Hi all, welcome to another episode of TypeRod's Tahoe...as you may remember earlier this year, I had to replace the charcoal canister as well as my original alternator..lol!

But not when I come out of my garage to get into the Tahoe, I smell gas coming from the left rear wheel well. Doesn't matter if the engine is running or is turned off. After a google search its all pointing to a rusted fuel pump...I don't see any gas dripping down...

I will try to get up underneath the vehicle to see whats going on...will probably have to get a telescopic mirror to see the top of the gas tank.

Has anyone experienced this issue before? What did it turn out to be?

2007 Tahoe LTZ 5.3L; ~272,000 miles

thanks in advance!

 

had a friend with the same thing. they ended up having to drop the tank and replace the sending unit

 

Now that I have created the post, I don't smell the gas anymore...lol..but I do smell something similar to it, but its the new tires I just put on a month or so ago. I think the heat from the weather is making them off-gas a more stronger smell than normal and a faint whiff of it kinda smells like gas....I will still get up under the car and try to see if anything is out of place though..

 

I'm almost kinda hoping thats the issue with mine...So I can finally replace the fuel pump and sending unit....I'm annoyed that the fuel gauge is flaking out on me, and it shows the tank is empty when I know its not, lol.

 

if i can remember right the top of his sending unit was rusted all to hell. if the connection has been compromised then i could see it causing the gauge to act all up

 

The gauge has been flaky for a year or two now...but I agree maybe it was just the first sign of something else like the rust issue...still need to get under the car! arrggggh lol

 

Ok so last night while idling in a parking lot, I got out and took a whiff...definitely smell gasoline...

 

Brought the car into one of my go-to shops, they recommended I go to another shop a block away. I brought it to them, they said there is gas puddling up on top of the tank, but they can't tell what the root cause is, they did not drop the tank. So I decided to just let them do the repair, they say it'll be over $1000...not too happy. They won't put in customer parts. I can get the GM OEM fuel pump for about 215 bux on rockauto, but since they won't put it in b/c it came from me, I'll just have to eat whatever they charge me for their GM OEM unit they get from the dealership or wherever.

Stay tuned for updates....havent heard back from them yet, probably not until tomorrow.

 

dealers/shops will get the part from a parts store (like autozone, napa or advance) and lets say if they get it for 215 they'll double the cost so now that pump cost $430. its all about making money. its not a hard job to do but i think the hardest part is disconnecting the plastic fuel lines

 

If I had access to a lift, I would've tried this repair. But now that I know the metal fuel lines running to the engine from the tank are fairly rusted, I'm going to have them replaced too, since the tank will be dropped anyway, might as well take care of any other issues seen.