raw fuel smell, 99 4R

[RoyBell]

Recently I've had the smell of gasoline in and around my truck
The odor is strongest by the passenger front wheel well. Most common seems either a injector oring issue or a leaky part that the rails cone off of near the rear of the engine. I can't see any leaks at all though. Any one have any theories?

 

[RedRunner_87]

Recently I've had the smell of gasoline in and around my truck
The odor is strongest by the passenger front wheel well. Most common seems either a injector oring issue or a leaky part that the rails cone off of near the rear of the engine. I can't see any leaks at all though. Any one have any theories?

I had the same issues coming from my driver side and it was the Fuel Injector O-Ring that was leaking.

 

[MKERunner]

You may want to check the O2 sensors as well, bad O2 will lead to an "always rich" condition. I'm not familiar with the 4Runner exhaust system specifically so I don't know if the sensor is high enough to notice the side it's on though..

 

[RoyBell]

I had the same issues coming from my driver side and it was the Fuel Injector O-Ring that was leaking.

how did you determine it was the O-Ring?

 

[RedRunner_87]

how did you determine it was the O-Ring?

I had my Fuel Injector replaced by a shop and by the time I got home all I could smell in my vehicle was gas. When I got outside my vehicle it smelled like gas as well. Dropped it back off at the shop, since I thought they messed up the install, and they determined the O-Ring was leaking. Inside and Outside the car smelled heavily of gas.

 

[RoyBell]

It seemed OK today. Not as bad as the weekend. The smell gets stronger the harder I drive the truck though. That would lead me think it's the fuel injector o-ring. Thoughts? The charcoal canister would be pretty consistent as far as smell I would think?

Also there are no CEL on. Truck idles fine. Was thinking maybe injector stuck open but it would idle poorly I would think and possibly throw light. It IS hard to start once in a while like the engine is flooded. I have to hold the key to make sure it stays cranking sometimes. I just attributed that to an old car. Other thought it plugs might need to be changed? If it's not igniting every time it could be causing a rich condition. I think that's a stretch though.

 

[SilverRidgeRunner1]

I once watch a guy locate a fuel leak using a leak detector I don't recall the results of his findings but I would def pull the injector and have a look see

 

[RoyBell]

I think I found my problem: https://www.4runners.com/threads/3-4-hard-to-start-when-warm.930/

He had fuel smell plus hard warm start. Looks like it was FPR

I did not put it together, but along with the fuel smell has been a hard warm start condition. It seems people that have hard warm starts have a leaky injector in most cases. They never mention the smell of fuel though.

This probably explains why the smell is strongest on passenger side and is present while the vehicle is off. I will have to pull my intake off and see if I have fuel in it like this guy.

 

[jeremyc74]

I think I found my problem: Looks like it was FPR

.

I came in to suggest that. There was a thread here recently where one of the guys with a supercharged truck had the same issue. He was seeing fuel in the intake tract when he opened it up. Apparently the diaphragm starts leaking back through the vacuum line and it pulls it into the intake. The o-rings and fuel lines are also reasonable places to look.

Edit: Post #35

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/205499-unknown-underhood-fuel-leak-3.html

 

[RoyBell]

I think I found my problem: https://www.4runners.com/threads/3-4-hard-to-start-when-warm.930/

He had fuel smell plus hard warm start. Looks like it was FPR

I did not put it together, but along with the fuel smell has been a hard warm start condition. It seems people that have hard warm starts have a leaky injector in most cases. They never mention the smell of fuel though.

This probably explains why the smell is strongest on passenger side and is present while the vehicle is off. I will have to pull my intake off and see if I have fuel in it like this guy.

well, this was it. It's been freezing here over winter and the truck isn't my DD so I didn't bother investigating much. I brought it in today for an alignment and mentioned the fuel smell and to see if they could see the issue.

Told them I am 99% sure it's the FPR. Sure enough, they took the air intake off and said there was about a pint of fuel sitting on the bottom of it. They dumped it out and changed the part. Was about $450 for parts and labor and apparently you need to pull the intake manifold which requires a new gasket then. The $250 they charged to install was worth it, plus I had them do the plugs as long as everything was torn down to an easy state.

The plugs they pulled out were OEM densos. Looked in good shape, so I am wondering if PO changed them. It has 160K on the truck and I don't see them being original.