i have an '02 WRX, and ever since I've had it, I experience that gas smell in cold weather thing that everyone knows about. the dealership won't fix the thing (for free), and have told me it'll cost $450-500 to fix. BULL$HIT! i told them there is a technical service bulletin that identifies the problem, and a way to repair it as well. however, they didn't want to hear that. they told me that they were under strict guidelines when it came to TSBs, recalls, etc. "we cannot repair that problem unless your car is still under warranty" - BULL$HIT again! i cannot believe subaru won't fix a known defect on this car...and that having to smell gas fumes all day everyday isn't a hazard to their customers. does anyone know where i can contact a regional subaru customer service rep? i'm getting no where with my dealership.

A TSB is not a recall - they are done free while under the 3/36k, but after that, generally not. (the TSB is essentially a fix which Subaru has found for a problem, and they want to make it easier for the dealers to recognize and fix) One would think that raw fuel in the engine bay would be considered something worthy of a recall, but evidently not.

The parts aren't too expensive if you want to do the fix yourself - they essentially extended the flex section of the fuel line and shortened the hard section - so you need a new hard line (17544AA134 - lists for $61.50) and a new flex line (807707140 - lists for $14.37) - you can probably get them to cut you a deal on the parts if you haven't already pissed them off - alternatively, you can pick them up online for $46.93 and $10.93 (plus shipping) - then just do the repair yourself (you have to pull a bunch of stuff to get at everything though - the intake manifold, etc.)

yes, i've pissed them off b/c in my eyes, they never ever told me about this TSB while the vehicle was under warranty. i didn't know it was a design flaw until i researched and/or dug deeper. by that time, i was out of warranty. it boggles my mind that sniffing gasoline fumes doesn't constitute a health hazard! i told them that a million times. how would you like it if the new car you bought smelled of gasoline during the winter? you wouldn't like it would you!! to which they gave me the "welll, we can only fix things according to subaru's guidelines" - BULL**** was my response. they said we're sorry you feel that way. i told thme i would never ever buy another car from them, and tell everyone how $hitty of a dealership they are. i guess that would consititute pissing off.

I recently paid to have this done at an indie Subaru specialist. I could have done the work myself but it was right around the Holidays and I was in a bit of a time crunch.

I knew about the TSB but my car is 4 years old and has over 80k on it, so I didn't expect Subaru to cover any of it. The fact that an out-of-warranty car needs repair should not be surprising. Other than a few minor issues (covered under warranty) the car has been great so I wasn't upset.

Think of it this way, the fact that there is a TSB probably saved me from having to diagnose the problem myself (or pay a shop to diagnose).

Joe

first of all it's just "fuel vapor" escaping, i don't think you're in any danger of an engine fire, secondly i had this problem in my 02 wrx and i solved it by arming myself with a very long #2 phillips screwdriver and a flashlight...

underneath the intake manifold in areas you can see below, you'll see the fuel line and clamps that look identical to the ones on your fuel filter etc (silver, screw type), on mine the one that was "leaking" had the threads pointing upward (no way to tighten from above right)... so i used the screwdriver to rotate it 180 degrees so the screwhead was visible and just tightened it, never had the problem again

first of all it's just "fuel vapor" escaping, i don't think you're in any danger of an engine fire

Ummm, no.

SuperRupair, the shop around the corner where I took my car, has 3 WRX parts cars that burned because of this issue.

Joe

If you indeed took it to the dealer WHILE under warranty for the same problem then it will be documented in their service logs. You of course kept all your service records including your visit for your fuel smell. Find your documentation or visit subaru.com to maybe get a copy, contact the districk manager with your doc number and get it fixed for free. Is there something you are not sharing with us as to contacting the dealer and getting this on record?

SuperRupair, the shop around the corner where I took my car, has 3 WRX parts cars that burned because of this issue.Since SuperRupair probably has no information about the circumstances under which any of those fires began, how could they know that all of them were caused by this particular fuel line leak? As far as I can tell, nobody has ever reported a 2002 WRX engine fire to NHTSA.

']Since SuperRupair probably has no information about the circumstances under which any of those fires began, how could they know that all of them were caused by this particular fuel line leak? As far as I can tell, nobody has ever reported a 2002 WRX engine fire to NHTSA.


Exactly.


