1989 2.9 reeks of gas

Zachalanche · Sep 2, 2015

I recently noticed the smell of fuel entering my cab while driving. it tends to show up at stoplights after the vehicle is warmed up. I do not see or smell any signs of fuel near the tank or along the vent line. Also The EVAP canister does not smell like it has been fuel saturated. What I have noticed is that immediately after driving when I exit the vehicle there is a strong gas smell coming from the engine compartment, and the oil smells a little like gas I think. this has me wondering if the fuel pressure regulator is to blame, but there is no gas coming out of the vacuum side of the regulator, and the truck runs well and starts easy with no indication that there could be a fuel pressure issue.

any ideas?

thanks in advance for your help.

RonD · Sep 2, 2015

Return line or Filler/vent tube is where I would look.

Also, when engine is cold, pop the hood.
Turn key on and count to 3 then turn it off
Repeat this 3 or 4 times
Fuel pump will run for 2 seconds each time key is turned on, this will build up 35-40psi in the system.

Now go and check for fuel leaking at injectors or at the rail and hoses.

And if no fuel is found, unplug coil and crank engine, you want a no start but do want injectors to be opening, then check for fuel again.

If there is a leak at the rail then fuel will evaporate fairly fast on warm engine, which will give you that smell but would also make the leak hard to find since fuel is gone after engine cools off

Zachalanche · Sep 2, 2015

Hmmm. quite helpful.
that definitely produced a puddle of gas. I guess I need to get some O-rings, and inspect the fuel rail while I'm at it

Zachalanche · Sep 8, 2015

thought I'd close the loop on this one.

The fuel rail is not easy to remove or reinstall. upon disassembly all O-rings appeared to be in good condition, although the fuel rail did show signs that it had been leaking past the injector o-ring on cyl 6. since a set of O-rings was only $4 I figured I replace them after going to the trouble of pulling all the injectors out. I still felt like the smoking gun wasn't smokey enough until I tried to reinstall the fuel rail and found that the bolt hole at the back of the manifold was completely stripped. It didn't even make an attempt to tighten as I turned it. I can only imagine it was not providing proper hold down for the fuel rail resulting in a leak at the injectors near the bolt.

I feared the worst as the location of the bolt hole would not be easy to drill and heli-coil. I installed a bolt that was roughly 1/4" longer and lucky for me there were enough threads at the bottom of the hole to provide adequate clamping force. I have been driving the truck for a few days now, and no more fuel smell.

Zachalanche · Sep 10, 2015

Nevermind, problem back with a vengeance. this time pouring gas onto the ground. looks like 2 of the injectors are leaking near the bottom injector o ring. just curious has anyone seen this type of injector failure before?

Nitrider73 · Sep 17, 2015

not sure if it matters or not but I think you're supposed to oil the o rings before installation. I'm not sure if that helps with fuel or not but that's what I've always been told.

1989 2.9 reeks of gas

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