well my car aquired a fuel smell after pulling on domestics all night only right after acceleration. Its only really prevalent on the passenger side as my friend said he could really smell it after pretty heavy/heavy acceration. Is there anywhere I should specifically look at tomorrow. I am assuming its perhaps something with one of the fuel lines but not sure of their entire course of the fuel system. Any input would be appreciated

take care
Ryan

 

the fuel lines are on the drivers side, maybe your injectors? i Really cant say for sure tho.

 

Do a search on fuel pulsation dampner. There are many posts on this topic, it's a very common problem. Most likely culprits are the Fuel Pulsation Dampner, or leaky primary injectors. Some people have had a bad aluminum check valve, or a defective fuel pressure regulator. I would check those in that order. To get access to these parts you have to remove your upper intake manifold, and your solenoid rack. Do a further search, and post any questions or findings you have.

eric

 

Mine had this exact problem, it was the inlet manifold gasket. There are probably several gaskets on the inlet but this was the one between the manifold and the engine. This would unfortunately be the hardest one to change. Apparently it was a big problem and mazda upgraded it to a metal gasket. However, this is on the driver's side but it might still be the problem as most of the intake is on the driver's side.

 

hapa is probably right, fuel pulsation damper.

MikeC, Mazda changed several intake manifold gaskets to metal from paper. The only one that would allow a fuel smell to leak out would be the lower intake manifold gasket on the PASSENGER side of the motor. It is the most difficult one to change, the turbos have to come off first.

If the smell is really heavy I'd probably put my $$ on the pulsation damper. List price is about $150.

Whatever you do, DON'T DRIVE THE CAR. I've fixed two engine burn cars from this failure. It isn't IF it will catch fire it is WHEN.

Jeff

 

That depends what country you come from, over here it's the driver's side

The lower gasket is the one I was refering to.

 

alright thanks guys, bumpin this biatch......

 

DOH! I didn't notice you were from down under.

Cool.

Jeff

 

I had a fuel smell only under hard acceleration, and it also turned out to be a blown paper lower intake gasket.

 

hummm thats more assuring. My one friend said my car has been doing this since May when I bought it and he figured since I said my ECU is tuned to run rich that it was normal.

 

sounds like the dampner...I just replaced mine.

 

replaced FP damper, cleaned and balenced injectors, checked fuel rails, etc...

my problem turned out to be a bad FPR.

 

ok my car is gonna be down for the winter at the end of October. So can I still drive it for the remaining weekends safely?

 

If I were you, I wouldn't drive it with a fuel smell. If it turns out to be a blown gasket, then it should be ok (i.e. it won't catch on fire), but it could still be a leaking FPD or something like that. These cars have so many engine fires that I wouldn't risk it.

By the way, when my lower intake gasket was blown, my idle was all messed up because I had a massive vacuum leak. I could not get it to idle below 2000 rpm. Are you having any problems like this?

There are other things that can cause fuel smells on hard acceleration or boost too. I remember reading several threads about it a while ago... let me see if I can dig them up.

 

Here you go. Lots of good info in here.
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...as+smell+boost

 

YES...thats what happened when AIM first turned my car on. They were having trouble getting the idle down from that, ended up going down to normal though. But no boost leak, also had silicone hoses put in there. Seems like what you said in that thread you gave me the link to.
thanks man I appreciate the help.

 

can anyone give me some info or a diagram on how to change the fuel pulsation damper.

 

my bad double post......

 

Do a search, the info's out there and has been talked about several times.

Real quick, though, you have to take off the UIM, and fuel lines. I *think* you also have to take off the rat's nest and the air control valve, and lot of other little things along the way. Its a big pain in the ***, but it's more labor intensive than complicated. I changed mine when I did my vac hose job, so I don't remember everything that has to come off. If you haven't done the hose job yet, now would be a good time.

 

the easiest way to do it if you are NOT sure is to run dye through the fuel system. use a black light to see the dye and you will know where the leak is coming from.

in my case it was two things...one leaky injector...two leaky injector housing (wasnt sealing properly).

my fpd was aok and just fine.


good luck...dont just start turning bolts hoping to catch it...get the dye and be sure about it.

j

 

I have the same problem with the fuel smell. It smells strong when the car sits, but not bad when the car's running. AIM Tuning couldn't reproduce the problem, but interestingly the car wreaks of fuel smell when it sits in my garage...

I'm going to need a new motor soon...so I'm thinking of waiting the new motor out...In the meantime, I'll carry a fire extinguisher in the car until the motor arrives for the swap...

 

well I dunno what the deal is but my car isn't doing that anymore. Seemed as though it was only doing it the weekend I got my car back after sitting for around 3 months. Last weekend I rode in the passenger side and I couldn't smell any fuel even after strong acceleration.
hey Sleepr1 tell Shane and the guys Ryan from Detriot said whats up and thanks for everything next time you are there.

 

Going there today to drop off car for a motor swap. I figure he can take care of the other fuel-related stuff when the motor's out...

 

Has anyone though of the charcoal canister as a possible culprit? A three month sit time would be nice and long for fuel vapors to build up in the canister, and evacuating these would be difficult. If the vapors build up too much, or the filter is so old it cannot retain vaporzed fuel, it will start to let the vapors out the bottom of the canister (that's what the hose on the bottom is for). Might this be 'yalls problem?

 

I hope it's that simple!!!