My apologies for the length...
The smell started after a long weekend trip to show my gold car at the Pinehurst Concourse. I don’t drive the car much. It mostly sees the sun only on perfect Sunday mornings or local car events. But that weekend was special and we actually put a full 3 tanks of gas through her. The car performed flawlessly and showed well on the lawn. On our return home the fuel gauge showed just over a half tank. Before putting her away I thought it would be a good idea to blow the leaves out of the garage and get the road dust off the car. It was then parked and put to sleep. Upon entering the garage the next morning, I noticed an overwhelming smell of fuel. I figured that I must have overfilled the car at some point during the weekend and it had somehow not cleared yet. Arriving back home later in the day and opening the garage, I was disappointed that the smell still remained. My brain now tells me that during 4 days of driving, something must have let loose or gotten fatigued, we just need to find it.
That night began the research phase of problem diagnosis and resolution. Early 911S Registry, Samba, Pelican, and every forum related to the aircooled 911 that Google and my bookmark list could locate. The next few days were spent in and around the various fuel connections in the upper front of the car. All connections were firm and clean, the gaskets were fresh. I could find no fuel smell emanating from anywhere obvious. Even the notorious black box evaporator on the firewall was in good order. So back to more research, more diagrams, more drawings and more theories. Days went by and I proceeded to stick my nose in places on the car that I’m ashamed to say should not be mentioned in mixed company. But still nothing, no clue! Remember, I just returned from a car show, so the engine compartment was spotless. Surely any leakage or fuel sweating past a fitting would be quite obvious. Nope, clean as the day of the show. And the smell continued to get more annoying. Next phase - under the car.
Bring out the jack stands, the floor jack and a few soft drinks. Pull the front wheels and the front suspension panel from underneath. Review the various connections in the evap system. Yes even that odd plastic bottle in the left front fender. Then moving to the line connectors that transfer fuel from the tank to the rear of the car - all were properly tight except one. Wow, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I actually found a loose hose clamp. Not only was it loose, but when the new lines were put in, the installer never even fastened it. So I found it, and now it’s properly tightened! Oddly enough, I still notice no odor of fuel in this location either. There is no staining of any kind on the top surface of the suspension panel, just forty plus years of accumulated dust.
Feeling good now that I’ve located the problem, I look around a bit more under the car and prepare it to come down. Bolt everything back in place, lower and park. Tidy up a bit and it’s time for a glass of wine. Bright and early the next morning I head out to the garage only to be disappointed by the continued annoying odor of fuel wafting everywhere! I’m stumped. Back to the research and the diagrams and the forums. There’s still one more connector that I missed. It’s in the back, but it’ll need to wait since I’ve been ignoring “the to do list” for too long.
Remember that blower? Part of the to do list required a bit of yard work. Getting out the lawn mower, the edger and eventually the blower. The mower and edger were full of fuel and the blower was the last thing I touched. It was on the low side so I head over to the metal cabinet where I keep the 2 cycle. It turns out that the 1 gallon plastic fuel container had leaked all over the inside of the cabinet and into my oil drain pan. A grand puddle of fuel open to the air, filling my garage with an overwhelmingly rich effluvium. Mystery solved, overthinking!
“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
Albert Einstein
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