2001 3.3L Town&Country gas smell

[Barkleymut]

Our van has an odd problem. While stopped at a stoplight I can smell gasoline inside the van. It is not overpowering at all. Visual inspection of all gas lines that I can see (under the car) are fine. No leaks of any kind. Here is the weird part...you cannot smell gas with the engine idling while outside the car or even with the hood up and the engine on. My wife who drives this car daily starting complaining about it a couple of months ago and I dismissed it thinking that a car in front of her had a leaky gas line. But recently I have smelled it at least twice while driving. Again this only really happens while stopped and the AC on. Where should I begin to look for a cracked line? How could this smell be getting into the vent system?

 

[MrCritical]

If anyone that fuels the van regularly keeps pumping after the auto shutoff kicks, the charcoal canister under the hood is getting fuel in it. A line from the fuel tank to the canister allows fuel from the tank to go in the canister when the tank is overfilled (I think).

 

[Chris Meutsch]

I had this thing happen to me also. The cause? Exhaust/oil smell from the head because I left my oil cap off when topping up once.

 

[Barkleymut]

Both the oil cap and gas cap are on tight. We never overfill the gas.

And other ideas?

 

[Xlr8r1]

I had this problem once on my car and it was the Fuel Pressure Regulator being faulty. Not sure this is your problem, but worth a check...

 

[Barkleymut]

Any idea on how to check a Fuel Pressure Regulator? is it hard to replace?

 

[Barkleymut]

Also the mileage has not suffered during this time. Just looked at rockauto and the pressure regulator is over $120...ouch

 

[SteveSRT8]

Please note this is not the fuel pressure regulator.

Check for evap codes, your problem most likely lies in the evaporative emission control system. Canister full, leaky lines, etc.

 

[Smokefan1977]

During your visiual did you check the Injector Orings?

 

[Xlr8r1]

Why can this not be his problem?

 

[AandPDan]

About 10 years ago there was a recall or TSB for leaky injector o-rings on the 3.3. You might want to check with the dealer and see if it applies to your vehicle.

 

[Smokefan1977]

The Oring have been a known problem for years. Infact from 99 to roughly 2002 I think all Chrysler product including jeep and dodge had Oring issues. I would look hard at the orings. Remember how quickly gas evaporates. It maybe hard to find this leak.

A leaking injector leaking fuel into the manifold is very common also

 

[Smokefan1977]

Have you noticed an extended crank after the smell. You could run a fuel pressure leakdown test to diagnose this. If an injector is leaking into the manifold it will cause a rich condition and an extended crank to start along with the smell of gas on shutdown

 

[Spazdog]

Some of the earlier 3.3s had some problems with fuel rail leakage.

A blight on an otherwise durable motor.

There was a recall on some Caravans but I'm pretty certain that was models prior to model year 2000.

 

[Barkleymut]

It has been a little harder to start lately. I'm going to take it to the dealer to see if I can get this fixed for free.

Thanks,

 

[stenerson]

This happened to wife's 2000 3.3L Caravan recently. It was a rusted gas filler tube. No obvious leaking, it just would slowly seep and cover the tubing but the smell was obvious.

 

[meep]

check o-rings first. very hard to find since it evaps so fast. easiest to find by starting engine cold to build pressure then shut it down and look/sniff.

M

 

[Smokefan1977]

Any update on this one?

 

[toyowner]

I have a 98 Plymoth Grand Voyager 3.0 L and I also smelled gas occasionally. It usually happened when the engine was warm and idling at a traffic light. I soon discovered a loose fuel line fitting where the rubber line attaches to the fuel rail. I took off the old clamp and added a worm clamp and that fixed the problem.