Exhaust Smells of Gasoline???

[CaptainS14]

Ok, I have an 03 Cobra with a stock engine and MagnaFlow Cat-Back Exhaust system. My problem is that when I start the car in the morning I get ALOT of smoke from the exhaust and it smells terribly of gasoline. I took it into the dealership and they said they found a tech bulletin telling them to reflash my power-train programming, they did and it's still having problems. The car spits and sputters the first time you fire it up but once the engine warms up a bit it runs fine just smells like gasoline really bad. Any ideas??? Any information is GREATLY appreciated...

Thanks,
Scott :bash:

 

[CaptainS14]

I forgot to mention the smoke is black...

 

[combatstang]

interesting.. subscribing.. i wish i could help


Marc

 

[metaman]

Wow that sucks. Did you buy your car new? A couple of things pop into my head. I AM NOT A QUALIFIED TECH. I only have knowlege of basic diagnostics. Black smoke is always fuel.

Your ignition may not be working properly on one or more cylinders. If the coil were not fireing properly on one of the cylinders, not all of the fuel would be burned, and it would end up in the exhaust.

Another thing that could cause this is clogged or partialy clogged injectors. If the fuel is not atomized by the injectors properly it will not burn and end up in the exhaust.

If all of the symptoms go away when the car is hot then the above causes do not apply. If some of the symptoms do happen when the car is hot there is a chance that the things above (COULD BE CAUSING THE PROBLEM). I emphasize (COULD) because I only have knowledge of basic diagnostics. There are so many things on these motors that I am not framiliar with that I could just as easily be something even more simple.

 

[CaptainS14]

Metaman,
Yes, I bought my car new, although when I took delivery it had 300 miles on it already. When the engine is warm, the spitting and sputtering stops but the exhaust still smells terribly of gasoline, maybe I'll try some fuel injection cleaner see if that helps...

Thanks,
S

 

[carfax]

One guy in town has a magnaflow cat back on his car too and when he started his car a little smoke came out of the exhaust but it didn't smell like gasoline or at least i didn't smell it.

 

[metaman]

Metaman,
Yes, I bought my car new, although when I took delivery it had 300 miles on it already. When the engine is warm, the spitting and sputtering stops but the exhaust still smells terribly of gasoline, maybe I'll try some fuel injection cleaner see if that helps...

Thanks,
S

DON'T DRIVE THE CAR ANY DISTANCE UNTIL YOU FIX THE PROBLEM! If one of your coils is not fireing properly, there is a chance the fuel could wash the oil off of the piston ring in that cylinder resulting in permanent damage to the piston ring! Tell the service department that you are not taking the car back until they fix the problem. If they are an SVT dealership, it is there responsibility to back up the product they sold you. Get the number for SVT off of the Ford SVT web site. If the dealership tells you they are not going to be able to fix it, call SVT and tell the name of the dealership and the name of the service manager you are dealing with and what is happening! Reguardless of what some people think, SVT relies on customer loyalty.

 

[CaptainS14]

Metaman,
Where did this come from??? Should I try the fuel injection cleaner first?

 

[metaman]

The injectors are a possibility. However, if all of that fuel smell is the result of the fuel coming out of only one of the cylinders instead of all of them, washing the rings could happen! If the a bad coil is the culprit, then it could stop working all together further enhancing the effect of raw fuel on the piston ring.

 

[CaptainS14]

Thanks Metaman, I'll get it in as soon as I can. Everyone else please keep up the posts I really appreciate it...

S

 

[shaker]

hey capt. i had a cougar with what may be the prob you may be experiencing. the number 2 injector decided that it wanted to stay on the entire time that the key was turned on and the engine did exactly what yours is doing. buy a noid light and hook it up to the injectors one at a time. if the light stays on and does not blink than the injector is not operating properly due to a glitch in the computer program.(if you do this with the engine off dont do it for long as the injector is open and the fuel is shooting into the cylinder valves open or not) you will need a new one(computer) keep in mind the injector was fine but to date the computer has been changed 3 time in the past year and a half. this prob will keep reoccoring.
as some one said before do not drive with this problem you are washing down the cylinders and will have a smoker on your hands or worse yet if you leave the key on too long before starting you will hydrolic the engine and you will be S O L . i hope you find your problem before it creates any further probs as a result. a noid light is a good investment to have around with these set ups anyway. (by the way is the engine using an excessive amount of fuel? if so, this is a good indicator as the injector is not shutting off)


good luck
shaker

 

[CaptainS14]

Shaker,
Right now I'm getting about 170 Miles per tank, that is mostly highway and I don't rag on the car either. What do you think???

