I'm experiencing ( at startup--mostly morning) a slight gas smell from my 96 960. The Volvo dealership kept over night and couldn't find anything. ( They do acknowledge the smell however) I do not see any leaks but if I raise the hood and start the car there is a distinct yet slight raw gas smell. Any thoughts?

Using your sniffer, open the hood, is the smell strongest more from the far driver's side front? or more towards the middle. As someone else said, the fuel rails do leak, and mostly at first start. The metal will be cooler in the morning when you first start it and you can generally see the leak at the fuel rail if this is the problem. Science class...warm = expansion, cool = contraction. However, gas vapor expands more when warm, making the smell more prevalent warm if the problem is a vacuum leak. The evap canister is on the driver's side very near the rear of the headlight. There are vacuum lines that pull off or loose from various junction areas traveling to the canister.

Hope this helps,
Chris

Thanks for the tip on the fuel smell. I'm going to check my fuel rail as soon as possible. Have been smellig gas fumes for a while now.

Another source of fuel vapors is the filler neck assembly. Had that problem, too. If the smell is more noticable after a fill-up, or if you see a fuel spill under the rear axle when you top off, then suspect the filler tube or hose connecting the tube to the tank. The faq also documents this problem.

Robert

I had the same problem with my 95 960 as well and we thought it was the leaking fuel rail as other people mentioned. It turns out it was a leaking hose on the canister that caused the smell. Less then $100 to fix at the dealer. I have put 20,000km on since that repair and havent smelled any gas.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

I had the same problem with my '94 960. There seems to be a common problem with leaking fuel rails. Mine was intermittent. The only way the dealer diagnosed it was to keep it overnight and see the problem when they started the car cold the next morning. Mine didn't leak when it was hot. Only when the car was cold did the parts contract enough to open the leak.

I replaced the fuel rail and fixed the problem. Check out the faq on leaking fuel rails.

Very important: This is a dangerous condition. Get it fixed IMMEDIATELY!

Good Luck

Robert