Do our cars have one? Is this why my cars smells like a fuel tank?
I was reading on Atkins Rotarys FAQ page and heres what I found...


27. I smell fuel while the engine is running, what is wrong?
The most common problem is a fuel pulsation damper. It has a tendency to
leak and can cause a fire which will get very expensive at this point.
We have the part in stock N350 - 13 - 150 and the price is $152.50 plus shipping.

 

Yes, the -SE has a pulasation dampner. It is on the end of the fuel rail (end closest to the front of the car). You can see it if you look under the upper manifold near where the upper manifold bolts to the lower manifold. When mine went bad you could see fuel dripping out of the screw in the end of the PD at a pretty good rate. It this is the problem, I believe the FC PD will work. Others have replaced the PD with a banjo bolt (much cheaper and will never leak again). There are some threads about it in the 2nd gen section, I believe. Some say that the lack of the PD will cause more wear on the fuel pump and injectors, but from what I have read, people using the banjo bolt have ran for a long time without any adverse effects.

You will want to fix it one way or another if that is the problem. There have been many 2nd and 3rd gens that have caught fire because of this thing.

One thing to also check is the charcoal canister (black cylinder, passenger side of engine bay, two hoses coming out). I know on my car the hoses always come off that thing when I am working on that side of the car. It always smells like gas, because the job of that canister is to collect fuel vapor.

Kent

 

Don't forget the PD at the fuel pump, as well. These 'dampners' are used in pairs so that you are able to dampen the hydraulic effect of a liquid moving in a tube. Under pressure, this liquid (fuel) is pushed with a significant amount of force - if the dampners weren't there on both the pump side and the fuel rail, the injectors would see a widely varying pressure during switchover from low to high pressure pulse.

This pulse occurs when the vacuum from the intake manifold (DEI chamber) signals the Fuel Pressure Regulator to shunt off flow to the return, thereby increasing pressure to the injectors for more flow and a richer mixture. This pulse has the capability to cause injectors to not flow properly, and is why Mazda put 2 PD's in these cars from the factory.

Replacing one with a banjo bolt is not a good solution to the problem. My understanding is that this problem is more prevalent on 2nd and 3rd gen cars than on our SA's and FB's. HTH,