Thanks,
S

 

[shaker]

if i am not mistaken you have about a 18 gallon tank and if so i would hope that even blown you are gettin more than 10 miles to the gallon. like i said dont drive this car until you find this problem. you are destroying your engine not to mention the fact that one small piece of burning carbon could have you hosting the next carbaque on you local freeway since the exhaust is filling up as the fuel passes through it. all i can tell you is to try the noid light like i said previously. it is a very simple test and any one can do it. just pop the harness off each injector one at a time and check it. if the light stays on it is that cylinder you are experiencing the prob with. dont cut your self short check them all it may not only be one cylinder. how do the plugs look. pop them out to see which ones are fuel washed or fouled out. be sure to put anti seize on the threads and not over torque as these threads are notoriously weak. if you do find the problem i suggest beating the hell out of her for a good while as to get the build up burnt out of the cat. it will become clogged as a result. i dont think your problem is nothing a few hours of head scratching and common sence diagnosing wont cure. no need to go in debt through th dealer if you take the time to narrow the possibilities down
i hope i may have been a help i will check back tommarow to see how you are doing and good luck. oh do you have a strong smell of gas in your oil another thing to check is so park the car now you could also be washing down the bearings wont be easily repaired or cheap for that matter.

SHAKER

 

[Brad]

Could it be you're just running really really rich?

 

[shaker]

are you still driving the car without checking the harness is there puddles of fuel on the ground under the drain holes in the muffler and or any other drain in the exhaust if it smells that bad and it is injected i would not be easily pursuaded to think it is that rich alone. does the oil smell like gas???

 

[04torchred]

sounds to me like you are running rich, as stated above. I agree, don't drive it till you have it fixed. Your are not burning all the fuel and if you wash down any of the cylinder wall you will overheat and F*#% your engine. Seen this happen to people running carbs.

 

[CaptainS14]

Yes, the oil does smell like gasoline but there are no puddles of gasoline anywhere on the ground. The exhaust tips are black inside and are only about 3 months old. I don't see how it could be running rich, I have done NOTHING to the engine, the only mods on the car would be a magnaflow cat-back system and that wouldn't cause the engine to run rich. I have a service appointment on the 27th at the dealership, I'm not worried about cost because the engine is under warranty. I can't figure out why after only 6000 miles and NO engine mods I'm having these engine problems. I'm going to let Ford sort it out and I'm not taking my car back from them until they do!!!

Thanks,
S

 

[Chas]

Sounds like one injector is hung open causing all the fuel pressure to bleed off into that cylinder when the engine is shut off. Thats how the fuel is getting in the oil and it will also cause it to run rich do to the injector being open all the time. Thats why your tail pipes are black. I wouldn't drive it like that, short term it probably woundn't cause any problems but its difinantly not good for the longevity of the engine. (gas in the oil) Talk to the service advicer at Ford and tell him theres gas in the oil and they should send out a roll back. Good luck!

 

[UltimateSVT]

I'd have to say it's an ignition related issue, the spark plugs need to be pulled and inspected, that should at least get you narrowed down to what cylinder or cylinders are having issues. I had an issue like this when I was running NGK BR7s gapped at .032". When I went back to the stock plugs gapped at .040" the problem went away.

 

[Chas]

I'd have to say it's an ignition related issue, the spark plugs need to be pulled and inspected, that should at least get you narrowed down to what cylinder or cylinders are having issues. I had an issue like this when I was running NGK BR7s gapped at .032". When I went back to the stock plugs gapped at .040" the problem went away.

I'd have to say your wrong. He never said it had a miss. How would that explain gas in the oil?