Gas smell in car interior?

I went to drive the Subaru today & when I got in, it was like someone had spilled a large glass of gasoline on the carpet or something. I'm wondering what caused it? I filled up yesterday morning, drove to work no issues. Came home 8 hrs later, still no smell. Same thing last weekend, filled up on the way home from purchase Sunday night, no smell next day or the rest of the week.

Is there a vent of some sort on the tank? I didn't spill any, and would have noticed after fill up yesterday morning, or on the way home that evening. Seriously hoping it's something simple, versus leaking tank or something.

It is the rubber fuel lines under the right (passenger) side of the intake manifold that connect the metal fuel lines. There is a kit from subaru, or you can do like me and replace the two small pieces of hose with bulk fuel injection hose.

EDIT: you don't have a turbo

That was a common problem on the 2002 WRX in cold weather. I'm not sure if it was a recall or not or if it affected other models bt it sounds like the same thing.

Have you popped the hood? Fuel injector gaskets get dry & crack.

It's a 2001 RS2.5 NA. I'll do some checking tomorrow. SWMBO just said she thought she smelled some gas/exhaust coming up from the garage. Oh joy.

Subaru SUCKS about recalls and TSBs. If they say it affects a limited vin range in "cold weather" states that means it is common to all subarus with boxer motors.

I just moved it outside, whew the garage definitely smelled of gas.

The clamps on the fuel line get loose in cold weather. Tighten when cold and the problem will go away.

Subarus have a crapload of rubber fuel line under the hood, all on top of the engine, probably a good idea to just replace it all every decade or so on general principle.

Some threads on RS25.com lead me to believe this is common. Mentioned: rubber lines under intake manifold, injector o-rings, fuel pump gasket. A few mentioned some inspection plates under the rear seats that have a gasket that needs proper torque or could leak vapor.

Tomorrow I'll look for hoses and clamps that are leaking, hopefully obvious.

(Interesting that the weather went from cold Thursday to 50ish Friday to 60 today (and currently 64F at 9pm. Wouldn't it be the other way around for this?)

If it's not obvious at first, just keep cycling the key till it becomes obvious.

I would also inspect the fuel lines above the tank. (There are multiple lines, that move fuel from one side to the other) That would correspond to a leak after refuelling, and it probably would evaporate before touching the ground.

We tighten a lot of loose Subaru hose clamps in cold weather...

Here in Wisconsin, virtually all of my Subaru owning friends, both turbo and NA, have had to tighten the fuel hose clamps on the right side of the engine when the temp drops. It is VERY common for whatever reason, hopefully that is all it is.

Have you got comprehensive insurance?

In reply to Woody:

My dad called it an insurance friction fire.

Well that and a completely inappropriate phrase I won't use.

Looked it over with a flashlight outside since the rain finally stopped and it was in the 50s. I really didn't see (or smell) anything under the hood, but man did it stink in the interior.

I'm guessing something behind those inspection plates (unfortunately) under the back seats?

Jerry wrote: Looked it over with a flashlight outside since the rain finally stopped and it was in the 50s. I really didn't see (or smell) anything under the hood, but man did it stink in the interior. I'm guessing something behind those inspection plates (unfortunately) under the back seats?

Check the lines where they exit the interior and go down to the tank. Mine were rusted pretty bad there.

I had no problems getting the fuel line recall done here on a 02 WRX. SOC covered it no problem.

Looks like I'm driving the Scion one more day, glad I haven't sold it yet.

Update: Found a rubber fuel line rotted away and hose clamp loose on the fuel tank. Got that fixed but the smell didn't go away, maybe slightly. Today found that the rear seat cushion got soaked. Rear seat is currently out back in the Florida room (basically covered patio but screen windows) covered in baking soda & more baking soda sitting in the back seat area of the car. This weekend I'll probably be scraping the foam off the seat area in the car & maybe a hair dryer to try to speed things up.

Hoping the seat didn't get too soaked or I may be looking for a new rear seat.

Upside: your gas mileage just got better!