Found Fuel Leak (Pics)

[sube151]

Hi Guys,

Went to Georgetown Colorado during the weekend to attend the ice rally. Drove up with a fellow rexer. The trip started from
albuquerque to Georgetown. Our first stop was about 200 miles away. My rex and the other rex had the same amount of fuel left in the tank. Cool.
We then filled up and continued the journey to Georgetown.
By the time we arrived, my friend had about a 1/2 tank of gas, and I was under a 1/4. "Hmmm" I thought. I didnt think anything of it. I thought that my friends unichip may have altered his fuel settings some how.
(END DAY)

Next A.m I went outside to start the car and let it warm up. It felt
like it was bloody 10 degrees outside! A friend and I hoped in the car and about 5 minutes later went to get some food. When we got in, we both noticed the smell of gas in the cabin. I started to worry.
I got out of the car and began to smell gas in the same spot that everybody is reporting. Fortunately I had the stupid air scoop thing removed and noticed that way down underneath the intake manifold was a nice fuel line spewing LOTS of fuel out. It was pouring out.

Attached are some pics of where the fuel line connects to a rubber hose. From the factory the hose has a clamp on it that is upside down (threads pointing up. BTW- It should be upside down on all our cars. I verified it on 3 new rexes at the dealer). There is no friggen room at all
to easily get to the clamp. You would have to remove the turbo intake hose in order to cleanly get to it. Big pain in the a$$.
Somebody came with a really long screw driver and was able to twist the clamp around so that we could get a very long phillips screw driver in there to tighten the clamp.

If any of you still have the underhood air scoop in, take it out. You will not be able to see the fuel line to well.

First arrow points towards the fuel line. You will notice two metal lines. Follow the one that is on your right hand side. It will lead to the clamp that is upside down.


Next picture shows the fuel line closer. Follow the arrow to the inside. From this vantage I could see fuel staining on the manifold. I had a lot of fuel come out.


This pictures zooms in a little more. Notice the fuel line on the outside. Thats the one you want to follow


I apologize for how big the pictures are. I just want everybody to get an idea where to look.
Last pictures shows just about the same thing. If you look in the opening by the red arrow, you will see the clamp upside down. Thats the one you want!!


To get to the clamp sort of easy, you will need to remove the flexable air intake hose(one connected to the airbox). Once this hose is out, you will have a better top view of the clamp. Stick a really long screw driver in there and start to turn it. Once you see the phillips side, get the other screw driver and tighten it up
as much as you can.

With the help of some friends, I avoided not having to tow the car to denver and wait years for it to get fix. I drove back to Abq just fine.
-----

Some Facts about where the leak happened:
-Georgetown CO - Elv 8300Ft
-AM temp outside: 10-15 deg F.
-This was the first time I smelled gas in the cab.
-Car mileage : 14000
-My clamp was loose
If you dont feel like fixing it, take it to the dealer! You greatly risk
a possible fire.

Please let me know if I can clarify anything.

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[aspera]

WOW! That's scary. Thanks for the pix.

[Achilles38WRX]

wow! that seems so easy, i had an appointment to bring mine into the dealer today, but its so warm in chicago that the gas smell is gone, it only does it in real cold weather, which i hope will be back soon so i can bring my car in and get this fixed.

mark

[BamBooI]

In that last picture, is that what we need to be looking at? It looks like a bushing imo. I'll have to check it soon. Is it just the clamp that was loose? Where was it spewing gas? How many other people had this problem?

[sube151]

BambooI,

The arrow on the last picture is suppose
to point to the inside. Just follow the fuel line
and you will see it connect to a rubber hose.
The leak was where the Metal fuel line connects
to the rubber hose with the clamp.



-Vic

[Achilles38WRX]

hey vic,
thanks for the pics and the advice, i tried today, but was unable to get to the clamps to tighten any of them. I left the big plastic scoop off to get a better look next time i smell gas.

Thanks again.

