PAhydrohead

Winter has arrived in western Pennsylvania and once again when I fire up the 3.slow I can smell raw gas inside the truck while it is warming up. Smell pretty much goes away once the engine has come up to temp. I'm figuring the heat seals up whatever is leaking when it is cold.

I have looked under the hood and I can't see any fuel leaks and I can't locate the souce of the fumes .

Same thing happened last winter but I ignored it. Smell goes away once it warms up outside.

Anybody else have this problem and solved it.

Gas mileage seems to get worse in the winter too!

Bill

nunsa

Greetings and Happy Holidays,
There's a few things that I'd check, one being your cold start injector and cold start time switch and also your purge canister. The cold start injector acts like a choke does on a carbed engine, thus enriching the system so to speak! How's your idle on 1st start up, if it's real high like above 1500 then it could be your CSI. I'd definely check your CSI & CSTS!
Good Luck!

PAhydrohead

Idle is right around 1,500 maybe a bit higher on 1st startup and then it kicks down to 1,100 or so once it warms up. I adjusted the idle screw in the past to set the idle correctly but it seems to creep back up slowly over time. The air intake for the heater is under the hood right? So if I'm getting gasoline vapors in the cabin, there must be a leak somewhere. If you overenriched the system wouldn't that just put unburned gas out the tailpipe (oops that's not gonna make the cat very happy) and not into the cab?

PAhydrohead

More info,

I just moved the Runner into the garage for the night. Idle is just over 1,500 at 1st startup. After I got it into the garage shut off the truck and popped the hood, I can hear an intermittent short hiss sound every 15 seconds. This sound is like something dripping on a hot exhaust and immediatly burning off, but, I can't see anything dripping onto the headers. After a minute the short hiss stops.

Cebby

Bill - do you still get the smell inside the cab if you have the HVAC set to recirc?

DarylD

My guess is the fuel dampener is leaking . Pretty common on these engines .

Flamedx4

The cabin air intake isn't in the engine compt (that would be very bad.) It's what the grills in front of the windshield are for. If the gaskets around the hood are good very little of what's under the hood will get into the cab. The recirc question is a good one.

But, the girlfriend had the same sort of problem on her car. Turned out to be the fuel pump *at the tank* - under the car behind the rear axle! Amazing for the fuel smell to get into the car. But it did. Look everywhere.

PAhydrohead

I'll try that next time I do a cold start and let you know.

PAhydrohead

Where the fuel dampener is located? I have a full shop manual so I should be able to find it but Toyota may call it something else.

Thanks

PAhydrohead

[QUOTE=Flamedx4]The cabin air intake isn't in the engine compt (that would be very bad.) It's what the grills in front of the windshield are for.

Yea, that was pretty stupid on my part. I should have known its a 'fresh air intake" but I was thinking gasoline = engine compartment. Now, I'll have to check everywhere.

JEDI87

Mine was doing the same thing and it was the fuel dampener and leaking injector seals.The dampener is under the plenum.

4Hummer

Mine was did the same thing and it ended up being a bad fuel filter !

I dont know what the chances of that happening again. But its worth replacing anyway

PAhydrohead

Is the plenum is the large cast aluminum piece that has 3.0 V6 plate on top of it?

Is the dampener something that can be adjusted or is it a replace it item like a faulty EGR valve?

Can you get to the dampener without removing the plenum, my guess is h*ll no based on the way things are jammed in the engine compartment.

I was also thinking a possible leaky injector seal b/c once the engine warms up, the fumes go away, and this only happens in the winter. Now how hard would it be to pinpoint which injectors were leaking are which were not

JEDI87

Yes,that is the plenum.I don't think you can get to the dampener without removing it the plenum but I'm not sure.I had mine done because I didn't want the headache.It will have to be replaced if it's leaking.I think the part is 50-75 bucks.Mine leaked all the time but never dripped.The cabin filled with fumes at idle and while driving.With mine the number 1 seal was leaking so you could see it under the plenum.While in there they found 3 that were leaking so I just did them all.

farmerj

when I got in my 4runner (an 88 with a 22REC) for the first time in Sept 04, I noticed a REALLY BAD gas smell and it drive me batty. Had a real bad issue with power as well.

Long story short, It was the fuel dampner. I was albe to get a new one located and to me. It came with new copper crush washers. Replaced the whole assembly and it worked great....for about 2 monthes when it started to leak agian, I was not about to spend another $100 for this part. Out comes the 15/16" wrench again and this thing gets tightend up again. It is now a part of the monthly checks I do on this truck as I am tinkering with it.

I use a SAE wrench on this metric part because it give just enough of a slop to be able to get onto the part to tighten it up.

DarylD

The fuel dampner is located passenger side fuel rail on the back side . You will need to remove the plenum too access it . You can touch it with your finger tips and smell or feel for gas to confirm its leaking . Daryl

Flamedx4

Don't worry, when you run out of gas it will stop smelling...

PAhydrohead

Ha, ha. Almost happened three days ago, had just enough fumes to get up the last hill to the gas station coughing and sputtering the last 50 feet. Not a good thing to do with the EFI so I have heard.

FROZEN4RUNNER

I also have a strong gas smell....but even when the truck is not running. It only smells on the outside, but I have checked several times and there are no leaks at all. Are there vent tubes or return lines that cause problems like this?