Gas smell after driving about 20 miles

[radink]

I have a 2001 Windstar. Since yesterday, after about driving for 20 miles or so, I can smell gas pretty badly. I do not see any visible leaks and I don't think it's coming out of the vents (been driving with the windows open). I did have a dash light on with the 2 codes 171 and 174. I had to unhook the battery 3 days ago, so the codes are gone. Any ideas on what's going on here?

[12Ounce]

Unhooking the battery cable doesn't fix anything ... it just makes the display disappear for a while. If you still have whatever is causing the "P" codes, the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) will reappear. It could be you have a vacuum (hose) leak, or a gas leak, or the infamous intake-manifold-bolt problem (= vacuum leak), leaky injectors, etc, etc, ... any of which can give you the gas smell.

[radink]

Originally Posted by 12Ounce

Unhooking the battery cable doesn't fix anything ... it just makes the display disappear for a while. If you still have whatever is causing the "P" codes, the Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) will reappear. It could be you have a vacuum (hose) leak, or a gas leak, or the infamous intake-manifold-bolt problem (= vacuum leak), leaky injectors, etc, etc, ... any of which can give you the gas smell.

I know that won't fix anything. I just wonder if the codes aren't currently present in the system, then the engine isn't mixing differently until the codes come on. I could be wrong and probably am.

It just started the day after they were reset. I have a feeling it's the vacuum leak issue based on the info I have read. My wife says it also doesn't accelerate normally all of the time and a few times where it has possibly wanted to stall.

[radink]

After getting my wife to look at the car (since she's the one driving it) the heavy fumes were coming from the gas cap. Looks like it was broken. It went on and no longer clicked. I replaced it and so far, so good.

[tripletdaddy]

It may be possible your codes could be related to the fuel cap not being on tight. The gas tank needs to be air tight for the gas recirculation and gasoline fume recovery systems to work properly. I can't put together a good explaination for the cause and effect of having lean conditions caused by a non airtight gas tank, but I feel there could be a reasonable connection.

[radink]

I suppose that's possible. I will keep an eye on it. The codes have yet to come back.