So I bought an FD ('93 Touring), 60K mile, completely stock. Had it shipped to me, it showed up yesterday. I drove it around for an hour or so before I noticed a strong fuel smell. Took it home, looked it over, no obvious leaks (nothing dripping, no flames) but still a strong smell. I parked it for a few hours, then started it up again to pull it into the garage, the fuel smell was back.

So obviously I'm not driving it until I find and fix the problem. I've read about the fuel pulse damper issues on these cars, and figure that's where I'll start. Any other suggestions on likely causes?

thanks,
--Ian

 

Check the charcoal cannister. If you walk around the car and the gas smell seems strongest back by the drivers side rear fender, it's likely your cannister. You can pull it and let it air out for a week or two, or get a new one from Mazda.

 

Likewise if the smell is strongest in the engine bay (turn key on to turn on the fuel pump but don't start it) particularly under the intake manifold it's either the damper or otherwise leaking...loose/failing line etc.

 

Also check around the injectors as the O rings might have perished

 

If it's not just completely stock, but original, a lot of your rubber may be disintegrating. Including your fuel lines, vacuum lines, water lines, intake connectors, electrical insulation, etc.

 

Mine is doing the same too.

 

Kind of a late update, but...

So that weekend I had basically no time to look at it, had family in town for the hockey games. With no more time available in the week after it and needing to get it smogged & registered, I decided to take it the local FD expert to look at. They looked all over, found neither a fuel leak nor evidence of a past leak. They did find that the oil had a ton of fuel in it, presumably from the car having spent a couple years never getting driven enough to boil it off. So I changed the oil, drove it a bunch, refilled it with CA gas instead of NC gas, and now the smell is gone. Bizarre, but whatever.

Last weekend I recharged the AC and replaced the 7-years-old-but-almost-no-wear all season tires with some RE-71Rs on new wheels. Today I pulled off the rusted-through factory muffler and replaced it with a Racing Beat cat-back. I still need to find the loose wire in the audio system and the 25-year-old shocks are probably want to be replaced as well although I haven't quite figured out I want to put on instead yet.

thanks,
--Ian