I have a 61 Valiant Hardtop, slant 6 and 2 barrel carby. The car runs ok and is regularly serviced and tuned by my mechanic (a Valiant specialist).

I am getting a smell of fuel inside the car - not always, but intermittently as I drive. Passengers in the rear seat usually smell the fuel first. There is no obvious evidence of fuel leakage or staining around the carby and I am fairly sure I don't have a problem with the fuel tank leaking.

I think I might have some fumes coming into the cabin around where the steering column goes through the floor as the seal is not the best.

I would appreciate your views on other things I should consider to prevent the smell of fuel inside the car.

Thanks, Peter

If you smell gasoline as you drive, there is a fuel leak. Take a close look at the carb and surrounding manifold for fuel stains. Also look at the fittings and hard lines back to the tank, and the fuel filter and its rubber coupling hoses.

Ken

Do the earlier A body cars have a hard partition between the rear seat and trunk? Later ones do not. If this is the case on the early A bodies, then the gasket for the fuel filler pipe to gas tank is a likely culprit. Also, check the vent tube. This car had no vapor recovery system, and if the tube leading from the filler pipe out below the car is broken, then all the vapor is building up in your trunk.

Does this happen more with windows open? When the windows are down, this creates a low pressure area along the outside of the open window, which can actually draw air into the car elsewhere from any leaks in the cabin.This in spite of the fact that it seems like the open window is allowing air to rush in. True, the open window creates a great deal of in-the-cabin turbulence but the flow of air at that point is really from inside the car, to outside. That is why a piece of paper that is circling round in this turbulence will eventually get sucked out the window.

The biggest leak is across the back seat and under it, as there is no real partition between the trunk and the cabin, at least not in the later A body cars. . All the space under the seat is free flowing/ So, any vapor build up would be drawn into the cabin with the windows down.

Sam

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I always had a fuel smell around my Valiant. My fuel tank was rusted on the top. fuel wouldn't spill out but the fumes could escape.

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Thank you for your posts. I will check out all the points raised. One thing I had not considered was the fuel vent tube in my boot.

On another point, when I fill my tank I have much trouble with fuel blowback when my tank is nearing fill capacity. Usually I have been filling my fuel tank to 3/4 to avoid the mess.

When I was restoring my car I lengthened the filler tube so it entered the fuel tank a further 1'' as I was unhappy with the original length as it did not enter the fuel tank far enough. I cut the filler tube into 2 lengths and then joined both sections with a length of proper fuel tubing.

In making this change I had to join the overflow / vent tube inside the filler tube with a length of hose too; this action is probably causing my overflow problem when I fill my fuel tank.

With the new gas formulas it may be necessary to change the rubber fuel line and boot. I had changed some about 4 years ago (to EFI) then had to change some of that this year as we went to Ethonal and the new Oxiganited or what ever fuels.
I found an article in one of the trade mags that cited why the hoses were being eatin up.
Frank

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Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
73 Duster - Race Car
66 Dart Wagon - DD
178" FED
82 D150
All Slant powered

I found the problem, or should I say a younger set of eyes found the problem.

The fuel vent tube, which runs from the top of the fuel filler tube to outside of the car to vent the fuel tank, had some pin prick rust holes that was letting fuel vapour into the boot/trunk area and then drawn into the cabin.

I replaced the vent tube and the fuel odour has gone.

Hi Peter,

I recently had the same problem with my 1961 Dodge Lancer and what I found was that one rubber line going into the fuel pump was bad so I replaced that but I still smelled some gas. After replacing the rubber gas line and starting the car, I realized that the fuel pump itself was leaking some gas and had to be replaced. Just double check that. We figure that fuel pumps will last forever but they do go out ocassionally. Hope that helps, Jerry7777.