rielcrazy

So about 18 months ago I had a problem with my car not starting (98 transam) so I replaced the fuel pump chasing the problem and turns out that wasn't it. Regardless after changing the pump I noticed that I had accidentally reused the old gasket (didn't see the new one in the box and the old one had stuck to the tank). I started noticing fuel smell after fillup that wouldn't go away until I had burned off about 1/4 of the tank.

The car sat for about 8 months with a bad rear and when I got it fixed the gas gauge had stopped working properly (sometimes reads full half or empty regardless of actual amount of fuel in the tank).... It also began throwing evap codes

I figured it was the seal and luckily I did the trap door mod. So I finally swapped in the new gasket and was very careful to make sure I lined it up correctly.

Well my evap code went away but my gas gauge and and the smell after fillup did not. It is only outside the car not in, and it is very obviously coming from the rear D.S. wheel well.

I know some people have mentioned a charcoal canister but it just seems odd that a problem that started as soon as I changed the pump could be coincidentally related to something else (also I don't know how to check this I think there is a solenoid and a valve). Anyone have any ideas how I can diagnose source? I"m 99.9999% sure it's not the gasket for the fuel pump.

Can anyone tell me how to troubleshoot the fuel pump sender ref. the gas gauge issue? I'm sure it's some sort of resistance measured by the float but how do I "test" it.

Sorry for the long post and thanks.

rielcrazy

No one? I removed charcoal canister (evap canister) and everything looked ok there, no rattle, I checked evap solonoid with voltage and it opened and closed just fine. I even removed the small white plastic vet dealy that attatches to the brake bracket and that looks fine. Any ideas anyone?? pleeaassee my garage reeks!!!

turningfast

Best bet would be to get a shop to smoke the evap system to check for leaks if you can not do it,for the smell. The gauge is either the sensor, float arm not properly connected. Double check the coonections inside the tank. If you have multi meter make sure resistance changes when moving the float. If it does open the sending unit circuit (unplug it) and then short it out (using a paper clip or something). The gauge should read either full or empty and change to the othere when grounded or open. Not sure on these cars, but open the gauge should be empty and grounded should be full if I remember right, may be opposite though, for the life of me I can not remember.

bmxer8699

iTrader: (16)

This could be a few things as I've had this happen to me. Because I used to smell fuel right after a fill up. My problem was the RTV sealant a shop used on the top of my fuel sending unit to seal up the unit and keep the wires in place started to degrade and eventually fuel started leaking out of the top of my tank which would then drain down the heat shield on the gas tank and would evaporate usually before hitting the ground. And as I went down the road fuel was coming out of the top of the sending unit itself causing a gas smell until 1/4 of the full tank was gone.

As for the inaccurate fuel readings, it's more than likely the sending unit going bad. I've had to replace this in every Fbody I've ever owned.