The last 3 or 4 times I filled up with gas I get a slight fuel smell outside the car and mostly closer to the back of the car. I can only smell it outside and not under the bonnet , in the trunk or in the cabin. After a few hours it's gone and doesn't come back until I fill up again.

I guess I should take it in to the dealer, my warranty runs out in July. Taking it to the dealer really frightens me, my last go around with them didn't go well they couldn't even get the model right.

 

Do you drive only short distances? If so, you may not ever get the evap purge to kick in. If you over-fill, like to the brim of the spout, it can also saturate the purge system too. Just brainstorming...

 

cjd.....you mean brain storming don't you<G><G>

I'm not sure exactly what model year the EPA mandated this change but every car was to be equipped with a fuel vapor capture device at the filler neck as opposed to the much more sensible and less expensive option of installing such devices at the gas pumps themselves. It's possible, if your model is equipped with such a device, that this is what's giving off the fumes. I've also seen over-full tanks on hot days give off more then just fumes if left to sit ion the sun for very long, but that's rare in cars. happens fairly often in motorcycles though.

As long as you don't smell it inside the car or under the hood I don't think I'd get overly concerned.

 

This last fill up was late in the day, drove the 5 miles from the gas station to home. I smelled gas when I got out of the car in my driveway, the car just sat over night and the next morning the smell was gone.

I am taking the cat on a 600 mile trip this weekend. Mostly highway and being able to pass with such ease is real nice but the fun comes in at the end. The last 16 miles is the real fun part. I get off the highway and take a very curvy and narrow rural road over a mountain, (upstate NY). It's like catnip to the Jag.

 

Shortly after my last post in March the gas smell went away and I had the car into Jag in June, nothing found. No smell all summer until yesterday. I filled up Sunday morning and thinking as I pulled away from the pumps that it took a lot of gas for where the needle was before fill up. I came right home and parked for over 24 hours. Monday when I went to the car I smelled gas right away and a spot in the driveway just forward of the rear drivers side tire. No gas smell in the cabin, drove 10 miles and now no smell. No smell or spot this morning, car runs great.


Anyone have any idea??

 

Clamdigger, how many miles on your XJ8? I'll admit to not being current on the Jags emissions control systems but this was not an uncommon complaint back when I was still an auto dealer.

Two interrelated sequences can lead to just what you're experiencing although they don't have to occur together. The first, if your car has 50,000 or more miles is that the fuel vapor recovery canister has become saturated over time as they all do and as the gas fumes can no longer be absorbed and the vapor escapes to the extent that you can smell them and worst case there's enough raw gas to escape the recovery tank and leak to the ground. That's an extreme case though when it leaks to ground.

The second cause and one that happens frequently is if you 'overfill the gas tank beyond the first or second auto cut-off of the pump. Again the recovery canister comes into play as it must now deal not only with excess fumes being given off but as you drive (especially on a hot day) even raw fuel finds it's way into the canister. Add to that the normal expansion you get from a car sitting in the hot sun and you get not only fumes but leaking gas coming out the overflow tube. Driving a sufficient number of miles to burn off enough fuel from the tank to allow for heat expansion usually cures the problem...until the next overfill.

The above aren't the only reasons but they are two of the more frequent. Hope these gives you a lead or some direction.