rnln

Starting this morning, I smelled strong gas smell while driving slow in traffic. I then speed up a bit, the smell gone. I thought that the smell is from the big fuel truck.
When I got the place, I walked around to smell the car. I finally I found the smell comes from the engine bay. No evident of gas leak.
When I drove home, no smell while driving. Probably because there was no traffic jam. When I got home, first thing I did was open the lid and stick my head in there. The smell was strong, but no evident of leak at all, I did look around.
Anyone has gas leak in the engine bay before? Please give me a hint on the spot(s) to pay attention to.
Thank you.
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88 911 wide body

mo_gearhead

You need to list the year of your car. That can give responders more info. about what/where to look in assisting you.

Peter Zimmermann

rnln: If your car is a 3.2 liter Carrera, check page 102 of the 8th edition of my book...

Marty916

A knowledgeable mechanic told me to watch the fuel lines on top of the motor('87 Carrera). I replaced mine just to be sure. It's high pressure and the lines can start leaking over time. Your leak may be small enough that the fuel is evaporating due to the ambient engine heat before it has time to puddle but leaves that telltale smell floating about. You might have a look with the engine running and check for any leakage. You might have an extinguisher handy when you do this just in case.....

3.2SLANTNOSE

Get a flashlight, and after you smell the gasoline odor again, turn off the engine, and get to where you can see every one of the fuel injectors. I have found that many, many times, the fuel odor is coming from around one or more of the fuel injector O-rings. It happens quite a lot on an engine with some age on it. Look really close, and really soon after you kill it, because it will dry quickly on the surface. But look at each injector where it enters the intake, and also the fuel rail side also. Also on the Carrera 3.2 engines, they have a bad habit of developing leaking fuel line leaks where the main fuel line comes from the engine to the rear and splits to go to both sides. Do a search on the 3.2 fuel line, and you will see some of the ways some have repaired it recently. Good luck!! Tony.

rnln

Thanks guys, for all the info. These are definitely help when I have a time to dive in there.
My car is an 87 with 88 engine.

ron mcatee

rnln, my car is an 88 Carrera. If any of the fuel lines on you car have been moved recently due to maintenance being performed, you may have a leak at one of the crimps where the hoses are clamped. I replaced fuel injectors last year and when I reassembled the fuel rails and all lines, I found I had moved the two lines that run to the fuel rails. This small amount of movement somehow broke the bonding of the hoses to the hard lines & fittings. I didn't discover I had a problem until I had reassembled everything and was looking over the job I had just completed. When I started the car, lo & behold, I had a couple of leaks. fixing those leaks took more work , but I won't go into that here. You probably have a small leak as someone has already stated.

Good luck.

Peter Zimmermann

...per post #3 above, the picture in the book shows the most common leak points. However, as is discussed in the text, the fuel line, that you can't see, that connects the pressure regulator and damper can also have the same type of rubber to metal fitting leak.

rnln

A friend from pp came early in the moring to help me on my gas leak... and brought some gift, I am happy . It took us more than 1/2 day to locate the cracked hose and take it off the car. All the heater parts, intake air box, and AFM came out before I can access to this cracked hose. Can't believe it, one little hose can give us all this trouble. That's not it. I drove around to several different autopart stores but none has them. They said this is a fuel pressurized hose, a dealer part. Is it true guys? In fact, it is printer "FORD" on the hose. Here is a pic., below. Yes, the wet area is gas. We started the car again, after the hose is almost off the car, to make sure it's the bad part I am looking for.
My plan was to take all the gas hoses off and have a hose shop custom make them all in SS as other people do, but they all still look good so I stop.

Peter Zimmermann

I respectfully urge you to only buy/use authorized P-car parts from a P-car dealer. They engineer the parts to keep you and your passengers safe, you just never know about the other stuff...

3.2SLANTNOSE

+ 1000, with Pete on this. I is such a shame when one burns to the ground, due to a leaking fuel line, when it could have been avoided!! Tony.

Brads911sc

Some parts like brake pads, mufflers, shocks, air filters, oil filters, etc come from a variety of aftermarket sources, with good results... (B&B, Monty, Dansk are good examples on the Muffler front)... others/some are dealer only or oem only.... usually for a good reason...

rnln

Pete, Slant, Brad,
Not even SS hose, if it can be made?
Do you think my hose is damage is do to the design spec.? The Ford hose (in the pic) is made with hard fiberclass and lines in the inside core and rubber outside. Does anyone know if it's the same spec as the Porsche made hose?

Thanks guys.

Peter Zimmermann

Yep, even SS hoses.

Brads911sc

I think an exception would be if your car were 100% track... then I could see dumping "stock" rubber for certain parts for SS or other non-stock materials. The other side of that is that these track cars are often/usually getting a complete rebuild every season... not being driven to 25-30k miles without even being checked... You know the engines used in professional races are rebuilt after every race... Thats a different scenario than most of us... I think that for any application other than 100% track, if its available Porsche only... you are better off using the porsche/oem. Another example of this is the braided brake lines people use. Always better off with stock rubber hoses than braided unless the car is a track car... Just my .02...