Chemical smell after extended high rpm's

I recently had a problem with a strong chemical smell after driving my 99 over 4000rpm for extended times. I thought that the smell was the catalytic converter but i was open to suggestions. William at Track Dog Racing told me that he had experienced a similar problem and he cured it by not topping off the gas tank, ie; don't keep trying to fill up the gas tank after the automatic pump cut off stopped pumping fuel. Being that his solution did not involve spending any money, it actually saves a bit, I tried it. Low and behold, it fixed my issue. I no longer fill my tank past the first filling station pump cut off.
I just thought that would share my results with you all as this forum has been the most helpful to me.

Hmm... maybe ill try that. Lol I just assumed the air freshener smelled bad :P

thanks for the heads up.

By topping off the gas tank you actually force the overfill fuel into vapor control system. Sooner or later you going the ruin the system and looking at $$ repair bill. Never top the fuel with the newer cars.

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Originally Posted by gabkwong

By topping off the gas tank you actually force the overfill fuel into vapor control system. Sooner or later you going the ruin the system and looking at $$ repair bill. Never top the fuel with the newer cars.

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Gabkwong, I beg to differ with you. I have been topping off my 02 Nissan Frontier for the last 440,000 miles and had no vcs failures, nor any other problems pertaining to the fuel system. On my Miata, I have had my above described problem from day one of ownership from topping off the tank.

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Originally Posted by losi b

Gabkwong, I beg to differ with you. I have been topping off my 02 Nissan Frontier for the last 440,000 miles and had no vcs failures, nor any other problems pertaining to the fuel system. On my Miata, I have had my above described problem from day one of ownership from topping off the tank.

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While I agree that Gabe might have overstated the risk a bit, he is basically correct in stating that modern vehicles are designed in a manner that makes topping-off a bad idea. They are also designed with a certain "idiot-proof factor" in mind, which is probably why you've been able to get away with it for so long. While your anecdotal data point is interesting, it is nothing more than a single data point. Your idea of topping-off may not be a severe as someone else's. I have personally seen what Gabe describes from severe topping-off. Also, your mileage makes me think you are not a good example of "typical", since you clearly have driving needs that far exceed the majority of drivers.
Glad you've had such good luck with it, but I am curious as to WHY you feel the need to top off? What does it accomplish, beyond an extra 10-20 miles of range? Is that really a crucial need?

There's days that the extra 20 miles allows me to fill up using the company card rather than my card