Just noticed this today, haven't really looked at anything yet. When I park & get out, I notice a strong gas odor while I'm standing there getting ready to shut the door. Don't notice it in the cab, checked both gas caps are on & tight. Truck details in signature. Any ideas / suggestions what to look for / check will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Had similar problem in 89 Aerostar, but only noticed it when filling up. Turns out my plastic gas tank had a crack in the top of it.

 

it could be something with the fuel pump ........ do you have dual fuel tanks or singal?

 

Dual tanks, haven't looked hard, but I'm not standing in a puddle of gas when I close the door, so it must not be a big leak what / wherever it is. Just checked the weather, supposed to warm back up tomorrow, but light rain. Sun., not quite as warm & heavy rain. Maybe Mon. ( taking the day off), sunshine & 60°.

 

What's the milage like and is it the same on both tanks? There is a common condition that results in the active pump pushing gas into the other tank while you drive and possibly overfilling it, have a look at the fill tube area under the fender for the presence of raw gas.

 

Conanski, milage is unknown, guessing around 145,000. May have turned over more than once for all I know. Just noticed it today, been driving it since about the middle of Nov. Wondered about that cross flow ( or whatever the term is ), haven't had it before & didn't check the gauge tonight. Usually run 1 tank down to below ¼ & then switch. Did check when I first started driving it & no problem. Right now, one tank should be ready to fill & the other one I'm running on was showing around ½. Will check to see what the other tank shows tomorrow. That transfer ( think I remembered the right word now ) problem is caused by this NLA valve, right? Have read about this before & was worried about that when I first started driving it, but the tanks showed staying the same when I switched ( no sign of fuel transfer ), so I forgot about it. What's the fix for that ( IF that's my problem)? Just reread that & guess you meant FUEL milage. Haven't sat down & crunched the numbers lately, do get a receipt & write the milage on it when I fill up. Checked when I first started driving it, was getting a 12 around here & pulled 14.7 on a trip. Thanks for the advice everybody. Guess I'll start looking by the fill tube Mon. & see if it's got any fresh gas.

 

Yeah it was the fuel transfer problem I was referring to, your truck doesn't have a switching valve on the frame just check valve inside the tanks, and it's these check valves that stick or get clogged and lead to this problem. If you can track the milage on both tanks and take note of what tank is in use when there is a gas odor you should be able to figure out which one is causing the problem.

 

Thanks Conanski, just started noticing it, so I'm going to guess it's this tank I'm on now. Does this mean dropping the tank to repair / replace the valve? Maybe since it just started, I can get lucky & dump Gumout ( or something similar ) in to clean it out although I did run a can of Seafoam through each tank & 1 more through the intake ( sucked through the power brake line ) a few months ago.

 

Had that problem with mine when I was running off the back tank. The fuel return seemed like it was dumping into the FT tank with the bad pump. It filled the tank right up to the gas cap. Noticed it when I got out and there was gas dripping out of the cap/vent.

 

o-ring on the sending unit? look at the tank straps and see if the rubber on them is melted. thats how i found mine

 

I had the problem too and there was nothing on the ground. I also only have one tank. There is (was) a valve in the frame rail between the pump and tanks. On your truck im sure this will be the valve all your lines run through) Im not quite sure what it was but it was leaking. I removed it and put in some quick connect steel fuel line or whatever.

Just trying to help you from getting into more work than you need to. Its an easy visual and feel thing.

 

Thanks for the additional replies everybody. Just filled both tanks the other day & still no signs of any leaks ( nothing on the ground or by either cap ). Will try to get under it this weekend & look a little closer to see what I can find. Mower business is breaking loose all at once. I've got about 4 or 5 I need to work on / look at over the next week. Have another field trip tomorrow afternoon.

 

Not sure if they use salt where you live in the winter time, but I've put two fuel tanks in my 96' F-150 because salt builds up between the tank and tank strap. Then over the course of 10 years or so eats a tiny hole in the bottom of the tank. The hole will grow, but rather slowly. For a while I had unnoticable drips, maybe one drop a day, but I could smell it. The rubber liner on the tank straps gets very gooey and starts to hang down from the tank. Both tanks were around $100 at O'Reily each time I bought one, not a fun job to do, but gas leaks aren't something to ignore.
Good Luck, Mitch

 

Mitch, they firmly believe in salt & I hope to get under it this weekend & look to see if I can see anything. My first thought was as Conanski suggested, the crossflow / transfer problem but have seen no sign of that.

 

No his truck doesn't have this valve, last time it was used was in '89.