After a fill-up, not counting the 9 miles from the gas station, there's a huge petrol smell, which is not in the cabin, but strong enough to fill a 2 car garage. There are no visible signs of a fuel leak, and the gas cap closes tight. No problem with fuel delivery, as idle is smooth as is throttle response.

Anyone else here run into this? I drive only once or twice a week, and there is no hesitation at startup, so I doubt it'd be a fuel rail, injector, or a hose that would starve the ignition system. No codes either. Just an unhappy previous owner (the Wife).

 

Check hoses going from fill neck to tank....no evap code means no major break in the system unless it is recent and not enough on off cycles to set....can you smell it worse at the rear or front....or kind of overwhelming...my thinking is the charcoal cannister or vent valve at the cannister....as you put liquid fuel in the tank, the displaced fumes have to go to the evap system...and those fumes go to the cannister where they displace air that is vented to the outside....if the cannister gets saturated over time with liquid, when filling up or soon after, when the cannister vents, it expells gas fumes....i am not sure about your car, but a lot of vehicles run an automatic vacuum integrity check on the evap system....sometimes it takes quite a lot to set an evap code....as a last resort there is an evap test that can be run by a shop manually if the car has the evap schrader valve....my 06 str has one so i think yours will also....i think this test requires a certain machine....most quality emission specialists will have one....i do not know if it is a diy job or not....if your reader can read live data, go to the item that reads evap purge or solenoid active and possibly a percentage to verify the purge solenoid is being commanded on...it usually is when closed loop fueling has been reached and i see it at idle most all the time

 

Update:

After another top-off, the fuel smell was now inside the cabin. Removing the back seat lower revealed the fuel pump on the passenger side showed evidence of a fuel leak at the plastic nipple (going into the tank). There was the same evidence on the driver's side too. Yes, there's a second pump. Both had perfect sealed covers, which had kept the cabin fume free for 18 years.

Both pumps on order.

 

Well, i was way off...good job in finding the problem ...hope you didn't use up much time following my leads

 

Fuel smell? Are you sure it's not more of a burning sulphur, open portal to hell type of smell, the kind that leaves a film on your teeth? I've been having a problem like that with every vehicle I've owned. I have even noticed it on public transportation. I can't figure out the common factor for all of these events...

Back to your car, I'm really surprised you weren't getting any evap system faults. The leak location should be covered by the evap monitor, shouldn't it? Keep us posted.

 

You mean like full on heater, breath thru your mouth smell....i am professional at that one

 

Yes, yes! I've noticed it seems to singe my nose hairs, too.

 

No codes thrown or pending. Mind you, the S-Type was created during the Ford years, and my F-150 will throw a code and check engine light only after 20 ignition cycles for some items, and in my case, 20 cycles hadn't been reached yet.

The smell was raw gasoline, like I was lucky enough to own a gas pump at home.