Mechanic Advice

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Gas smell only on cold start? (self.mechanicadvice)

submitted 1 year ago by theragu40 to c/mechanicadvice

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I drive a 2008 4runner with 85k miles. It's been receiving by the manual maintenance for its whole life.

Recently I have started noticing a gas smell when I start the car in the morning. It seems to dissipate after a few minutes. I also don't really notice it on subsequent starts on the same day if I take the car out multiple times. Or if I do, it's less pronounced.

There is no visible leak or gas on the driveway that I can see.

Any ideas? I'm planning to take it in but figured no harm in asking here to see if anyone knows what I might be dealing with first.

Thanks!

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[–] czardestructo 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Totally normal for any car to run rich, especially on cold days while the engine warms up. Rich just means the engine is operating with slightly more gas than necessary as it's safer during warm up though its less efficient and that's why you smell gas. The un-burned fuel is just going right out the tail pipe. Sniff back there to confirm.

[–] theragu40 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Interesting! I am pretty sure the smell is stronger by the exhaust. That would make sense!

So even if it just seemingly started out of nowhere, nothing to worry about?

I really appreciate the reply!

[–] czardestructo 2 points 1 year ago

Nope no problem it's just the colder weather. It just needs to operate in the warm up mode for longer to heat up the oil and coolant until it go into normal operation and stop wasting gas. Perfectly normal. Some cars are a lot more aggressive for warm up. Subarus, especially old ones, can sound like a broken tractor while warming up then the engine quiets down and sounds normal.