yeah i generally have my son in the car with me, so i usually am not gunnin it everywhere. I think the gas smell and ****ty mpg are related

 

I'd just check all the lines etc, or take it to a shop asap, hate for it to be a line by the exhaust or a hot area

 

true dat,

 

take off the oval metal cover in ur trunk and check if there's no leaks from connections between fuel lines and fuel pump assembly

 

fuel leak + hot exhaust = real Irish car bomb

 

go take your car to santa rosa prestiege imports and have them look at it! LOL!!!

my car had this problem, it was the gas lines but it did not get me worse milage, when i started up the car and it warmed up it would smell like gas really bad inside the cabin.

 

I smelled gas on WOT pulls and after idling and my fuel filter in the engine bay was loose...not sure what's yours is though, good luck and get it fixed

 

Get your fuel tank smoke tested. Make sure none of your injectors are leaking also. Only 2 things I can think of atm.

 

just throwing the thought out there... have taken about a 2 mpg hit... tis the season of ****ty winter gas, so expect a drop, but 14 mpg .. DAM...

 

could be an injector or a leek in the tank

 

since i dont really have a trunk, would this in the cargo area? if not where could i find it, i have a wagon

3 parts to this, #1 i will never let prestige touch my car again. #2 i returned my extended warranty to them so i could have some fun with my car. #3 due to #2 i would rather take my car to a real shop like FLI or LIC, someone who i am sure wont try to bend me over.

Imma go start taking stuff apart here in about an hour, we will see how it goes.

 

Check for a poorly seated injector, or a bad injector o-ring. You could have an injector that is leaking quite a bit, but not enough to trigger a CEL or make the car run "rough".

Your fuel pump cover will be roughly between the strut towers in the rear. Pull your rear seat and you will see it. It should also be under the rear carpet, but it is pretty tough to pull with the rear seat in. I can do it, but I use those 90 degree phillips screwdrivers.

 

wasn't there also a service bulletin about something like this? IIRC it was a short fuel line or something?

 

even with no smell coming from the engine bay?

I will look, but I have a feelinf it may be a line, thanks for the info on the short fuel line, i will check it out.

 

bulletin was for previous years (my02/03)...i had this problem on my wagon too..I had a rat eat at few of the wires near/going to the purge valve..weather or not it was the "issue" I no longer have the gas smell in my car.