Gas smell, i've had it with this gremlin

[Jiggerachi]

It went away after that post for 3 or more years. I chalked it up to funky gas. That smell was coming out of the exhaust anyway. Wether it was the same root cause or not, it came back with a vengance last summer then promptly went away again. Now it's back again and now and I need to fix it for the kid.

Another note, if you must know, is previously it only happened on very hot days when I get stuck in traffic, now a days I hardly ever get stuck in traffic since I take back roads to work and only use the Element if i'm taking the new family somewhere. I've been stuck in bad bad trafic only a handful of times in the miata in recent years, so if there was a problem I never smelled it, or smelled it rarely enough to not care all that much.

Pretty soon, though, my wife will be commuting all 5 days again so when I get a roll bar i'll take half of the kid carting duty, which includes sitting in an hour + of traffic...in the hot hot summer. Which is surely going to have me and the kid high as a kite on gas fumes 3 days a week. So previously it was an annoyance that crept up very rarely, now it's a big problem.

So yea lazy in the sense that when it crept up for a day or two I didn't get to it. Then it came back years later.

Explain it better, ya

[POS Racing]

Here is a thought - clean the valve out and report back your findings.

Or just keep posting every few years it is your choice!

[Jiggerachi]

I want my flywheel back.

[onething]

Jiggerachi, I thought everyone knew that if POS gives you money for anything, he thinks he owns you

[Jiggerachi]

Didn't even give me anything for it...

Took off work early, just yanked the valve in question. A little gas dripped out of it.

[Jiggerachi]

Finally got the rusty screws out of the rusty plates. I hit them with PB Blaster and then had to dremel slots in them to use a flat head screwdriver. Halfway in I realized I was lucky I didn't start a fire(heat+sparks+ petroleum product) Pulled the valve and it seemed to be working normally, both one way valves were still only flowing one way(although the one with the arrow was flowing opposite the arrow ) I hosed it out with seafoam anyway.

Assembled everything and moved to the charcoal can. Pulled it and BINGO the hose connecting under the can was split wide open. I guess that's probably the problem.

Anyone who has pulled the can have the hoses still laying around? I might be able to get it from the dealer, I didn't see it on Rosenthol's site.

[sammm]

Is it regular fuel line hose? Cheap at your local Vatozone.

[Jiggerachi]

I'm not sure. It's a pre formed piece with an elbow. Fuel line might work, but the OEM piece will probably be better. I might grab a cheap hose and see if it kinks or not.

[Rob®]

This is what I have left of my charcoal can stuff:




If any of it looks like what you need, it's all in good shape - no tears or splits, but not as pliable as brand new rubber. It's all from a 1990, but only has about 40k miles on it.

[Jiggerachi]

Looks a little different, but that hose at the bottom looks the same (I think. Should have grabbed a pic). Either way the hose with the elbow i'm sure I can make it fit better than generic hose that would possibly kink.

Wait...which is the top, the side with the gray metal lip? On the 94+ the two smaller hoses are at the top and the nipple for the drain hose is straight down, thus the elbow. Looks like the diameters are close to the same. Might work.

Actually let me run by a vatozone tonight and see if I can get something to work. I'll let you know if I can't.

[Rob®]

The top is the end with the two hoses (silver and the black). The single bottom hose is just a rubber hose, nothing special. The one on this 1.6 can could very easily be a generic fuel-safe hose, I would imagine the 1.8 can would be the same (like I said, I've only pulled them so I never took note of anything like that). I'm sure you could gently tweak the bottom nipple a bit to straighten a generic hose too, but of course try at your own risk.

[Jiggerachi]

I think the can is plastic on the 1.8, including the nipples. I ran out of time and was in a hurry by that point yesterday so I didn't take as close of a look as I should have though. I might be able to make a longer hose maybe hang down and make the bend. I'll get a generic hose and play with it more tonight.

BTW nice job on the title, whoever changed it, haha.

[Jiggerachi]

Got some gas line from O'Reiley's that I was able to massage in place without crimping. Drove it home and left it running for a half hour. Son of a... gas smell. Nothing's changed. Now i'm stumped...

When I get another free day, maybe sunday i'm going to pull all the lines attaching to the charcoal can and inspect them, but not sure i'll come up with anything.

[Jiggerachi]

Two fill ups without topping off, still have the problem.

I read that the hose that was originally split is just an overflow hose that runs under the car and vents to the atmosphere. That would explain why I still smell gas after replacing it, just slightly less. As an experiment when I got home today I pulled the can, pulled the drain hose, hit the ac and waited for the stank. Sure enough 10 mins with the AC on was enough and i was able to confirm 100% that the gas smell is coming out of the pressure relief hose at the bottom of the can. I could hold my thumb over it and it would slowly build pressure and pssssshhhh when I let it go.

Opened the gas cap and lots of pressure was released. I seem to have some sort of pressure buildup in the tank, instead of a leaky injector or something on the fuel rail ($$$).


I'm almost positive now that my spuddering idle problem is related. I park with gas smell, then crank an hour later the engine will consistently spudder / miss for about 30 secs. Seems like the excess pressure being vented leaves a negative pressure in the tank after it cools. Next time this happens i'm going to open the gas cap and i'm betting it will straighten out.

So, what could cause a vapor pressure buildup, maybe this is normal and Miatas just aren't good at filtering it...any ideas? I'm going to go pick up a new gas cap just for good measure.