Comments on: Cold weather fuel leak

By: erik

erik — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:52:38 +0000

Hmm.. the dealer should know what the problem is by now — this has been an issue for a long time (my WRX is ten years old now.)

That’s a good reminder though — I need to take my Forrester in for that rust recall.

By: DC

DC — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:18:52 +0000

I had my WRX looked at over the years by two dfferent dealers and they could never find anything wrong. The last one took my recall letter issued by Subaru and claimed they checked my car and found nothing wrong. now the gas smell is back in the cold weather and my car is at the dealer for the suspension arms that could rust and break WVX-34 recall and they said my car reeks of gas. I do not think they will fix it even though I asked them to take a look at what could be the issue.

By: erik

erik — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 02:25:43 +0000

Ha! The discolored paint is an interesting sign. I didn’t notice that — I just pulled it all off ;-) Glad to hear that you were able to tighten it without major effort!

By: gk

gk — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:33:03 +0000

Great blog, many thanks for this info. My 2002 has been having fuel smell this winter (in australia). After reading these posts, I went looking for the two fuel lines mentioned and found the leaking hose clamp down in the inlet manifold Vee. It was dripping out of the join at a steady rate of about a drop a second. Luckily it was facing the correct direction to get a long screw drive on with a coat hanger loop supporting tension while tightening. Leak fixed.

Interestingly I noticed another tell-tail sign of the leak. The factory pink marker paint on the screw was discolored to yellow from the fuel washing over it!!! All other clamp screws I could see were still bright pink.

By: James

James — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 06:41:05 +0000

I have a 2005 subaru baja that stinks of gas when I started it this winter during a cold snap, what is to Love about this. First and last one I will buy. I heard the hype and now it smells like gas. I do like the way it drives and looks but come on.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:59:26 +0000

Erik, I will join the chorus and thank you for this post. During very unusually cold weather in Tucson this week my bugeye wrx started the fuel leak trick. While it was at the dealer today I came across your post (and other mentions) and was thus armed to get the fix done under warranty.

By: erik

erik — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:18:47 +0000

Glad it helped! Good luck with the repair!

By: owen

owen — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 06:17:21 +0000

Thankyou so much for this post, my 2002 sti is stinking of petrol, and the weather suddenly dropped to -8C this last two weeks, your post is awesome, I am doubtful of getting any help from subaru, however I am going to change the pipes myself, thankyou again :)

By: erik

erik — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 02:47:34 +0000

You might start with this thread — it sounds promising: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1177511

…sounds like there’s a different place that the normally aspirated engines leak.

The normally aspirated forums are a good place to search if that thread doesn’t help:
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=31

By: Burnett

Burnett — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 00:07:05 +0000

I have the gas leak in my car as well; however, my car is just an impreza and not a WRX so it is not included in the recall. I’m going to plead my case with Subaru on Monday when they open again, but I am curious, what cost am I looking at for it to be fixed if they don’t apply any recall or warranty to my vehicle?

By: Jiri

Jiri — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:02:01 +0000

Thanks Erik for your quick response. It has been several weeks since they did the work and it still smells the same. It would eliminate the burned fluids. The crankcase vent hoses might be a possibility. Although it would be a rare coincidance it also could be a small hole somewhere under the uxhaust pipe shields that showed up at the same time as the repair. I will keep investigating.
Thanks again. Jiri

By: erik

erik — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:03:42 +0000

Yuck. They shouldn’t need to remove any exhaust parts. I remember taking off the intake, intercooler, intake manifold, green brackets of death, crankcase vent hoses… just about everything above the block.

The only thing on that list that carries exhaust-smelling fumes might be the crankcase vent hoses, but they don’t carry much. I suppose a leak at the intake manifold could smell a bit…

Depending on how long it’s been, there’s always the possibility that it’s just a bit of fluid dripped during the install that’s burning off. I pulled some coolant hoses, and coolant can definitely stink when burning off.