Date:         Mon, 2 Oct 1995 22:32:43 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Wray_McDonnell@cyberstore.ca (Wray McDonnell)
Subject:      Re: Smells like Gas

>From: PWIES@loyola.edu
>To: vanagon@lenti
>Subject: Smells like Gas
>Message-ID: <01HVXTEBEXZQ000RXH@LOYOLA.EDU>
>
>The interior of my 79 smells like gasoline fumes.  It is a daily driver,
>and I noticed it about 3 days ago.  It only smells like gasoline on the
>inside of the van, not in the engine compartment.  While driving, the smell
>is more obvious.  I did a pretty good inspection of the engine compartment
>and the fuel pump.  No leaks turned up!!!1

Back in April, my '79 van had a similar problem. There was a gas smell
especially when just filled up.  After considerable searching, I found it
was the rubber flange connector located just inside the gas filler cap.  It
was cracked and leaked fumes into the interior.  Changing it involved
taking off the pie plate cover located just in front of the battery and
using a very small (short) philips screwdriver (the right angle type one
gives more room in a very tight area).  Undo the screws located under the
gas cap to give you some wiggle room; lie on your belly in the back and
stick your arm throught the pie plate hole to undo the clamp.  The rubber
flange will come off after some close quarters finger work.  The VW dealer
carried the part.
If that is not it ( and you may be able to see the crack rubber flange from
the outside of the gas cap, look close), check the other gas connections
located on the top of the gas tank.  To see the top of the gas tank, you
must take out the metal plate or wall located just in front of the engine.
There are 4+ screws that are located in the engine compartment (easy) and
two located under the vehicle (hard with lots of grit in your eyes).  You
may have to remove the heater fan and other hoses to get it out but when
you do you will see the top of the tank including the gas guage sender unit
which could have a leaking seal,  the second filler connector hose near the
tank, and the small fume collector hose and pipes.  You can ususally see
the signs of gas seapage quite easily as it makes marks on the dust in
there.  All this took me about two weekends of effort but only an hour to
replace the part once it had been diagnosed.  BTW, other subscriber's
suggestions to Vanagon were a big help to me.   Good luck.
Wray McDonnell
Kelowna, B.C.
Canada