Gas smell after very short run?

Try it and see.

I'm surprised nobody else is weighing in on their experiences with gas smell
or not. I know none of the 5 cars at my house have gas smells even after
rearranging them, which we do pretty much every night in the winter when
street parking is prohibited. Two always end up in the garage and it never,
ever, ever smells of gasoline. I even asked my wife, whose nose is better
than mine.

Mike

 

that says more for your sense of smell than it does basic physics.

 

So, you still haven't checked it out for yourself? Go ahead - science isn't
painful. This morning when I pulled my 2002 Prius into the garage after my
wife left (it had the same sort of run time the OP was describing) I opened
the hood - no gas smell. I removed the air filter cover - no gas smell. I
removed the air filter - no gas smell. I put my nose to the throttle body -
faint smell of gas and crankcase odor. I'd say your theory of gas smells
normally coming from the intake when the engine is cold is busted.

I am curious about what you would check out and what you would let ride.
Many oil pressure light indications are the result of a bad sender; do you
routinely ignore them? Engine temp lights and guages could be wrong, too.
Clattering sounds coming from the engine could be innocuous. Smoke from
under the hood can be anything. Diving momentarily to one side when braking
may be a sluggish brake caliper, not a ball joint failing
http://tegger.com/hondafaq/lowerballjoint/index.html . My point is that a
gasoline smell is going to be the only warning any of us would be lucky
enough to get before a fire that will destroy the car and, if it is parked
in a carport or garage, may destroy a home. It is hard to imagine a worse
outcome short of a failure that causes a crash.Why on earth would somebody
choose to ignore it - especially if the vehicle is under warranty, as the
OP's is?

Several years ago the entrance to our parking lot in Phoenix was blocked by
a Cadillac. That afternoon I asked the guard what happened. He said the
driver tried to make a U-turn and a ball joint broke. After the guard
determined what the failure was, he asked her, "Didn't the steering wheel
shake [pantomimes] when you went over railroad tracks?" She said, "Yeah!
Just like that!"

Mike

 

In my experience many cars do smell of gas after being started then shut
off within the first minute or two.

 

that is what's called "ad hominem". and utter bullshit.

and the o.p.'s reported that hasn't he. oh, wait, you're just being
chicken little.

drama queen.

 

No - ad hominem is a personal attack. My concern is for the logic - there is
still no apparent trigger point in your recommendations for investigating
alarming indications. You leave the question unanswered: what does it take
in your view to investigate, especially when it would cost nothing and could
save a vehicle and even a home? Since my simple test (one you can recreate
as easily as I did) left the source of the gas smell unexplained, do you
still recommend the OP ignore it?

(Still not ad hominem - that is metonymy.) I really like to see fire hazards
controlled before the fire occurs - I guess I'm funny that way. How would
you feel - honestly and seriously - if tomorrow the OP reports a fire that
destroys his Fit and possibly his home, particularly after you have been so
adamant he should ignore the only warning he will get? Surely you recognize
it could happen and that it has certainly happened to others. Personally, I
would have trouble looking myself in the mirror for a very long time.

Now *that* is ad hominem. You finally nailed it. Wish you had answered the
question though.

Mike, the chicken little drama queen (CLDQ to my friends)

 

Thanks for the input. I think long threads like this are put on a lot of
"ignore" lists, so I don't know how many contributors are still with us.

Mike

 

no, ad hominem is indirect attack. you're citing bullshit, then trying
to imply that it applies.

yes i did. age of vehicle. track record of vehicle. circumstances of
use. physics of situation.

what does it take? well, it /doesn't/ take worrying about the feelings
of a drama queen!

the op /did/ ignore it!

no it's not! it's direct observation of fact! seriously, you need to
use a dictionary. and calm down.

 

you mean, how many can put up with the drama queen getting their panties
in a bunch long after the case is proven? go to a doctor mike - get
your sense of smell checked out.

 

From Microsoft Bookshelf, ad hominem is "Appealing to personal
considerations rather than to logic or reason." Your "observation" (opinion)
is immaterial to the subject at hand and I don't see how you could have
meant it in any impersonal context. Thus, ad hominem.

