Fuel Odor when driving?????

Fellas,
04 5vz Tacoma. Runs great. Easy hot & cold starts. No codes. 140k miles. Recently started smelling fuel when driving. Fuel filter not leaking. What should I check?
I did replace engine bay vacuum hoses with silicone ones recently. thanks!!!

 

Exhaust leak- check out the flanges in the manifold to cross over and down pipes...

 

Sniff around the fuel rails. Last year, I serviced a 5vz with the raw gas smell. Turned out, cylinder 1 injector oring was leaking at the rail.

 

Any issues refueling the truck? As in gas nozzle clicking off early before tank is full?

Try removing your gas cap after a short drive (after turning the motor off), and look/listen for a visible/audible gush of fumes exiting the filler neck. Could be a clogged evap line, fuel tank vent valve, or charcoal cannister.

 

I’ve always had to fuel up with the gas pump nozzle upside down, right side up it shuts off quickly???

 

Yea that aint normal. Something isn't allowing your tank to vent and the back pressure of the fumes trying to escape out of the filler neck is causing the nozzle on the pump to click off early.

I had a similar issue last year and solved it with a replacement charvoal cannister and fuel tank vent valve. You can read my thread about it here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-nozzle-clicks-too-soon.829414/#post-29731207

Oh and eventually the issue progressed to the point where I could smell fuel while driving. I'd still check for engine bay fuel leaks as others suggested above. But knowing you have a fuel tank venting issue, I assume thats going to be where your fuel smell is coming from

 

makes sense, that’s where I’ll start. thanks!!

 

I think this is the most concerning possibility to check.

 

You should be able to isolate where the fuel stank is coming from, if it seems like it's under the hood injector o-rings could certainly be the issue. You may be able to ID a leaky one visually, it could be the one that looks clean if it's leaking enough.

 

Fuel leaks in the engine bay concern me more than an evap issue so I’ll check there first. Thanks.

 

Exhaust doesn’t smell like raw gas….

 

Update: today I investigated the engine compartment with the engine running. I heard a switching sound I never heard before. When I pinched this hose it stopped.



That hose is connected to the vacuum switching valve and top of the intake.
Is that switch supposed to be constantly switching?

 

I am not super familiar with the V6, but yeah, I have seen people talk about it clicking as part of normal operation. I don't see how it could be involved in a fuel leak though.

 

Yea I don't think that's abnormal. I believe the VSV that that hose runs to is part of the evap system. So it could potentially allow fuel vapors to escape into the engine bay.

But if you don't smell the fuel smell while looking in that area, then I'm still convinced your fuel tank not venting properly will be the culprit

 

no smell of fuel in the engine bay when checking the vsv so yea I’ll be checking the tank next.

 

Crawled under the taco and checked the charcoal canister vent for obstructions and lo and behold two spider webs, one in the rubber elbow and one in the vent spout.
I cleared the spout with a short piece of bicycle cable before reinstalling the elbow.

 

Interesting. Curious if it'll be that simple to remedy your issue

 

I’ll update after I drive it.

 

Welp, fuel odor still persists. One thing of note I didn’t hear the vac working before now it clicks open and closed rapidly after engine is to temperature. Im still chowing this issue. I’m betting there’s another spider web somewhere

 

Do we know if your fuel tank is venting properly during normal driving?

If you remove the fuel cap right after parking the truck (after a drive of any reasonable distance), do you hear/see/smell a large gush of fuel vapors?