Mark

[byrdman]

i had this same problem with my WRX. here in kansas we have had a really mild winter so i only smelled the fuel once. but after i got the problem fixed some other problems went away. i want to share these thing with you so you can have some more help finding out if you have this same problem. i had touble starting my car after it has sat for a while. i did not notice this problem until November. the temperature here was getting down into the 40's at night. after a little warm up and driving would begin it almost felt like i had flat spots or a clump of tar on my tires. this would go away within 2 miles. but i never had the fuel smell with these probelms. after we had an ice storm and i went to start my car is when i noticed the fuel smell coming from the warm air from the heater. i took my car into the shop about a week ago. they had it fixed the same day i dropped it off. i seemed to have pick up a little bit of extra power. so you may have a fuel leak and never smell the fuel. if you are having any of these probelms print off the sube's letter and take it to your subaru dealer. this will get them started in the right direction.

[PunksWRX]

Let's bump this. A lot of us seem to be getting a raw fuel smell with the recent cold weather.

I removed the snorkel and the flex hose between the air box and the inlet pipe. I can definitely see the clamps if I look down from the top in between the V in the intake manifold. Unfortunately on my car the front clamp is upside down and I can see no way to tighten it. Sube151 - I tried to use a screw driver to twist the clamp so I could get a long phillips onto it from the top but couldn't Did yours spin easily? I don't want to damage the clamp or hose.

This really sucks!

Punk

[Rocky WRX]

There was a thread where several of us posted our attempts to install the Samco BOV hose. The stocker's clamp is hard to remove because it's usually twisted the wrong way, like this one.

Solution: One poster sprayed the clamp w/ WD-40. Then it twisted easily. Would that work here?

[BIGSKYWRX]

Experiencing the cold weather/fuel smell in cabin. Took off snorkle and accordian section of intake to get a better look. Yellow staining on manifold where fuel appears to be puddling. There are two possible fuel lines (side by side) that could be the culprits and thus four possible clamps that could be loose. Unfortunately, only one easy to access from the top. It appears the only viable way to tighten all clamps is to remove the turbo inlet pipe, the only viable way to remove the tubo inlet pipe (w/o breaking it) is to remove the intake manifold. Looks like a job for the dealer (or is time to buy the Samco piece ).

[George71]

I got the gas smell the other night after we had a strong cold front blow through Austin. Was very strong in the cabin when the vent was set to outside. Drove it to the dealer. They don't want to cover it under warranty because I removed the airbox and intake scoop. Any ideas on what I should do?

Thanks,
-George

[BIGSKYWRX]

Originally posted by George71
I got the gas smell the other night after we had a strong cold front blow through Austin. Was very strong in the cabin when the vent was set to outside. Drove it to the dealer. They don't want to cover it under warranty because I removed the airbox and intake scoop. Any ideas on what I should do?

Thanks,
-George

George,

I would tell them to reconsider- taking off the snorkle/airbox has nothing to do w/ fuel leaks. I would politely remind them that a fuel leak in the area of the manifold could be a potentially dangerous situation. If they still refuse, contact SOA and have them intervene.

I can't imagine anyone not wanting to correct a potentially dangerous situation- if for no other reason than liability sakes.

Big Sky

[midlifecrisis]

This thread deserves another bump. It's been very mild in Minnesota this winter, however, today it was very cold. I smelled fuel after cold startup at work this afternoon. It cleared and seemed fine for the next two hours (Hoped it was the car in front of me). Restarted the car this evening after sitting for two hours. I found the fuel to be leaking badly exactly where it is shown in the pictures. I will attempt to tighten tomorrow. Two questions:
- Why does my car always breakdown when it's too cold to work on it? Don't bother answering this.
- Has anyone found "the easy way" to tighten those clamps?

Paul
red02wrx (37,000 miles )

[koloumb]

Deifnitely another bump. I'll have to check this out tomorrow [as it's dark] and see if I've got the same issue [random fuel leak smell in the cabin].

