Strong gasoline smell in garage after filling with gas.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 140
Likes: 3
From: Warrington, Pennsylvania
Strong gasoline smell in garage after filling with gas.
The last two times I tanked up my ‘01 ‘vert, I drove a few miles to home and parked it in my garage. On the two following mornings, the garage reeked with the smell of gasoline. After driving it enough to burn off some gas, the odor was gone. There never was any odor inside the car. I was careful not to overfill the tank, allowing the auto-shutoff of the pumps to know when to stop.
There are no visible leaks in the fuel system, and even when the garage smelled its worst, I couldn’t detect any gasoline odor in the engine compartment. Suspecting that I could have a problem with the EVAP system, I pulled the trouble codes on the DIC. Nothing showed up.
I don’t particularly want to jump right into replacing the charcoal canister, before ruling out other components of the EVAP system. Could a defective purge solenoid valve be the culprit? The car starts easily, runs strong, and idles smoothly. I’d appreciate responses from others who may have experienced this condition. Thanks in advance!
There are no visible leaks in the fuel system, and even when the garage smelled its worst, I couldn’t detect any gasoline odor in the engine compartment. Suspecting that I could have a problem with the EVAP system, I pulled the trouble codes on the DIC. Nothing showed up.
I don’t particularly want to jump right into replacing the charcoal canister, before ruling out other components of the EVAP system. Could a defective purge solenoid valve be the culprit? The car starts easily, runs strong, and idles smoothly. I’d appreciate responses from others who may have experienced this condition. Thanks in advance!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 3,135
Likes: 802
From: Espanola New Mexico
Many corvette owners never fill their cars until the auto shut off occurs because of the very same problem you are experiencing. The c5 has cross over pipes from one tank to the other and you may have a small leak that only occurs when the gas tanks are filled to much.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 140
Likes: 3
From: Warrington, Pennsylvania
Thanks to all for your insights and advice. I was hoping to find a silver bullet to permanently resolve the issue but, by the consensus, it seems to be a common and inherent problem with the design. Rather than “topping off”, I’ll try to judge how much fuel to add from now on to keep it below max. Thanks to everyone for chiming in!
