Hello All,

My Volvo 960 sedan is presenting me with a huge issue. Every time I drive the car and then park in the garage I get a strong smell of gas emanating from it. There have never been any puddles or any other clear signs of gas leaking. I had the car towed to the dealership and they just told me that the gas tank had been overfilled it (I never overfill the gas tank) and that the fuel lines look fine. The car even after a visit to my neighborhood dealer still wreaks of gasoline. Please help! Any points of interest I should start investigating? I don't want to take it back to the dealership if I can help it. Thanks for all your help!

-Smelling of Gas and Stuck in CA

I had the same symptoms. There are two causes for this problem, and I had them both. Which made diagnosis a little more difficult.

The first already has been mentioned here: fuel rails.

The second also has appeared on this forum several times. The hose connecting the fuel filler neck to the gas tank has a tendancy to tear. It's a Y shaped hose, with one leg of the "Y" having a larger diameter to fit the fuel tank opening. The smaller leg of the "Y" is about the size of a heater hose. This is the part that tends to tear because of the stress of the configuration, I think. If your problem is with the hose, then you'll see fuel spills under the rear wheels when you top off the tank. Another way to diagnose this, as I did, was to pump air into the tank and listen for a hiss of leaking air. In that case, you can replace the entire hose, as I did (I think it's about $35 from the dealer, and getting to it was a bear for me). I think I saw in someone's post that they just spliced a new section of the smaller diameter nose onto the existing hose without having to replace the entire hose.

By the way, there is (in the four door sedan) an access hatch on the floor of the trunk near the front of the trunk, under the liner. You can see part of the hose from there. That was a handy access port when I did my pressure test and probed the length of garden hose around listening for the hiss of the leak.

Good luck, and don't mess around with leaking fuel problems!

There has been some discussions that may point to a leaking fuel rail end plug. I resume it could present a fuel smell, but moreover, it could also be very hazardous. As I recall, the plug is located at the end of the rail toward the front of the car. Start up the car and run it for a few seconds and turn it off, Check the rail immediately for any signs of leakage.
--
John Shatzer, '97 V90 @ 92K; 92 965 @ 106K

thanks a lot for the suggestion! unfortunately i didn't find anything wrong with that component....

I had the same problem over the past few weeks. '94 960 w/98K miles I found you could remove the shield on the fuel rail by lifting (easily) the free side and remove it completely to give access to the injectors. You will have to unbolt the diaphragm for the cruise control.... a single 13mm nut.. to completely remove the fuel rail cover. After starting the car, inspect the fuel rail where the injectors connect to it. There may be gasoline leaking around the connection. Shut the engine off and if leaks were detected, dry the gasoline that leaked and remove the electrical connector to the injectors ( be careful not to drop the small rectangular silicone gaskets from the plugs ) and carefully rotate the injectors in place. The injectors are sealed top and bottom with an o-ring that may become a bit tired after the miles and has taken a set. turning the injectors helps to reseat them. While everything is open, use a mirror to check the fuel rail for cracks. Reattach all of the connectors and dry any remaining gas before restarting the engine. Hopefully, this has cured the problem. check again after the engine has cooled to ambient ( I live in Minnesota and ambient can be quite cool ) and again after the engine is completely warm. replace shield and the cruise control diaphragm.

Good luck

Wayne