i was left feeling a little confused after reading this thread. was this problem solved? if so how? seems like different things worked for different ppl for different amounts of time and it kinda died off at that. well i have the smell, its raw gas. first of all i am not a mechanic. i loath working on vehicles and learning anything about them but im making an exception for now. that fat pcv valve that connects under the hood appeared to be the solution according to this thread, for some, i think.... anyway thats the one carrying "bypass air"? oil, gas, water, crap, well mine looked solid and i have a hard time believing there was anything but raw gas that i have been smelling.
So vehicles capture fuel vapors and burn them up thru an evaporative emissions system. i knew they did this for larger things like tankers and well just about anything that stores fuel regardless of stage or size and it makes sense now they do it in vehicles so thats where im looking. im not done yet but ive scoured every mm2 of the hoses under the hood and this is the only flaw i can find. this is the inside of the 90deg conn just under the cowl. looks like an obvious deformity but this pic is under a microscope so in reality its not so obvious. dont know or care how it happened. i don't know where the line it attaches to goes. i do know there is a check valve just before it and and air flows into the evap hose not out from this conn. the seal looks just bad enough to let a mouse fart of gas by but if its getting sucked into the cab via the cowl(another flaw) then thats all it takes to stink up the cab. i just wanted anyone about to change the fuel vapor hose out to look here first, the easy one, before they completely dismantle the entire front end of their vehicle to reach the clip down low behind the fender.
