Gas Smell - Knew it was something.....

[Cowboys Fan 87]

Hey everyone,

I posted many months ago that when it was cold here (In TN that is anything below 40 degrees F ) and I would go out to my garage to get in my car, I would smell a gasoline odor. This was, by an large, dismissed by the dealer and since it warmed up and I didn't smell anything, I dismissed it as well.

A couple of things have happened recently:One, it has been a lot colder here (like 10-20 F in the mornings) for several days, and two, we've had a few rough spots form on the road from my home in the sticks out to the office where I work.

On Monday of this week, Jan 22nd, I filled up my car and drove straight home. This was around 5pm. Next morning, I open the door from the house to the garage and was knocked down by the smell of gasoline. This was the worst ever. Same for the next day, etc.

I looked all around the car, no drips or puddles or stains. Nothing indicated a leak, other than the odor. I check the gas cap...Yep, still there an on tight. Now I'm just ticked off....

I called the dealership, which had been very unhelpful, and found that they had been sold and all of the service managers had been replaced. I spoke with the main service manager and told him that I was bringing this car to him on Friday (first chance I had, these guys are a little over 2 hours away) and it would either be fixed or traded away on Friday.

On Friday, I met with the Service Manager and, to my surprise, an Engineer had driven all the way up from the Smyrna, TN office. Apparently the new owners of this dealership have A LOT of DEALERSHIPS and this was my 3rd time in there for this and the TPMS issue. I explained all of the problems that have been discussed on this site (gave him the URL) and wanted them to check all of it.

So I leave it with them at 9am and they call me at 4pm to come back and talk to them.

Also keep in mind that someone has reported a car fire to the NHTSA.

They took me to a meeting room and had me sit down...which scared me a little...and the Engineer stood up and proceeded to draw on the white board behind him. "Here is how your gas tank looks." (See my very bad version of this below). "What we found was that this connector between the fuel intake neck and the gas tank was improperly installed at the factory. As the weather was cold, this connector shrank. Combined with the bumpy road you described, this connector had nearly worked its way off which allowed for the vapor leak and why you never saw any drips. I'll bet, if you had pulled one car length forward after filling up your car, you would have found a small puddle of gasoline where your car was sitting. "

\ \ \ \ \ \ { } - Connector \ \ -- --------------- | Gas tank | --------------------

So, if you notice a gasoline smell from after you park your car in a confined space, you might want to have them check the fuel filling system. I check in the garage this morning. It's 22 F out there and NO GAS SMELL!

Oh yeah...as for the other stuff:Tie Rod - Good shapeAC Compressor Clicking Noise - Normal operation, they demoed this to me on another new Versa and on a new Altima, they all make a little noise, you just can hear it at idle better on the Versa. Air Bag Cover - Mine is not broken, but his thought was that it was most likely a training issue for the factory.TPMS - BCM Failed and on orderLeak in back - Mine does not leak and he said it could be anything w/o actually laying eyes on the car.
Modified by Cowboys Fan 87 at 8:16 AM 1/27/2007

[proxim2020]

Cool, I'm glad to see that you finally got the problem fixed and didn't end up burning down your car. I wonder if the car that caught fire had the same problem. Maybe the problem was a little bit worse that yours and the vapors were ignited by the exhaust.

[Ever Victorious]

Dear god... you mean someone at Nissan is actually paying attention?

Good thread!

[Montag]

Wow! I'm glad you got that fixed. Now I have a question - those of us who park on the street, how would we notice this problem? I guess check each time we fill up?

[OKVersa]

I want to drive to TN and have them look at my car! I'm in love with your new dealer.

[stevenjb]

According to your statement. It would appear that this issue would result in a Technical Bulletin or Recall category. Rubber (hose) shrinkage on a fuel filler line is a serious issue.

Should this be the case with a number of Versa vehicles, you would wonder what they are smoking in Mexico while assembling these vehicles.

[QUOTE=Cowboys Fan 87]Hey everyone,

"What we found was that this connector between the fuel intake neck and the gas tank was improperly installed at the factory. As the weather was cold, this connector shrank. Combined with the bumpy road you described, this connector had nearly worked its way off which allowed for the vapor leak and why you never saw any drips. I'll bet, if you had pulled one car length forward after filling up your car, you would have found a small puddle of gasoline where your car was sitting. "

\ \ \ \ \ \ { } - Connector \ \ -- --------------- | Gas tank | --------------------]

[Cowboys Fan 87]

I want to drive to TN and have them look at my car! I'm in love with your new dealer.

It probably helped that Smyrna was only 1.5 hours away from my dealer.

Also, I agree, the new guys do things a lot differently. The Service Manager spent 30 minutes with me when I dropped off the car. This may have been because of the 'Official Company' with him, we will see when I get the BCM back to fix the TPMS issue. I'll admit I was impressed.

[Cowboys Fan 87]

According to your statement. It would appear that this issue would result in a Technical Bulletin or Recall category. Rubber (hose) shrinkage on a fuel filler line is a serious issue.

Should this be the case with a number of Versa vehicles, you would wonder what they are smoking in Mexico while assembling these vehicles.

I would hope so, but they still haven't release a TSB for the TPMS problem that a lot more people are having.

I wonder if there weren't just a handful of assembly line people who caused a lot of these issues. I don't have any problems with my air bag cover, some do. Those seem to be the biggest issues.

The new Service Manager said that they get cars from the Mexico plant with random missing / damaged items nearly every month. He said some don't come with stickers, light bulbs, 2nd VOBs, manuals, and so on. He said there never seems to be a pattern to it. He also said that they are now giving each new Versa and Sentra a complete inspection when they arrive and he's going to add "Check Gas Fill Line" to the list for a little while, so he said.

[Cowboys Fan 87]

Wow! I'm glad you got that fixed. Now I have a question - those of us who park on the street, how would we notice this problem? I guess check each time we fill up?

Without the confined space to trap the odor, I'm not sure. I smelled ever so slight amounts of it at times when my car was parked at work, such a slight amount that you would easily dismiss it.

I guess the easiest way would be to fill the car up to the very top by the gas cap and see if you notice a drip, at least that's what the Engineer speculated. Other than that, maybe throw a plastic tarp over the car and roll the windows down and check it in about 30 minutes....I wouldn't think it would take long to catch enough noticeable vapors.