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Old 03-09-2019, 06:31 PM
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Gasoline smell, w108 4.5

Hi,


After I drive my 1972 280SEL 4.5 and park it in the garage, I can smell the odor of gasoline. I replaced the two vacuum hoses by the fuel filler, and that has helped a lot, but it is not gone.

When I open the fuel filler door and smell inside, I can smell gasoline. When I open the gas cap there is a wooshing sound of air going in (I assume), so that seal is good. The two vacuum hoses are new.


Any ideas what else to look at?


Thank you!

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Csaba
1972 280SEL 4.5, silver
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Old 03-09-2019, 08:45 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vandor View Post
Hi,


After I drive my 1972 280SEL 4.5 and park it in the garage, I can smell the odor of gasoline. I replaced the two vacuum hoses by the fuel filler, and that has helped a lot, but it is not gone.

When I open the fuel filler door and smell inside, I can smell gasoline. When I open the gas cap there is a wooshing sound of air going in (I assume), so that seal is good. The two vacuum hoses are new.


Any ideas what else to look at?


Thank you!
On a 72, there is likely a vent from the tank under the car. Sort of a check valve. Should show up in the fuel or emissions part of shop manual. It could be blocked or leaking. Not for 108, but may be similar: http://www.oncebitter.com/r107/r107CD1/Program/Engine/107/M117_45/47-720.pdf

While you are about it, check under the hood. Injector hoses are prone to leaks and that can and has caused serious fires on djets.

Also check hoses from tank to and around fuel pump back under car.
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85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5
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Old 03-09-2019, 08:51 PM
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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Find out what it is. I had a '83 380SEL, beautiful car, that smelled like gasoline. Ignored it pretty much. One day the wife was driving and it caught on fire. Burned up completely. I have always wondered if I had leaky injectors.

But do not ignore the problem like I did.
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Old 03-09-2019, 11:11 PM
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Thanks, I will check around the tank. The injectors were cleaned 4 years ago and I installed all new hoses in the engine compartment then. I don't remember if I installed new hoses by the fuel pump, but I will replace them just in case.
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1972 280SEL 4.5, silver
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Old 03-10-2019, 03:47 PM
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Location: Virginia
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Your 280SEL has a vent/vacuum device on the driver side about halfway back under the car. There is a vapor recovery tank in the trunk behind the spare tire. There are too many hoses on this car to count, but ones I've had to replace on my 72 280SEL due to leaking are the following. soft lines (2) from the filler neck to the vapor recovery tank. Line from tank to filter. Line from filter to pump. Filter from pump to hard line by the rear end. 3 soft lines under the driver's door (supply, return, vent to the crankcase), line from the hard line in the chassis to the hard line behind the power steering pump. Line to the LH bank. Line to RH bank. Returns from both banks back to the pressure dampener. Line from dampener to the regulator. Regulator to the hard return line. 8 lines to injectors. 1 line to cold start valve. Each of those lines have 2 clamps.

Nothing to mess around with. These cars are very prone to fuel leaks. I have gotten rid of almost all my soft lines on the engine by doing billet fuel rails and new injectors/fuel management.

My car had a engine fire when the PO had it so I picked it up cheap.

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