For those of you who's car is under warranty - I'd suggest taking it into the dealership [with the snorkel installed] so they are aware of the problem and fix it. You paid for the warranty so freakin use it to your benefit!

_0wen_

[sube151]

Ever since I fixed mine, it hasnt leaked again. So far so good
Make sure your dealer knows!

[midlifecrisis]

Thanks for posting all the info Sube151. I followed your directions, rotated the clamp and hose, then used a very long phillips to tighten the clamp. To make it a bit easier to get the phillips to line up straight with the screw, I loosened (not removed) the top front bolt holding the intake snorkle. This allowed me to push it out of the way a bit. Thanks again.

Paul
red02wrx

[BIGSKYWRX]

There are two lines and four potential loose clamps- I'm pretty confident that you can't get to all four w/o removing the turbo inlet pipe. I tried and could get to two, but not all four. I ended putting in a Samco pipe (good excuse anyways) and had all four exposed when I remove the oe inlet pipe. BTW the oe inlet pipe cannot be removed in one piece w/o removing the intake manifold.

Big Sky

[George71]

Here's detailed photos of where I found two of the four screws mentioned.
-George

[Twelvz]

I smelled fuel today. Very cold here in VB, coldest since I've had the car. Pics helped, thank you, but I could not see any fuel. I'm gonna leave the car be for a couple of days (no driving), then take a look at it. I hope if there is a leak that I can see it !

[Bolster]

All of this is just a good excuse to get a set of Perrin fuel rails! -Bolster

[MAD REX]

Well today was 5 degrees outside and after letting the car warm up for about 20 minutes with the heater on full blast I noticed the smell of gas. It was pretty strong.

I'll have to take a look at it after work.

[kenchan]

dang, im glad im not driving my wrx in the winter too much!

is it possible that after you tighten it down and it gets
warmer outside that the clamp is over torqued? just wondering.

SOA should issue a recall on this before someone burns to hell.

[jbritell]

the post below was also posted to forum

Warranty issues thread <Raw Fuel Smell>
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...09#post3378209

I was driving my 2002 wrx (21,000 miles) in extreme cold -20f or colder in a very remote area, and got a bad smell of gas in the car. I was in a remote location so had to wait the weekend till dealers opened on Monday morning . I called two & they professed they never heard of such a thing.

When weather was warmer 0 degeees I tied thecar again again and the smell was had gone so I drove it the 100 milles home.

I will call my dealer today.

This was very annoying as we had to make an unplanned layover of two days and the town had no car rental.

I called Subaru roadside assistance and they did offer to tow the car.

[nhluhr]

just thought I'd share my email correspondence from SOA on this fuel leak problem:

Dear Mr. Luhr:
Thank you for visiting the Subaru Web site and for your message. We are sorry to learn of your gas odor concern.

No technical service bulletins, service campaigns, or recalls have been issued in response to the condition you have described. Therefore, we must rely on the technical expertise of your local Subaru Dealership to duplicate and service this concern. As odors can sometimes be difficult to duplicate, you may want to consider allowing the dealership hold the vehicle overnight, subject to the same weather conditions under which you smell the odor.

Please be assured that all Subaru Dealerships have access to the Subaru Technical/Dealer Hotline for additional technical assistance, when necessary. We hope that your local dealership will be able to alleviate your worries, repairing this matter expeditiously. Should you require additional assistance, do not hesitate to call our Customer/Dealer Services Department at 1-800-SUBARU-3 (1-800-782-2783). Thank you for giving us the
opportunity to be of service.

Dawn Rainear
Subaru of America, Inc.
Case Number: 474229

I filed a complaint with the NHTSA as well and hopefully that will prompt a little more effort on SOA's part to correct this problem under recall or service bulletin.

[BIGSKYWRX]

Nick,

If you haven't already, would you mind posting also here:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...hreadid=131755

I've directed SOA here. How can something be so obvious and a company so oblivious .

Leaking fuel in an engine compartment seems like something that would get my attention.

Good idea on NHTSA!

Mike