If one repair shop (an independant I might add) has had three catch fire then why have I not seen any? Hmmm Or the other dealers in the area that I regularly talk to? Hmmmmm......

yes, i've pissed them off b/c in my eyes, they never ever told me about this TSB while the vehicle was under warranty. i didn't know it was a design flaw until i researched and/or dug deeper. by that time, i was out of warranty. it boggles my mind that sniffing gasoline fumes doesn't constitute a health hazard! i told them that a million times. how would you like it if the new car you bought smelled of gasoline during the winter? you wouldn't like it would you!! to which they gave me the "welll, we can only fix things according to subaru's guidelines" - BULL**** was my response. they said we're sorry you feel that way. i told thme i would never ever buy another car from them, and tell everyone how $hitty of a dealership they are. i guess that would consititute pissing off.


Yeah, great idea. Yell at the guys that are just doing their jobs and following guidelines set forth by the manufacturer.

If you are not going to pay to have it repaired, and SOA is not going to pay to have it done, then who is going to pay? the dealership? not very likely. Even if you did all of your maintenance with them it is very unlikely that they would cover the entire thing. They might split it with you under goodwill (you pay labour, SOA pays parts) but they are not going to pay the entire thing.

If they do the work and try to submit it under warranty SOA will bounce it. At that point it comes out of their pockets (may not even come out of the dealers pocket, it might come out of the service writers commision, depending on how the shop is run)

So, why do you feel you deserve this to be covered under warranty? after all you did piss off the dealership already. Oh, and I would not even bother going to another dealership and trying to get it covered. Chances are they already called the surrounding dealers and warned them (we tend to talk to one another)

yes, i've pissed them off b/c in my eyes, they never ever told me about this TSB while the vehicle was under warranty.
There are hundreds (thousands?) of TSBs, so being told about them isn't realistic.

i didn't know it was a design flaw until i researched and/or dug deeper. by that time, i was out of warranty. it boggles my mind that sniffing gasoline fumes doesn't constitute a health hazard!
I'm a bit confused here - you need to clarify the timeline. It clearly bothered you and your last sentence above indicates you realized it was not normal car operation. The normal response would be to bring it into the dealer for warranty service. If you did, there will be a record of you bringing it in *before* the warranty expired, and you're OK, because you notified the dealer of it while under warranty. Subaru then has to pay to fix it.
OTOH, if you noticed the smell but *didn't* bring it in to the dealer while under warranty, clearly it was not a big deal to you, and so you should not care if they fix it or not.
On the third hand, if it only started after the 36/36 warranty period, it's just treated like a normal out-of-warranty repair -- you pay.

evertime i did, the dealership would say, we don't smell anything, nor can we recreate this issue?? as for them being responsible...if a company designs a vehicle that has an inherent flaw that could be hazardous to one's health, why wouldn't they fix it? okay, maybe the vapors wouldn't ignite, but smelling gas fumes all day isn't healthy either! i'm a chemist, i know these things!

evertime i did, the dealership would say, we don't smell anything, nor can we recreate this issue?? as for them being responsible...if a company designs a vehicle that has an inherent flaw that could be hazardous to one's health, why wouldn't they fix it? okay, maybe the vapors wouldn't ignite, but smelling gas fumes all day isn't healthy either! i'm a chemist, i know these things!


NHTSA did not agree with you.

db97, could you smell anything when they said they couldn't? If so, I agree that's pretty bad. If instead it was just happening e.g. first thing in the morning but not by the time you got to the dealership, you need to work with them to reproduce it (for example by leaving it at the dealership O/N so they can try it first thing in the morning).

A dose of service dept reality here: Unless it's a problem that is staring everyone in the face, such as the car just doesn't start, or some system does not work at all, you are in for a long journey. Leaving the car overnight? Yeah OK, do it once, throw the dice. But don't expect the diagnosis about your fuel smell to change. If they don't smell it, they don't smell it - even if it's knocking you over. Service depts. just aren't set up to track down things like this. They don't have time and it costs money to start removing intake manifolds to look for something that may or may not be there. The overwhelming message I get from my service dept. is this: Run it til it breaks and we'll fix it. (strange noises or smells don't count. Does it run?).

I say all this from long experience. Strangely, I like this particular service dept, they do a good job, they're honest, they do things for me they don't have to do...and yes they make a genuine effort to make it right. Personally, I have a fuel smell problem with my '06. It's not related to the '02 problem (not cold-weather related). I figured out I can avoid the problem 99% of the time by simply setting the heater to recirc before I start the engine. Yes it still smell a lil like gas in a closed garage while it's still warm.

I left it with them a couple days. They could not duplicate my concern.

Sooo....I'm done beating myhead against the wall. It's under warranty for 3 years to go. It runs great, I have no other issues with it and I love the car.

But...until there is raw gas leaking out onto the floor, or somewhere it can be seen...I'm not wasting the time taking it back again.