I have been asking you to get factual but you have been ducking the
questions. I checked your basic premise - that most or all cars smell of
gasoline if shut down after a short run while cold - and found my car
doesn't do it, none of the other cars around me (including two Honda
products) appear to do it, while another contributor says in his experience
that some do. It really doesn't matter to me what you think of me; you are
entitled to your opinions. I just wish you would focus - once more, why
should anybody ignore the only warning of a well known hazard of such
serious consequences when it is *free* to check it out? Are you saying cars
that smell like gas never have fuel leaks, or that without checking we will
know which ones do and which ones do not?

You cite:

And wake up.

Mike

 

"Jim," I have tried to be civil. You are not making sense and are becoming
increasingly rude. Be as blind as you want about this. I am out of here.

Mike

 

no dude. look up wikipedia

argumentum ad hominem consists of replying to an argument or factual
claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the
source making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the
substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim.

that is precisely what you were doing. you couldn't refute the facts of
gasoline wetting and evaporation, so you went off on some tangent about
ignoring oil warning lights, smoke under the hood, etc. i never
suggested ignoring those things, so you undermined your own ad hominem
by using patent bullshit.

er, i've repeated the facts for you several times...

then you have a defective sense of smell!

well known hazard? in year-old cars with ZERO HISTORY OF THIS PROBLEM???

i'm not saying either - and you're just clutching at straws. look at
the facts.

mike, get your head out of your ass and admit:

1. you weren't paying attention to the original facts.
2. you're not paying attention to the facts as followed up by the o.p.
3. you don't understand the physics of why it happens.
4. you shot your own foot with bullshit ad hominem.
5. you need to see a doctor.
6. you're a sore loser.

 

You've researched this about as well as everything else. As usual, you
are partially correct, and think you know more than you do.

'Ad hominem' is literally translated as 'against the man'. Figuratively
it means the same. It *is* (generally) a form of indirect attack, but
Michael's definition (personal attack) is much more informative and apt,
and therefore much more correct than yours.

This is typical of your argument process and your shoddy reasoning
process. And *that* is ad hominem, although it is decidedly *not*
indirect. It is precisely to the point.

RFT!!!
Dave Kelsen

 

what is with you guys??? he can't address the facts, so he attempts
indirect discreditation of the person instead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

oh, don't tell me - wikipedia's wrong on this one.

 

Yeah, but last semester it was a 20 mile one way commute. And school
is about 15 miles and 25 minutes (thank you, Austin downtown traffic).

And I still put in some good mileage on a regular basis. But yes, my
sister's commute is about the same distance. She ran through a total
of three mufflers on her 80 CRX (traded with 60K miles in 2005). Guy
at the Honda dealer (who did not do the muffler) told her it was the
water vapor that wasn't being sufficiently heated.

As far as the bike is concerned, US 290 west of Austin is deadly
enough in a car.
--

- dillon I am not invalid

Hi, I'm Michael Phelps and Olympic Gold isn't the only
Gold I'm thinking of.

Hi, I'm Michael Phelps and when I'm on Maui, Wowwie.

 

Maybe you have a gas leak in your car, too?
I do not smell the gas from my car, from under the hood or from the tail
pipe.

 

Absolute and unadulterated bullshit.

I have *never* smelled gas on *ANY* fuel-injected car (Honda or
otherwise), regardless of how long it was run, unless there was a problem/
leak somewhere.

You're full of shit. Quit spreading FUD, and/or just be quiet when you
don't know what you're talking about.

 

Dillon,

I asked the senior mechanic at work, Jim, if gas smells (not in my work
truck, which is diesel) are normal when the engine is cold. He said, "Yeah,
if you have a leak." Giving him more of the details he said the most likely
problem in a new car is a rolled seal between one of the injectors and the
fuel rail, in an older one the same seals harden when cold. The seals get
more pliable when warm and the smell goes away. He said that gas smells,
warm or cold, always mean a leak of some sort.

Mike

 

and my friend's friend says you need to go to the doctor and get your
nose checked out.

 

then gasoline evaporates instantly when squirted on cold metal? i guess
my phase change data is all fucked up then!

no dude, fud is bleating about taking a sub-year old car, with a
spotless manufacture record, for a warranty check-up when you don't know
basic physics.