89 IROC fuel recycling system

[doug&his89IROC]

I get a fuel vapor smell that seems to come from the rear driver's side of my 89 IROC convertible. The tank is solid and have new gas cap (does it need to be vented??). I don't smell anything in the engine compartment. What can I replace/fix to get rid of this smell, I haven't owned the car for long and didn't start smelling it until I filled the tank comepletely and put on a new gas cap because the other one was a locking one and I didn't have the key and couldn't tighten it.

HELP

Thanks

[mpayne]

The smell is probably coming from the gas tank filler neck. They tend to crack, it is a pretty common problem with these cars. To fix it, I would just get a piece of radiator hose and a hose clamp, and clamp it over the leak. That way you don't have to drop the tank to fix it.

As for the cap, I think it is supposed to be vented. If it isn't, then it will build excess pressure in the tank.

[mpayne]

TAKE NOTE: This is not the proper way of fixing the problem, if the neck is in fact the problem. I haven't done this, nor heard or seen anyone else do this procedure. I am probably going to fix mine this way unless someone has a good reason that it could possibly be dangerous. Maybe fuel being held on the outside of the neck, inside the rubber hose, don't throw a lit cigarette near that.

The proper way to fix a cracked fuel tank neck, is to either A) replace the whole gas tank (best way IMO), or B) remove the tank, empty it of gas, clean it out with soap and water, so that there are no gas fumes whatsoever, and weld the crack.

On other cars I've seen, there is just a rubber hose that acts as a gas tank filler neck. A possibility I have thought about would be to cut the neck off and leave about 1-2 inches of it so you can clamp a rubber fuel compatable hose onto it. You would have to fab a bracket or something to hold the top and use something on the end that the cap would screw into.