Gas leak in cold weather

[avryco]

it seems like my car has a gas leak when it gets below 20 degrees. Given that i live in colorado, this happens a lot. When i start the car i can smell some gas outside the vehicle. When i turn on the air/defrost i get a strong gas smell through the vents for about 10-15min. what is this?

[Grafton]

this sounds similar the the thing that was happening to the wrx's

if I wasn't posting from my phone i'd link to the nasioc thread...

but if it is going away or your not loosing insane amounts of gas then is probley not the same issue,

can you see gas anywhere pooling on the motor or leaking from the inj/fuel rails/rubber hoses

anyone else have any ideas

[avryco]

i'm gettin like 19-22 mpg in cold weather and usually get around 27 regularly so not a ton of gas. A friend said tighten hose clamps???

[avryco]

any other ideas. how much would it cost to replace the lines?

[LegacyRob]

I have this same problem. Girlfriend will not get in my car if it's cold out cuz of the gas smell. My mileage has dropped considerably as well.

[Huffer]

any other ideas. how much would it cost to replace the lines?

Given that the rubber fuel lines that clamp to the filter(s) are IN the tank, I don't think you can tighten those.

Cars, esp. Subarus, tend to run rich on cold days anyway. If you have a bigger than stock exhaust you're going to notice it more.

[jey]

Cars run really rich especially when it's cold so the fuel smell is normal. Significant amounts shouldn't be going into the cabin though. Check for an exhaust leak.

You can also look in the engine bay when the car is running to see if fuel is leaking out of any of the rubber fuel lines.

[Navi271]

Hey, just reviving this old thread. I think I have a similar problem, but I think it's just a straight up gas leak, it's not really cold yet (40-60 degrees). I can smell it outside the car, definitely coming from in the engine bay. In this general area:

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr277/Navi271/IMG_0994.jpg

If I stick my nose right near the MAF sensor on the intake I can really smell it. I've never dealt with fuel systems, but is there anything else around fuel related there except for the right side fuel rails??

Just looking at it with the car not running I see nothing wrong, just smells like gas. The smell goes away pretty fast once the car is moving. I also smell it just for a second if I turn on my heater and the car is running stationary. I also got about 5mpg lower than usual on the last fillup. After searching this thread it looks like I'm going to look at everything while the car is running to make sure I see nothing obviously leaking. If anyone else has any bright ideas let me know! Otherwise I'll just be posting the verdict to help out anyone else that has this problem in the future.

[daddywagon]

i think the problems on the wrxs were under the intake mani. some people were able to reach them without removing the mani. some werent.

[Kiwi GT]

Yup, clamps loosening off under the manifold. Real common on the gen 3 JDM twin turbos, but all can suffer from it.

[Navi271]

Ok thanks! I'll try to check it out today, not sure if I'll have time tho.

[Navi271]

Well I didn't see anything... except that there is some residue on the return black hose part going from heater hose connector to the intake manifold. (not pictured in the previous pic) It's for my oil catch can. It smells EXACTLY the same, it's more of an oily/gassy smell. I guess the best way to describe it is it's smells just like an engine that has just been taken apart.

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2010/09/IMG_1051-1.jpg

In the pic, it's the black hose part that is going into the manifold right behind the spark plug wires. It's even a little shiney in this pic, like there's some stuff on it already. Tried taking all apart and putting everything back together again, the hoses go OVER the intake now so it doesn't bend down like in the pic. But the residue is very persistent... Mileage is looking good so far. I might have just had bad mpg's because I was driving like an idiot.

[Kiwi GT]

The manifold needs to come off to see and/or fix it.