Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 4200 Envoy gas smell

I hate new cars.

That said, my wife's 03 Envoy with the 4200 inline has suddenly developed a gas odor. She parks in the garage and it's pretty noticable. No drips on the floor, no wet spots anywhere on the gas lines under the car and when it gets in the engine compartment I can't see crap for all the 'stuff' hung on the engine.

I'd take it back to the GMC dealership but I'm POed with them because they sold me a lemon 6 liter Sierra PU and won't fix the POS. (DO NOT BUY THE 6 LITER GMC PICKUP, PM me if you want details)

The local Chevy dealer went bankrupt so taking it to a GM dealer is a 40 mile trip to strangers who didn't sell the car.

Any ideas on what to look for and where. Are there O'rings on injectors? Where the heck are the injectors anyway? There are 6 somethings in the center top of the engine under the air box but I didn't see any fuel lines going to them so I don't know what they are. Did I mention I hate new cars?

The 6 'somethings' in the center of the cam cover are the ignition coil packs. IIRC the injectors are either in the intake itself, or covered by it (don't recall which side of the gasket they're on).

I wouldn't expect the injectors to be the issue, because, if it was the seal between the injector and the fuel 'rail' it would spray fuel all the time (vehicle would have likely burned to the ground by now, no I'm not kidding). If it's the seal between the injector and the intake port, that will give you a vacuum leak with the associated rough idle (because it's not getting the same ammount of air to each cylinder, and is unlikely to be a consitant leak).

If you hvae a 'gas smell' when you park in an enclosed area, the first thing to chech is the gasket on the gas cap. With the high 'oxy' content of the modern fuels it eats those alive.

If that's good (not cracked or rock hard) check the tank unit retaining nut. IIRC the tank unit in these is held in by a large (6-8 inch) plastic retaining 'gland' (nut). If that comes loose it will give you that smell. If it comes just a little looser, it will give you the same rough idle the injector to port seal leak will (just a touch looser still and it will give you an error code, something to the effect the 'tank pressure' is wrong).

If that's not loose, check the filler neck hose and all the connections to the charcoal canister (I think that's on the crosmember immediately forward of the gas tank, but I'm not 100% sure on the '03s).

Not that you can tell I've been scoping these out to grab one at a salvage auction.

Thought I'd post the status of this. The problem went away. Never saw a drip under the car and the wife said she had not overfilled it. About all I can think is that she drove through a puddle of gas and it splashed up under the car and had to evaporate off...

My friend had a simlar problem on his 2000 4.8 Chevy truck.

He found that the fuel pressure regulator was leaking internally.
Changed it & the smell went away plug got better gas mileage.

I have a simular problem w/my 1997 Chevy 5.7 350.
Every once in a while I smell fuel just after I drive it & get out of the truck, I smell fuel,I don't see any leaks but I smell fuel.

I might have a bad fuel pressure regulator also???


MBHD

Just happened that one time. Wife's car and I absolutely HATE to work on new crap. It's got 28K miles and is out of warranty so things will start to fall apart and I'll have to either deal with her nagging me or fix it or pay to have it fixed or trade it.

Never bought a foreign car but as much as I hate to say it, these imports with their 100K mile bumper to bumper warranties are sounding better and better. "What, making a funny noise...better take it to the dealer...I'll get my hat." LOL!

My POS 07 GMC with the 6L (DON'T BUY ONE!...THE SIX L SUCKS!!!) has a 100K mile warranty but doubt that GMC will be around to warranty it anyway. GM may honor the warranty at Chevy dealers but I wouldn't bet on it. Any way you look at it the American auto industry is going to have major changes.