fuel smell and surging idle issue

[bridorf]

Just wanted to get some opinions:

 

Car has been fine with no CEL coming on. This afternoon I noted a strong fuel smell coming from somewhere and realized it was coming from my 1993 Legacy L once I parked the car. A really strong raw fuel smell, but no leaks evident anywhere. Also on the subsequent start up the car cranked over for awhile before starting and once it did the idle flucuated up and down quite dramatically. I drove it around the block and the symptoms stopped.

 

Leaky injector or bad coolant temp. sensor?

[lmdew]

Just to be safe, I'd pull the fuel pump access cover in the trunk or behind the rear seat in a wagon and make sure the fuel lines are not leaking.

[bratman18]

Also check the gas filler tube, I have seen many of these leak and you can't really see the leak because there is a cover over it and they fill up with road dirt and when they leak you can really smell gas. So its worth checking it out

[nipper]

il'd check all the fuel lines, especially the short ones, they can be sneaky.

 

 

nipper

[bridorf]

It was the fuel line (return side) - acutally it was the spring type clamps just worn out I guess. I replaced them with some screw type clamps and no more issue.

[Suzam]

...especially the short ones, they can be sneaky.

 

 

nipper

 

Being 6'3" I've found that to be true in most cases!