97 Mercury Villager gas smell

[rick88blaze]

My wife's van is a '97 Mercury Villager. You can smell gas coming through the heater vents mainly when idling or when slowing down after driving it. I can't find any gas leaks on the engine or any of the fuel lines even back by the tank. She did say that when her tank gets below 1/4 the smell goes away but comes back after she fills it up with gas. The smell gets weaker as the fuel level goes down. My next step was going to be changing out the vapor canister for it. But I figured I would ask you guys before spending anymore time and money on it. I have changed and double checked all the rubber fuel lines that I can get to.

Thanks in advance,

Rick

 

[Jason4x4]

when u changed the rubber lines, did you use fuel injection hose? or regular fuel line? I know of no known common problems on that though.

 

[chevyuser74]

is the check engine light on? u might have to get it smoked to find the issue.

 

[rick88blaze]

I used fuel injection line when I changed the hoses.

The check engine light isn't on. I was last year, but that was the TPS. What do you mean "get it smoked"?

 

[chevyuser74]

we got a "fancy machine" at work cost my boss 800.00 basically what it does is fills the entire fuel system with smoke then u use your "special light" that came with the thing and find where u got a leak at, but i would imagine if your leak was in the evap system u should get a check engine light unless u only drive short distances and u dont meet the requirements to turn the code on.

 

[gone huntin]

That van is the same as a Nissan Quest, there was a recall for the fuel filler neck vent hose on some years of those. It's a short rubber hose that runs from the metal tube to the tank, they would get cracks in them. Also check to make sure that your cap is sealing properly.

 

[rick88blaze]

She only drives about 10 to 15 miles in a day and that's in short spurts.

We had the recall on the vent hose fixed about a year after we bought it back in '01 or '02. Didn't think about the cap. But how would that cause the odor problem?

 

[gone huntin]

If the cap is loose then the fumes can get into the interior. I know it doesn't seem possible, but it can. I've fixed several fuel smells just by tightening the cap. The next suggestion is to double check the fuel rail hoses when the engine is cold, especially first thing in the morning. Don't start it, just turn the key on to power up the pump and look for seeps at the ends of the hoses.

 

[rick88blaze]

I'll pick up a new gas cap and try that. I've checked her fuel lines; hard line and rubber lines with the van cold and off, cold and running, warm off and running also.

Rick