taylor_f

Hi there everyone, my future father in law was asking me to get on here and see if we all can figure out what's wrong with their car.

It's a 2002 Impala, V6, 3.4L, Auto. In the morning when they start up their car, they turn on the heat and let it heat up (were in Central Kentucky, it's cold....). When they get in the car, it smells badly of the odor of gas. It stays in the vehicle I guess for a while until it's aired out.

Does anyone have any ideas or a where to start? I appreciate all the help.

Thanks,
Taylor

EinST

Welcome to the forum. Any fumes into the cabin have to come from the outside, through the cowl, unless there's a gas can sitting inside or something. Get to it in the morning, get in, smell the inside. Start it up, get out, walk around, see if you can locate the source of the fume. If parked inside the garage, be sure to open the garage door and leave it open.

taylor_f

He couldn't pin point the leaking, anyone else have any ideas to troubleshoot?

Thanks,
Taylor

Steve Sims

i have a 2005 impala with the 3.4L V6 and i also had the same issue with smelling gas thru the heater. i ended up finding out that the fuel pressure regulator was leaking. i verified this by poppin the hood, starting the car for the first time of the day and quickly looked at the regulator and sure enough it was leaking. but only for a very short time. this can also cause some hard starting issues if the car sits for a few hours or so because the regulator's job other than to regulate the fuel pressure is to hold residual pressure while the car is not running. and like the previous guy said, the air for the heater and ac is drawn in from the cowl area (slotted area in front of the wipers) in fresh air mode. now if that is the case with your father in law's car then its about $50 for the regulator and some time to replace it. this involves removing the air inlet hose, throttle body (2 opposing corner bolts) to make easy access to line fitting below. loosen the line first then remove the bolt mounting the regulator to the intake. then with a little persuasion, it'll come right out. it's a tight work area but if ur mechanically inclined, you should have no problem. but if you dont have the cash you can simply hit the recirculation button and that will keep the smell of gas out of the car. not the way to fix the real problem but it will keep the dangerous gas fumes out. hope this helps you out