OK, I've been smelling gas insidemy car. It only smells when it's idling. Once I'm moving the car doesn't smell of gas at all. I changed my fuel filter a few months back and thats when the smell started. So obviously I'm thinking it has something to do with that.

I had a little trouble getting the feedline into the filter because it was at an angle i remember, was binding. so I had to take it off the mount put it in then screw it back to it's mount. When I first startedup after installing the new filter some gas was coming out of the feedline, not much just a trickle but any amount is bad because of fire as you well know. So I tightened it as hard as I could and it seemed to be fine.

My car idles fine, no CEL or any other problems, just smells like gas when it sits idle for a little bit. I went by my haynes manual and the diy's on HT website and this forum. My mechanic told me that the filters suppose to go for the life of the car, and most dealerships wont even change them because it's never the same after being changed. I dunno anyone else have a gas smell after changeing their filter? Or have some insight. It's more of an annoyance than anything else...

 

same thing happens to my car, when driving it doesnt smell, but when i leave it idling it smells like gas inside then when i start driving it goes away.... for me it started sometime after I installed my header/exhaust

 

see I think mine smells like fresh gas not spent gas/exhaust... I can't really tell though.

That could be a bad headgasket or midway gasket, if your header is a two piece. I changed my header gasket a little bit ago and my exhaust still sounds ok so I don't think it's that. But I have gone through two already. The way you can tell is if theres a chared/burnt section where exhaust is escapeing from, and if the sound of your exhaust is gurgly and poppy.

 

My guess is that you still have a small leak at the fuel filter connectors (Obvious, I know!). This leak may be difficult to see. Look for it while the engine is idling. Even so, you may want to replace the washers, clean the flare joint, and torque the gas line bolts to specification.

 

can they be overtightened? I did replace the washers when I replaced the filter it came with them, hopefully I didn't forget one.... don't think so tho. I really don't want to take it all apart again and put itback together.... [X(]

 

yes my header actually is a 2 peice but, it kinda sounds raspy, but then again it sounded raspy when it was completely stock as well.... i changed my oil and cleaned out my fuel injectors... i think that helped somewhat

 

I had a similar problem, and it turned out that my header was cracked right down the middle. I smelled gas every time I stopped at a light. For exhaust, it smelled somewhat sweet. This is easy to check. Just take the two bolts off the heat shield and look at the header.

 

Feel around on the fuel filter and see if it feels 'wet' anywhere. I had the exact same thing a few months ago after replacing mine. The only thing you can try is to tighten it a little more. Mine wasn't cranked down far enough, but the crush washers were already... well... crushed. If you have to pull it back off, put a new one on (with new crush washers, and clean the crap out of the lines and fittings before going back on).

Or just do that anyway - it's not like they're mega-expensive or anything.

 

The bottom connection is a metal on metal flare joint. If it's leaking from the bottom, take the joint apart again and clean the metal surfaces. Then tighten securely with a line wrench and a backup wrench on the filter body.