When I start my 4runner i smell gas inside coming throught the a/c. But after it warms up its ok or gets going. It only lasts a couple minutes. I find it has been getting worse. Im not leaking any on the ground. What could it be??? I know smelling gas isnt safe so is it serious? Give me your imput. Ohh and just curious what would taking off the exhaust from the catback do? Besides loud!!

 

What year, motor? Most of the time it's the fuel pulsation damper on the fuel rail.

 

I 2nd the notion, just had the same exact symptoms you described. I wasn't leaking any either, and I thought it was a cracked air intake tube (too much air getting into the throttle body so the sensor was adding more fuel to compensate), so I replaced that. Soon after I replaced that, I noticed fuel dripping out underneath my engine. That's when I hit this forum and found the Fuel Pressure (Pulsation) damper issue.

Apparently they go bad often enough, you will probably start to notice (if you haven't yet) a rapid decline in your MPG as well, I did. I went from 17 to 8 MPG, fun!

If your damper is bad, hit up http://www.northridgetoyota.com/ or http://www.Trdparts4u.com both of them offered me a great deal by mentioning this forum. My dealer in town wanted $110, both of them offered me the part for about $80 (Genuine Toyota Parts).

Turns out the screw at the end had broken off causing gas to squirt out. You'll need to take the Plenum off so you'll need a new gasket for that as well.

Here is everything I had to replace (some I chose to replace)

EGR Gaskets ($7)
Plenum Gasket ($5)
Fuel Pressure Damper ($80)
PCV Valve ($3)
PCV Grommet ($2)

I also noticed that my TVV valve was broken, which is a $55 part. There is a post on this forum on how to fix that yourself for 79 cents. I did that, and it worked great. Basically those little plastic prongs bust off when you take the plenum off, it's common on older trucks (plastic gets hot and weak back there).

Good luck, my truck is running better than ever now that I replaced all that. I think I am going to get better MPG on the quarter tank left in my truck than I did on the previous full tank!

 

Thanks for you imput. I just took it to the shop today and it turns out three of the injectors had leaks as well as a fuel line. so it wasnt the fuel damper.