Gas smell

[mfulper]

I have a 2000 caravan. 3.3 liter engine (70k+ miles). On at least 3 occasions, I have noticed a strong gas smell inside my car while I was stopped. Two of times during cold weather, this last time it was hot... about two weeks ago. Also, on two of the times, I had drive at least 10 miles or more. I did a search and found two other posts similar to mine, one was a 1999 caravan, and the other was a 1998. the response said it could be the O rings and that there had been a recall on some 99' models and some 2000 models. The questions I have are:
1. In both the previous cases and in mine, the dealers found no problem, yet the problem is still there intermittently, how do I get this nailed down? I am tired of driving the 15 miles to the dealer only to be told, they can't find anything wrong. The guy in the service department who I talked to this morning said if the O rings were leaking, it would be obvious.
2. I would have thought that the dealer would have addressed the issue if there was a recall. Do you have to ask specificall about this? I have been the sole owner of this car.

I appreciate any feed back, I feel like I have a target painted on my back every time I go in for a repair. Yhanks.

[Stretch58]

3 times with a 96 Caravan I had to have them replace the seal on the top of the fuel tank for the pump etc. Most noticed the smell when the tank was full. If that is the case with yours, if you fill it up, and smell it, maybe you could feel up on top of the tank somehow and see if there is fuel laying there. By the way if you suspect it is leaking there, they really like it when you bring it in with the gas down lower rather than a full tank. I am quite sure they have to drop the tank for the repair.

[mfulper]

I know the last time this happned the tank was probably about half full. This smell was very strong on the car, so strong that I could hardly breath and had to put down the window. Something is not right.

[Stretch58]

Originally Posted by mfulper

I know the last time this happned the tank was probably about half full. This smell was very strong on the car, so strong that I could hardly breath and had to put down the window. Something is not right.

Wondering how the gas smell is getting in the car in the first place. Are you running your air on recirc instead of outside air? If you use the outside or fresh air mode, with all the windows closed, it should pressurize the interior and not let anything in, except through the A/C inlet vent in front of the windshield. That should help narrow down which end of the car it is coming from. With the smell that strong, I would think you would see a wet spot on the ground when you park it, or maybe smell it when you open the hood, if it is around the engine(not good).

[mfulper]

This last time, I had the windows up and the AC on. The smell seemed to get better when I turned recir on. I guess it could be coming from the AC vent. I have discovered that the middle back fuel injector is all fouled up and there is a discolored spot on the middle front thing in the manifold. The theory being that maybe it is spraying gas and that is causing the smell when conditions are right. If that theory is correct, it could explain a couple of other mysterious problems.

[HeadlessHorseman]

Don't know if this applies to your year, but there was a fuel rail recall on certain '96, '97, & '98 GC's - fuel rail leaking fuel onto the top of the motor causing explosions and fires under the hood... it was a free fix for me and maybe for youi too.

[jjsacco]

The problem only occurs during cold weather. The leak is at the fuel supply line hose connection on the passenger side of the engine compartment. The o-ring in the fancy snap on connector leaks during cold weather. My solution was to remove the expensize factor hose and replace it with a rubber fuel line hose and two fuel line clamps. Worked perfectly, with no leaks for last two years. You must use the hose and clamps listed for use with fuel injection systems.