There is a Car God after all!!

Ever get that gas vapor smell when driving your car? First thing you do is pop the hood and have a good look around, then tighten up everything you can find that might have something to do with gasoline flow. Next, check the charge level on that old fire extinguisher…you DO carry one don’t you?!? Hoping for the best? Been there.

Well, sometimes that works. I had the problem for a couple of seasons with the Jensen. Could apply to many Jaguars. Spent a lot of time sniffing around the engine compartment. Lots of interesting odors there, but no sign of leaking fuel.

Funny, I could only smell it inside the car…usually after I had added gas, not necessarily filling up, and for sometime thereafter. What was intriguing however, was that I could ONLY smell it when the car was moving with a window open, just the little vent window. Interesting. (If you’ve already figured this out, you’re excused, don’t bother reading the rest).

Last summer I was chasing down a clicking sound in the left side of the trunk area. Pulled all the dress-up stuff out and exposed, among other things, the fuel filler pipe and vent. Desperate to find the rattle, I tightened up everything I could get a wrench around or a screwdriver into.

Guess what? Yep, still got the rattle. (I think it’s probably the upper shock bushing that may be about gone). BUT, the fuel smell is NO MORE!! So, how the heck can vapors from a not quite tight connection way back there get forward and into a vent window at 40 MPH??

Well, my theory is that it does not happen that way at all. When you crack a window, particularly a vent window that opens out, you create a vacuum in the cabin. (Doug Taylor could probably explain that). The vacuum created will draw air into the cabin from any source, including the boot area. If you have any vapors (and the correct word IS vapors, not fumes) emanating from the filler pipe or vent tube, they can get sucked into the cabin.

So, while I was thinking gas vapors were coming IN the window, actually, they were getting sucked OUT! And, while I was going after one annoyance, I ended up curing another much more critical concern. I thank the Car Gods for an important, but totally unexpected victory!

The real tech tip here is that a fuel vapor source must be found. Don't put it off!
Now, getting back to that shock bushing.