Gas tank?

[bigE]

NISTECH, is there anything in the gas tank that could be affected differently by the fuel level that could cause fuel consumption problems, possibly get air in lines ?

Eric

[NISTECH]

no fuel consumption would only occur in the engine. if you have a leak somewhere you could use up fuel but nothing in the tank is gonna cause you to use fuel improperly.

[bigE]

Do our gas tanks run on pressure, someone told me that it might be my gasket going around the acess hatch. When I park it in our shop for a while, I begin to smell gas, but can't find where it's coming from. Would a air leak cause a loss in consumption? Could it possibly be a bad pressure regulator?

Thanks

Eric

[IvoryJ30t]

alright, someones a little off in their understanding of the fuel system.

[IvoryJ30t]

alright, lets take it from the top. exactly what is the issue with the car?

[NISTECH]

yes the tank will gain pressure as the fuel heats up. but there are 2 ways that pressure is relieved. one is through the charcol canister. this is a normal pressure loss by design. but you will not smell fuel when it losses it this way. the charcoal absorbs the feul vapor and allows only the air pressure to pass through. the other way it is lost is through the relief valve in the cap. this you will smell fuel vapor since that is essencially a emergency back up if the canister lines become plugged. The later rarely happens. in most cases a bad fuel cap seal is the cause of you being able to smell fuel.a secondary none designed vapor loss can also come from cracked vapor lines either from the fuel neck or the vapor line runing to the canister. The amount of fuel loss by vaporization is minimal and would not really be noticed in a fuel consumption measurement unless you are parking your car consistantly in 100+ degree temps. which this time of year is never seen in the US.As IvoryJ30t asked how are you determining the fuel loss? Or what is it that is telling you your loosing fuel?

[bigE]

Well we found the area where it was leaking from, it's coming from the top of the tank, possibly pump gasket, or lines, will find out tommorrow. We painted the tank with liquid chalk, and saw where the gas was running down and evaporating.

So hopefully thats the problem

Eric

[bigE]

Well it turns out that the minor leak from one of the upper fuel lines wasn't causing the problem, making the car feel as if the governor was kicking in. Turns out, it was the speedo sensor. Disconnected it 2 days ago, and no more cutting out while driving. I can't tell how fast the car's going and no more logging mileage, so everything's good. Only thing now is, whenever the car comes to a complete stop slowly, the idle is horrible, surges up and down up to a grand down to 500, and with every surge, it gets lower and lower till it dies. If I stop without downshifting much, the car will just dies automatically. Any ideas?

Eric