Is a strong gasoline scent usual for a 3Gee?

[89HatchbackLxi]

I purchased a 1989 Honda Accord LX-i (Hatchback, Fuel-Injected, Automatic Transmission) a few months ago. Since I bought the car, I have noticed a very strong scent of gasoline that instantly fills the garage whenever I park. The gas smell has never actually entered inside of the car.

If I let the garage air out for 15 mins or so after the car is turned off, the gasoline smell goes away and doesn't return until the next time I start the car.

It doesn't appear that any gas is leaking from the car, and I get about 20mpg but that's entirely city driving just to and from work each day.

I guess what I'm asking is: Is it normal for an Lxi to make the entire garage smell like gasoline every time after it is driven?

[g.frost]

No, that's not normal for any car, and it could be very dangerous too. Find the problem and fix it or you risk fire.

[ShyBoyCA6]

Hmmm. Turn the car on and check fully around the injectors,fuel filter, and gas tank. I had the same problem with the four door smelling like gas turned out something was loose and had a very small leak that wasn't noticeable.

[charliekuney]

If the scent is inside of your car, switch the vents to "recirculate" ("REC") and see if the smell persists. If it does, they the most probable problem is the fuel neck behind the passenger seat leaking somewhere.

[Dr_Snooz]

The injectors like to spring leaks as they age. I would check those first.

[Oldblueaccord]

You should note that these are the most likely causes of a particular problem, but not necessarily the cause of the problem you are experiencing.


Thats a problem......



Well for the original poster looking under the hood ant the fuel injectors they can leak where the plastic body meets the metal pintel housing. They 'll be a dirty stain all around the manifold.

The gas filler neck to the gas tank can rust and let fumes out esp in northern climates.

good luck.


wp

[rc00netzero]

yea - my injectors were doing this. The seals leak and the gas gets vaporized by engine heat - until the pressure is gone from the fuel rail. Then the leak stops. It only leaks a small amount but it creates a big smell.

[89HatchbackLxi]

yea - my injectors were doing this. The seals leak and the gas gets vaporized by engine heat - until the pressure is gone from the fuel rail. Then the leak stops. It only leaks a small amount but it creates a big smell.

Did you ever fix it?

[PENN]

mine smelled like gas bad when i bought it. was the drain plug an the tank. its on the driver side of the tank. went to autozone an got a plastic washer, made for this problem, fixed me up. advice if u need to do this tho. dont have too much gas in the tank at the time. lol. i didnt know any better

[Dr_Snooz]

Did you ever fix it?

You have to replace the injectors.


...Or risk an engine fire.

[89HatchbackLxi]

Yeah.. I took a look and it appears the injectors may be leaking. Two of them appear very dirty, and then gas smell seems strongest around that area when the car is running. I just had the car inspected less than a month ago when I got the front axle replaced though... I'm surprised they didn't notice that and mention it to me.

[w261w261]

Also, 20 mph is low, even in city driving.

[89HatchbackLxi]

I have another question...

What's the typical RPM for a lxi accord that is put into park (Auto Trans, before allowing it to idle)? I thought I remembered it being around 800 before, but lately its been just slightly over 1100.

Edit: This new problem just started today... When the car is put into park after it was just driven, the RPMs begin to bounce from 1000 to 1500 and back repeatedly. Car runs perfect other than that. Any suggestions on what's causing my hatch this problem? Could this be something that is caused by a leaking fuel injector(s) as well?

[2oodoor]

I grabbed some junkyard injectors with a little luck got some good ones, you can use 4th gen injectors (most any inj from the same era Honda) but you may want to grab the resisitor that matches to them just in case, I didn't need to change mine but there seems to be two different resistance values out there.
Look for low mileage and or clean engines, you stand a better chance of getting good ones from a crashed car not just a cinder block special. lol

[Dr_Snooz]

I have another question...

What's the typical RPM for a lxi accord that is put into park (Auto Trans, before allowing it to idle)? I thought I remembered it being around 800 before, but lately its been just slightly over 1100.

Edit: This new problem just started today... When the car is put into park after it was just driven, the RPMs begin to bounce from 1000 to 1500 and back repeatedly. Car runs perfect other than that. Any suggestions on what's causing my hatch this problem? Could this be something that is caused by a leaking fuel injector(s) as well?

You have a vacuum leak or you're low on coolant. If you're low on coolant, you have to fill and bleed the system properly to correct the problem.

[89HatchbackLxi]

You have a vacuum leak or you're low on coolant. If you're low on coolant, you have to fill and bleed the system properly to correct the problem.

The problem only occurs when the engine has been running awhile and then the car is put in park (at least than 10 mins of driving first).

[Dr_Snooz]

Diagnosis stands.

[89HatchbackLxi]

Yeah, I'm thinking it's coming from near two (at least) of the fuel injectors. That would explain the very very slight whistling I've been hearing as well...

[89HatchbackLxi]

Update: Found the problems with my Lxi. One of the fuel injectors is definitely leaking, put some FI cleaner on it to help until I can get it replaced. As for the high idle problem, there was no vacuum leak in the system, instead it turned out the idle control valve was getting stuck causing the bouncing idle. The guy at the repair shop took the ICV apart and soaked it in a detergent. A few hours later, he turned it over a bunch of grit washed out of it along with a good sized leaf. I'm confused as to how in the world a leaf could have possibly made its way into a sealed system...

Anyway, the ICV was put back together afterward and then placed back in. She now cold starts to about 1600 rpm then drops within a few moments down to around 900-1000 rpm. She idles at 850 rpm when warm instead of the previous idling speed of around bouncing between 1000 rpm and 1500 rpm. Overall, the car is running a lot better than before. Hopefully this fix should help a little with my mpg (currently only getting 22mpg- mostly city which seems low compared to what I see many other 3geez user are experiencing)

Can the ECU not detect when there is a problem with the ICV? I'm asking because my CEL never came on once (except briefly when the repair shop guy temporarily unplugged an o2 sensor) and I never was given any ECU codes.

[Hash_man_Se_i]

I was just going to say IACV. It is a very common problem on these cars, along with the main relay which can cause the car to do similar things, but also sometimes stall out when warm. My old se-i did this for a little while, but met it's demise before I could address it. And no, often a dirty or bad IACV will not cause the CEL to come on.

Also, replace your injectors (all four, as likely if one is bad, the others will go soon too) along with new injector seals at the both ends very soon. Just get some from a junkyard, they are usually pretty cheap, but buy injector seals from Honda, they are cheap too. Leaking fuel is one thing to not mess around with.