I smell gas...

I noticed there seems to be a slight odor of gas after driving the caprice, not when its been sitting for a while. i dont think theres any leaks, i've inspected around and i dont see any drips, so it must be vapors or something. this would probably be a carburetor adjustment huh? i dont know much about carburetors to even start looking. the canister is not connected to the carb if thats any help too.

I noticed there seems to be a slight odor of gas after driving the caprice, not when its been sitting for a while. i dont think theres any leaks, i've inspected around and i dont see any drips, so it must be vapors or something. this would probably be a carburetor adjustment huh? i dont know much about carburetors to even start looking. the canister is not connected to the carb if thats any help too.


Well, until you hook that bad boy back up, expect those vapors to linger!

My canister hasn't been hooked up for about a year and a half now... it's one of those things that I was gonna get to but never did yet. But I never had any vapor problems until last spring. I'd smell gas after driving it but never saw any leaks. It turns out I did have a leak, but it was so slight that it only soaked the outside of the rusty fuel line and the chassis a little bit, but never put out enough gas to drip on the pavement.

PS: How were the canisters hooked up on older model vehicles? I don't have any emissions AT ALL so there doesn't seem to be a place to hook it back up.

yeah i was having that issue a few months back when i first got the car. i still cant seem to locate where that line plugs into on the carb, if i did i would have put it back a while ago.

I don't advise touching any adjustment on the carb until you get your canister back in the system. If you can still read the emissions schematic sticker over the radiator, try and trace all the lines and hoses to see what else is possibly not hooked up right or at all.

A decent manual like Chiltons will have a schematic of the emissions system, or your local library might have a Mitchells manual or something else in the reference section.

I really don't think that your carb is the immediate issue, so avoid the urge to adjust it. It might even have those tamper resistant caps over the tuning screws.

Bob

I think i may have finnaly found where the line goes, look in this pic and tell me if i may be right: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a367/pctvman/c.jpg the sticker says that line goes to the canister purge valve but i dont see anything that looks like a canister purge valve under there.

Maybe the Haynes manual will have it. I do have a copy at home but have not been impressed with it compared to a Motors or a Chiltons manual.

If you really strike out, let me know. I'll be glad to pop the hood on my '84 and take some pictures for you over the weekend. Mine is 100% emissions compliant.

Bob

That would actually be really helpful, i saw under the hood of silicon's caprice but his is a little different than mine, your 84 is probably just like my setup. get a shot of where that line goes into on the carb from the canister so i can see if i got mine in the right spot.

thats right thats where it goes. straight from the carb to the canister.

Here are some pics I took for an earlier thread:

http://www.silicon212.org/purge.jpg

http://www.silicon212.org/purge2.jpg

http://www.silicon212.org/purge3.jpg

http://www.silicon212.org/purge4.jpg

http://www.silicon212.org/purge5.jpg

judging from the pics as well it looks like i may have it in the right place, what i dont understand is my car doesnt have a canister purge valve, unless it was removed, the sticker under the hood shows there is supposed to be one though. however after i got a tune up they did put a line from the pcv valve into the carb where it looks like the purge valve used to connect to. if i could still get some pics from the 84 though that would be good, just so i can compare

Correction: i dont think that was where the hose went after all. i had it on there for about two days, after that the car would not start and gas would gush out from everywhere under the carb, and the floats got stuck... another lesson learned. o well it starts and runs fine again now without that hose and the floats un-stuck. after studying those pics, i dont have a vapor canister purge valve anywhere so thats probably why im having such a hard time finding where this hose goes. why would someone eliminate all this stuff? wont it just cause bad gas mileage? i think the line may go from the canister, into the purge valve first then to the carb.

Great pix silicon. I took some but your engine is a bit cleaner than mine is and give greater detail.

Bob

yeah those are good pics, great detail and good for reference