Smells like gas?

[shado40]

I have an 89 cherokee with a gm 2.8 v6 with a two barrel carb. Whenever it sits an idles and after I shut it off the whole things stinks of gas. I can't find any leaks anywhere and other wise it runs fine is it possibly a carberator problem?

[jpritchard]

Originally Posted by shado40

I have an 89 cherokee with a gm 2.8 v6 with a two barrel carb. Whenever it sits an idles and after I shut it off the whole things stinks of gas. I can't find any leaks anywhere and other wise it runs fine is it possibly a carberator problem?

I'm having the same problem except my 89 cherokee smells like gas inside even when it's running. If you get an answer to this question can you send me a quick email. please

[shado40]

Yes mine does too, when I have the vent on it's worse. But I must correct... My jeep is an 85, don't know if it matters...

[nitrotechnician]

I'm pulling this from a Haynes manual (chapter 6) but it may be a problem with the Emissions and/or vaccum system. There is a charcoal canister (on my 86 with the 2.8L it's to the right of the radiator when facing the vehicle but some are mounted to the firewall) that is responsible for absorbing the vapors. According to the book, when the pressure in the fuel tank exceeds 3 psi a relief valve opens allowing the vapors to go into the canister. Something in this system may be blocked or malfunctioning. I would start by checking the hoses feeding the canister for cracks or kinks and check the canister itself. There is a way to test that the charcoal and filter in the canister is okay but I'm unable to find those instructions in the book (i think you blow low psi compressed air into it and check if charcoal blows out-if so its bad, but I may be way off on that so don't hold me to it). You may also want to check out the EGR valve for proper function- this is a more expensive part to replace so hopefully the other stuff works out. Hope that helps.

[kmerian]

Had the same problem with my 89 twice. First time it just turned out to be a bad seal on the gas cap (it had the same cap for 15 years). The second time it was a bad o-ring on one of my fuel injectors.

[Saudade]

Ditto what Notro and Kmerian said.

How does it run? If you idle it for a bit, then give it the gas, do you see smoke come out the tailpipe?

[shado40]

Thanks for the help. I figured out what the problem was. The mechanical fuel pump went bad and was spraying gas out, however I didn't notice right away because it was only leaking while the jeep was running. Now that I replaced the fuel pump it works fine and hopefully my mileage will go up as well.