tterz

1980 C3 running not to bad, but when I shut the car off and park it in the garage, a few minutes later it smells like straight up gas in the garage like the carburator is just throwing gas all over the place.

However, visually the bowls are empty, no dripping in bowls and everything appears to be dry. Where is this crazy gas smell coming from??? Need help in diagnosing.

I also have a clear sight glass filter on the main line going into the carb and you can actually see the gas fall back into the line or gas tank. All emissions stuff is gone as well, am I missing something there. Just really smells like bad gas fumes and I cannot seem to figure out why...

HELP!!!!

TTERZ

texasbaehr

Did you remove the charcoal canister too? The gas tank is vented back to the canister. I had the same issue. I plugged the vent line from the gas tank and drilled a few small holes in the gas cap so it could vent. I still get a little smell now but not bad. Those fumes used to be absorbed by the canister then pulled into the carb and burned. If you removed the bundle of vacuum lines then the fumes are venting to atmosphere under the hood. If you plug the vent line from the tank you Must vent the cap or you will pull a vacuum on the tank and starve the pump.

tterz

Where is the charcoal canister located? Is it back near the gas tank? I will need to check that tomorrow and see if there actually still is a canister or not. I plugged the AIR holes on the exhaust manifold also....

Thanks for the lead Texasbaehr, that is some place to start.

TTERZ

texasbaehr

The cannister is under the drivers side front fender under the window washer bottle. You would have had a big bundle of Vac. lines running to it from the carb and air cleaner. If you have not touched it then you may have a cracked hose thats venting the fumes. It's a big black can about the size of a 3 lb coffee can.

75+78 Corvettes

Check all the rubber fuel lines for leaks. pull the passenger side tail lights and shine a flashlight in there and look for leaks where the lines run down the side of the tank to the frame. you may want to drop the tank a few inches too and look at the top of the tank where the fuel sender lines come out too.
they tend to deteriorate over time and need to be replaced. luckily it's cheap but not exactly easy.

Jedi926

Friend of mine had a pin hole leak on top of the tank years ago. Last place he checked too.

iokepakai

Check for fuel percolation.After shutdown wait a few minutes and look down your carb to see if fuel is percolating out of the bowl and down the carb throat.If it is you'll need a heat shield,spacer to help prevent heat soak...For a speadbore carb.[IMG][/IMG]

Belgian1979vette

Today's fuel is bad for rubber lines.

kdf1986

There may be many areas of problems from what you are experiencing. Since this is a gas smell, and the smell can come from various places, you may have to treat each one as a possible source.

I have a 73 that had the same problem when I bought it. After I parked it in the garage the smell would be so bad I had to use a fan to blow it out of the garage.

Several of my rubber hose gas lines had cracks in them. I think it was the ones near the passenger side muffler that connected the gas tank to the stainless steel lines along the frame that was causing the problem.

On a side note, the 1975 I bought had a leak between the fuel pump and the stainless steel lines. This is the "S" shaped hose that connects them. I ended up replacing all of the rubber fuel lines that I could find.

good luck,

kdf

RIJVETTES

Hi, I have an 80 too. Real bad fuel smell a few years ago... turned out to be a leaking fuel pump. Easy fix and cheap. Get under the engine bay and check out yours. Ya gotta follow the fuel line.

I'm Batman

AGE is bad for rubber. The lines on any C3 are probably getting to the "questionable" stage unless they've been replaced.