Gas Smell In Cabin in Cold Weather

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share this information in case someone else has this issue. I was getting gas smell as soon as the weather turned cold. The smell would come and go and come and go and then disappear completely when the car was driven for a while.

I read somewhere that it could be the o-rings on the fuel injectors and indeed it was, the repair was a bit pricey (I paid 170 in labour) I provided my own parts that I bought from Rock Auto bought new o-rings and spark plugs and had both replaced at the same time while the guy was there. The spark plugs were ok but worn and was told it was actually a good idea to replace them so there's that, and after the guys removed the injectors, cleaned them and replaced the o-rings, no more gas smell.

Just thought I'd share this in case it helps someone, this is a great site and people are really helpful, it's helped me I'm hoping this can help someone else.

 

This is the thread that led me to replacing my o-rings

Strong smell of petrol (gas) | PriusChat

I've never visited the facebook site yet, but I'll keep an eye out for it, again, if my experience can help someone else, that's what it's all about.

 

This is interesting. Last night I took a long drive, approximately 2 hours, after non-stop driving for approximately 40 minutes we came to a stop and once again sensed the gas smell. Nothing I could do about it there since I was literally in the middle of nowhere, kept driving another 20 minutes non-stop (gas smell is gone) came to another stop and the smell resurfaced in the cabin momentarily, kept driving, again, another 20 minutes or so same thing. I read somewhere that it could be something as silly as the gasket on the oil cap, just wondering if anyone has any suggestions, it seems like when I stop pressure is released and that smell momentarily comes out, doesn't happen when I drive. Any other suggestions?

 

Thank you @drone13 and @PriusCamper appreciate the suggestion. I took the car to my mechanic on Friday and they’re baffled as there’s no serious smell of gas when you open the hood, my mechanic, silly enough took out the cabin filter it was a bit dirty he took it and shook it out, I also I did the oil cap and put it back on, it was on tight but I put it back on there and tightened up again. Since then I have purposely gone out since it’s been cold around -5c or lower and I haven’t smelled a damn thing which is crazy, however on that note since it’s time anyway I ordered a new cabin cabin and air filter and those will come in this week. I’ll keep everyone posted. The evap is a good idea although I haven’t seen any check engine lights come on. The mechanics also mentioned that the vehicle is pristine underneath not a speck of rust hence the reason why I’m investing time and money since I love the car and it’s a great ride. Let’s hope this can be found as always, thank you all for your input it’s all helpful.

 

Hi Guys!

i wanted to report back on this, so this winter I actually got a check engine light P0456 small evap leak. A friend of mine has a friend that works at toyota my friend is also a mechanic so we took it out for a spin and as soon as the smell started we stopped the car and my friend was able to locate the exact area the smell was coming from. He called his friend at Toyota and he assumed that it a Vapor Canister Purge Valve Solenoid. The thing was dead when he checked it hence the check engine light, he also replaced the hoses which where original and cracked so anytime the weather would get cold the Vapors would leak into the engine compartment and into the cabin through the vent. A weird problem, I hope my solution helps others.

 

I wanted to post back on this since I believe I found a solution. The solution is sort of a two parter. So it turns out a friend of a friend of mine knows someone who works at Toyota. He looked at it and since the gas smell was coming from the front left (passanger side) he found that the EVAP Solenoid was defective. He replaced it. This improved things as the issue would manifest itself anytime the temperature really dropped (-5 or 10 degrees celcius). However, this ended up creating another problem, I started noticing another faint gas smell about a week after. Unfortunately, the winter was almost over by then, temperatures started going up so I was not able to test. Fast forward to now, where the weather has started to cool again, the problem is back and back with a vengance, now not needing to drop to minus temperatures, the problem started happening with temperatures as low as 10 degrees.

I'm so sick of this issue so the other day when it reeked inside the cabin I parked the car, opened the hood and noticed that now the smell was no longer coming from the front left but now coming from behind the engine, like directly behind where the fuel injectors were. So this time I stuck my hand back there and started touching everything, hoping that I would get my hand to smell like gas and it did, there's a hose that goes from a metal conduit to a hose to something else. I'm not sure what to call it but that's connected to a rubber hose about an inch long, that rubber hose absolutely stunk. For fun yesterday morning I wrapped it in electrical tape (all I had) and drove to work, no gas smell at all. I had done a crappy job and electrical tape is not the best for this so in the evening I purchased some silicone tape that's stretchy and sticky, it's meant to seal pipes. So in the evening I removed the relay box (2 bolts) and got better access behind the engine, I took the hose and carefully wrapped it in this special tape. I also took care to wrap any other exposed joints that could come lose in that same silicone tape, it wraps nice and tight around everything. Took the car out for a spin, it was very cold around 3 degrees and nothing it worked like a charm.

The issue usually manifested itself anytime you would stop the car and idle, yesterday I purposely left the car idling stopped. The issue was obvious when you would stop at a light for example or when you would get off the highway and would wait to turn right or left at the exit, it was horrible, but now no smell.

Hopefully this article helps someone, hence why I came back and shared my information. If this is not the solution and the smell comes back I'll come back and share more information with everyone.