look into what warranty you have. If youre in the extended warranty period it may not be a subaru warranty. This is my situation and the warranty company works like the insurrance company. You have to get a quote (and therefore pay for the diagnostics charges) and then if they think it should be covered, they send a check to the repair shop

 

Is this problem just on the 2002's or newer models as well?

I have an '06 with only 3700 miles. I was just up at Bass Lake where the overnight temps were in the high 20's and daytime temps varied from low 30's to mid 60's. I did not experience this problem.

One bit of good news ... mabye ... it's meant to be really cold in the Bay Area the next few days. Ideal time for replicating the problem?

 

At first, I smelled the gas in the cabin while warming up the car. Then the smell get worse inside, so I got out to see what was going on. Popped the hood and yes there was propably a few onces of gas puddled on the block between the turbo inlet and intake manifold. That's why I freaked out. Ounces of fuel, a warm engine, and a spark and I'd be screwed.


I was at KW again for the last 3 days and it was pretty cold over night but fuel smell did not occur again. I checked under the hood and no smell or sight of fuel could be found. I don't know what's going on?

 

MBasile,


Where did you take your car to? SC?

 

Mine was smelling of fuel this evening (Wed). I commuted on my mc today so the car sat in the cold. This evening I went to collect a pizza, and, sure enough, I got the fuel smell. Mine does it at 55F or lower these days.



Even with the Subaru warranty, they may charge the diagnostic fee up front which will be reimbursed if Subaru decide to cover the repair.


Subaru must be very sure that this is not dangerous - given that the problem already has a case with the NHTSA and it is documented in a non-recall TSB. They would be in for a serious negligence suit if someone was killed or injured by a car catching fire.

 

after reading 40+ pages on NASIOC about this ("Raw Fuel Smell Log" monster sticky) and all cross-referenced links, I'm still trying to get this straight...

I have 70k+ miles and no extended warranty, so I'm assuming that the TSB option is a joke. According to Kevin's post, it sounds like the best route for the average, mechanically inclined owner is to tighten clamps and hope the rails aren't leaking?

If there's anyone in the BayArea that has an out of warranty '02 WRX, AND got dealer service for free, please, please stand up and name the dealer that provided the goodwill...

 

I have an 02 that I will be taking up to the snow next weekend. With the cold weather as of late, I would have guessed that if I were to have this problem, it probably would have occured.

But this will be the true test. Mine has 80k but coverage until 100k, so at least I know I have a chance of recourse if the problem occurs.

 

I'd heard about this problem before, but was never affected, even after 4.5 years and 50+ overnight runs up to snowboarding country. All the sudden the BA gets a cold stint, and I get the fumes in my Antioch driveway - of all places, and after all this time... i don't expect someone to foot the bill for hose clamps, but a leaky fuel rail on an un-modded ride is another story.

again - anyone outside warranty that got a dealer to fix this via "goodwill" ???

 

similar story here...5 years, nearly 75k miles and no problems and now i have a leak somewhere? thats pretty f'king shytti

 

Same problem here. Just started with this cold weather. I have an '02 w/ about 85Kmi, no mods. Once the car warms up, it's fine.

 

yea i got the same problem with my bugeye i have an 02 with 55k and a new turbo and fuel pump but i checked for leaks after the install and everything was fine no smell but now in the cold all i smell is gas i think im out of warranty cuz my car has been modded but im looking for a dealer or someone who could fix this too

 

dito^^^^

 

same deal here for me. i have about 116k on '02, and have gone up to tahoe about 50 times for snow fun, and never experienced the raw gas smell until this january. have not tried to take it to a dealer, but i guess i won't try carlsen (closest to me).

 

Wow, too bad I didn't know that LIC would tighten the clamps for only $90. I would have done it for sure since that's much better than the $135 diagnosis fee I paid at Carlsen on my '02 WRX that was out of warranty. And they didn't even fix it but I also got the $500+ quote to fix it. Tried to complain to SOA but got nothing.

 

I had the problem a couple of years ago ('06) at around 55,000 miles with my '02 WRX. Santa Cruz Subaru repaired it even though I was well outside of the warranty period.