the same thing. it always smells like gas when i have a full tank. it just recently started leaking a bit too, dont know exactly where it is from, ill have to check. i have just been starting the cra and running it to get the level down, would this work?

 

caterhams with injection tanks sometimes leak around the fuel pump mounting flange located lower right side of tank. the replacement seal is bosch #68204 . napa or rock auto has them for $10 t0 $12. you can try to tighten the 6 mounting screws with tank in car , if that doesn't work , the tank has to be removed to properly reseal . drain & reseal took me about 4 hours.

[Taber10]

glenntwincam, Plus one on that leak.

My 2007 Cat SV was harder to fix, probably because of my mechanical aptitude. After trying two new "factory" gaskets, I cut my own gasket, with only "bolt size" holes vs. the larger square cutouts of the factory design. Also put in a backing plate to keep the factory plate from warping, and sealed everything with Marine 5200 sealant. Hasn't leaked in 1 1/2 years since the third fix.