I have a 2003 XKR and have noticed a light but distinct fuel odor from the engine bay.

I may be over sensitive/paranoid, but is this normal? I am always weary when I smell gas.

Car drives well, just want to make sure I don't have a potential serious issue.

Thanks

 

Not normal IMO. If it were my car I'd be very worried, too. Might anyone have caused a fuel leak recently?

 

It's not normal. If there's no obvious leak on the fuel rail then the evaporative emissions canister is a possible source.

Graham

 

The purge valve maybe defective, this is located behind the drivers side wheel well behind the liner, mine was bad and I only noticed it when my tank was less than 1/2 full. I believe on 03 and up there is a cap on the fuel rail that has known to be defective as well, I've read threads previously on this so try a search.

 

The purge valve is in the front wheel well?

Will a UV dye help find a fuel rail leak?

Sorry, fuel systems are alien to me :-)

Thanks for the help.

 

There are carbon canisters in the rear behind the differential, some of these hoses will possibly leak, but this usually leads to a code. The Purge valve on US cars is behind drivers side front wheel (item 3), remove the wheel and liner and it's easy to see. There is also this tsb

 

Just as a follow up, I replaced the purge valve with no impact, so I took it to the dealer. They found the right damper on the fuel rail had a leak. So we fixed that. Problem persisted and found same thing on left side. This makes sense as smell was strongest when I would put car in ACC (pressurizing fuel but not burning). The second leak was tiny and hard to see.

At dealer now being corrected. Hope this solves it.

 

I also have the fuel smell, can you be a little more descriptive as to what the damper is?

 

The fuel damper is located on the fuel rail (middle, I think). In theory, a fuel damper helps regulate pressure to the injector to avoid fuel pulsations. As this is electrically controlled elsewhere, its a bit redundant on the AJ8 engine (its controlled before it gets the rail and then again in the rail by the damper).

If you plan to tackle this yourself (be warned it requires the SC removal), I believe the common wisdom is to send the rails and injectors to InjectorRX where they cap these dampers and clean the rails and injectors.

The key for me was is there a fuel smell before ignition. If so, look at what gets pressurized and holds fuel. The purge valve was easy to replace yourself and it helped me rule out a known suspect.

Best!

 

What I have found so far is that when I start her up from dead cold, I will get a huge whiff of raw fuel coming in from the ac vents. once its warmed up and driving the fuel smell goes away, or I am becoming nose blind to the scent. Joy oh joy to have the SC off I will want to do a lot of other things while I'm in there. Replacing coolant lines and what not. sending my SC t get polished ... and more and more....

 

Purge valve is still on the table for you.

When cold, start up and see if scent is coming from the vents on the hood of the front left tire.

 

Well, it's fuel, so it should be easy to find with that strong smell. Also add the fuel pressure sensor to the list. At the end of the rail, passenger side. I had a terrible fuel smell earlier this week (not come back since), and that sensor was wet with raw fuel. Sealed by 2 o-rings, apparently...

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

my 03 non SC xk8 had this gas smell in the motor area. For me it turned out to be the Pulsation dampener on the passenger fuel rail, located in the middle of the 4 injectors on the rail, one on each side. Sorta hard to see as they face downward. My dealer told me it is not a serviceable part and wanted to replace the whole fuel rail for a boat load of money. I was made aware of InjectorRx through this site and sent my complete rail system and the cross over line in the front and had them cap them off. Some try to fix the o-ring in the two dampeners, to which most said they did not hold long. I was told there purpose was more or less to keep the injector chatter if you will, quieter. I heard no diff when I got mine done nor any performance diff at all. It was like 250 for all the injectors to be tested and fixed (cracked plastic bodies on a few, all new o-rings, bench tested and new cross over line (goes from one rail to the other) replaced. They told me these hard hard rubber with a plastic tube in them which I prob broke mine when I yanked on that not knowing it was plastic on the inside. They said it could cause issues down the road. They just put a gas hose in replacement.
DO NOT reuse any o-rings on the fuel rail or regulator, it WILL leak when you pressure it up.