gas smell, what to look for when hoses are good?

[ghostymosty]

Only after it has sat for a long while and the gas smell disappears after running engine for a very short time. I've been looking at hoses all over the engine (all good) and the smell is strongest near the passenger fender near the strut tower. I will be taking a trip to SoCal soon and will be leaving the car with a mechanic but I'd like to tell him some places to look at. It'll be getting all new coolant hoses, fuel hoses, fuel filter. The car has 34,000 miles and these things look like they have been replaced before, could any hard parts have been broken last time around?

[Guest]

OK, I found the source of the gasoline smell and got it fixed. The hose clamp on one of the hoses by the middle of the fender was just barely seeping when the fuel system was at full pressure. By the time I checked that hose, the gas had evaporated completely. I checked it one time with the ignition on but not running the engine, sure enough, I got a little bit of moisture on the clamp that evaporated very quickly. All the fuel hoses are now new, the fuel filter is new and every fuel clamp was replaced with a new factory clamp. The dealer charged about $250 to do that and had to order the clamps and filter from the Dallas depot. Now I just have to make time for having the coolant hoses and thermostat replaced since the mechanic doesn't want to be responsible for the car for a whole week. No biggie, just glad the problem showed itself finally. [color:"blue"]