Gasoline odor

[414TATA]

A question for the Pre War Buick owners

I have a '41 with the factory dual carbs. (re-built last September)

Also replaced the fuel pump last September.

When I get back to the garage after a 30 mile or so run. The car has a gasoline odor. Not really strong but it is there. Even if I don't drive the car for several days it still has the faint odor of gasoline near the grill area.

I can't find any visible leak of fuel under the car or other wise.

My concern is I keep the car in my attached garage which is also the location of my gas water heater. Before I had the fuel pump replaced the odor was strong enough that the water heater detected the odor and turned its self off.

This has not happened since the fuel pump was replaced but I am concerned about the odor of gasoline near the engine area.

Any ideas :confused: or is this just the smell of a 70 year old Buick?

Thanks for the help

Wayne

1941 Super 51

[JFranklin]

Don't burn the house down. If you are using adulterated gasoline (E-10), stop that. It attacks rubber parts such as fuel lines and fuel pump diaphragms. Next clean all the areas gas may leak so you can find a leak. Now go for a short drive and return outside of the garage, open the hood and keep a close watch while the car idles, have patience. if you don't see a drip anywhere in joints or connections take a piece of tissue paper and wipe at each joint. If nothing shows shut off the engine and try the tissue test again. If this fails to locate a leak I would call a garage that has test equipment to detect gas fumes. Good luck because if you can smell it it is there somewhere. If your oil has not been changed in a while and your car dumped gas from a leaking needle valve in the carb you could be smelling gasoline contaminated oil. Take a wiff at the oil filler tube when the car is off if that is suspected.

[ply33]

Two things: The bowls on carburetors of that vintage typically have a vent of some sort, so you will get evaporation of gas from them regardless. However it can be made much worse if the float level is high as the heat soak after stopping the engine will cause a little expansion that can force some gas into the manifold where it can evaporate into the air.

Second thing, building codes require - or at least used to require - vents in your garage low in the wall with a minimal area based on the number of cars the garage is designed for. Make sure you haven't blocked those off in some way. Gas fumes are heavier than air and should be released through those vents before they can build up high enough to hit an ignition source. Also codes require that any ignition source in the garage be raised up above those vents for the same reason. Regardless of the condition or age of your car, you should make sure that you or a previous owner of the house hasn't altered things to create an unsafe condition. (I am not a builder, etc. and the code stuff may be only for California, but I found this stuff in the uniform building code book when I was looking into remodeling some years ago. Your jurisdiction may not use the UBC or may not use all parts of it, but I suspect this type of fire safety is pretty common across the country.)

[Mark Shaw]

With two carbs you get twice the fun... Straight 8 engines produce lots of heat immediately after shut down. This can cause expension and "percolation" of the gas in the carb. bowl. This is why many Buick owners use an electric fuel pump to prime the fuel system prior to starting.

There really is no smple cure for this problem other than adding a shut off solenoid valve ahead of the carbs so you can literally flip a switch & let the engine run out of gas when parking it in the garage. I do this manually with all my cars that have updraft carbs.

Also, your gas water heater should be mounted 18" or more above the garage floor.

I believe this too is in most building codes.