Thread: Gasoline odor

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I waited until the temp went up this afternoon and found two items. First, I checked with Rock Valley Antique Auto who made my tank out of 14 gauge stainless and found I did not have any rubber O-ring in the screw-on cap. "Chris" of Rock Valley said "without doubt" there will be a gas smell without that gasket/sealer so I ordered the recommended O-ring. Second, I checked the end of the vent hose and found it slightly moist with gas. Note that I had topped off the tank three times two weeks ago during mileage tests so with the level of gas slightly up in the neck of the fill pipe vibration could have sent liquid up the vent hose. My vent hose goes steadily upward from the front corner of the tank over the 1" square tubing under the rear deck about 12-14" above the tank and then down to a hole in the floor under the right rear fender about at the front edge of the right rear tire. This looks a lot like a siphon until there is a vapor gap at the tank level so I probably did lose some gas through that tube. When I came into the garage this morning the gas odor was very slight and much less than when I was doing the fill-ups for the mileage tests. I also got the hint to put some anti-seize grease on the threads of the cap, thanks for that suggestion. I think the recent smell was due to the topping off of the tank right into the neck during my mileage tests so let me see if the O-ring and less-than-totally full levels reduce any smell. Jerry's comment is accurate since I have a wooden floor in my garage and there have been many spills of rear gear oil, a LOT of spilled prestone and some motor oil spills that have soaked into the wood! Thanks for a lot of helpful comments on this thread.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder