I smell gas.
 

No, this has nothing to do with flatulence.

I have been recently working on the car and have had the battery disconnected. I have been attaching and removing the neg lead to the neg terminal pretty often over the last few days, particularly to check and see what I am doing is working (gauges and such.) Each time I reattach the battery and turn the car to "ON," I have noticed a pretty strong odor of gasoline. As you know, the fuel pump primes when ever you turn the car to the ON position.

As a matter of diagnosis for a fuel leak, I could check the fuel pressure by turning the car to ON (not to ignition) and then watch to see how stable the fuel pressure is. Currently, I dont have my fuel pressure sender in-line because the fittings in that line are not 100% and have the tendency to a little at random times, but when I did have it in line, and those fittings were NOT leaking, my fuel pressure would prime and would stay at 50 or so PSI for a good long while (15minutes.) That doesnt really tell me what is going on now...

The odor that I smell, funnily enough, is not coming from the engine bay (I have done extensive sniffing around the injector area, an area that I have accessed recently and often, and also around the drivers side of the UIM where the fuel line comes up.) I have also done extensive sniffing around the fuel pump. I have a mazsport unit in there so I have accessed the fuel tank in the past (thus could be a potential area for a leak. I do not smell a strong odor there (slight.)

The place where I smell the gas is from under the car, right in the center of the car. I have gotten under there and have tried to isolate where the smell is coming from, but no luck.

I recently hit a deer carcass and a hoof or bone did some slight damage to one of the rear crossmembers. This is near the fuel tank, but I dont see any major damage to the tank or lines.

I will say that I have gotten a code recently saying that my tank will not pressurize. This code has not returned over the last few ignition cycles. I have also noticed that my gas cap seems...uh... odd. It might not be seating properly. The car was recently painted and the painter pulled some of the plastic off around the cap and reinstalled it.

I also dont think that I smell anything when I leave the battery connected and simply prime the pump. I think that I only smell it when I turn the car on after reconnecting the battery. Not sure about this.

Given the recent post about a burned out RX8, I am a little nervous. Add to that that I made the mistake recently in totaling all the $ that I have put into the car (for an insurance policy) and now I am nearly so nervous not to drive it!

So could this be due to the EVAP system venting gas fumes? I dont think it is my fuel line connectors as I have checked them. No puddles. Just a pretty strong smell.

Constructive thoughts on this are appreciated.

bumpage

When you went under the car was the ignition on so the pump was primed ?

I'm leaning towards the dear carcass hitting the fuel line - is there a way to prize it out of its clips so you can see it better ?

Yea have it towed to shop. This is engine 1 right? There is an interconnection hose that likes to leak once it's been re-installed (fuel rail interconnect). Your fuel system needs a complete end to end inspection.

Yes, I left the car on (line under pressure; no ignition.) and went from end to end looking for a leak or smell. Touched or sniffed 90% of the fuel lines (mostly smelled like rotten meat. Ugh.) The only place I did not visually inspect the fuel lines was where the lines go up under the rear seat (but I did look with a flashlight and also at the top of the fuel tank.) I visually looked at every connection while under pressure (except for the primary rail connection. That is buried and I have not disconnected that rail.)

However, the deer carcass did, indeed, come into contact with the fuel lines as one of the white clips near the middle crossmember was unclipped. Again, I did not see any visable damage. There is a dent in the metal cover under the fuel tank, but I dont think that was from the deer. I will check that area again.

I dont really do shops. I do agree that I need to replace the line that runs to the secondary/P2 rail. I have had that off several times.

I would be really happy if I could see an overt leak. When the car is actually running, I dont smell any gas. (Just exhaust.) when I shut it off, again, I dont smell any gas.

I am driving around with my garage fire extinguisher.

i re-read you first post just now and im leaning toward evap system leak. usually that would return a code for the test failure but you did get that one about the tank not pressurizing and you have the .. uhh.. odd.. gas cap.

How could I confirm an evap system leak?

So, I am absolutely sure that I do NOT smell gas if, after I turn the car off, I leave the battery connected and turn the car back to on (after waiting a period of time.) It seems that I smell the fumes only after I reattach the battery and turn the car to on.

What the hell is going on?

turning the car off then on wont run the evap test. you have to have a drive cycle then turn it off for it to run the test. perhaps disconnecting the battery forces it to run the test. then you get that pressure leak on the tank

That is what I am thinking but more. I think it must only check the evap every third or fourth drive cycle. And it must start counting when you reconnect the batt.

I still dont have a clue how to test this tho.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1276275749

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1276275749

Thank you! So this dumps to the atmosphere? Where is that evaporative chamber located?

I can NOT find this page in my manual. Stupid unsearchable secured file.