Hey Everyone,

I have a 2002 WRX wagon with about 106K miles.

A couple of months ago -- when it was really cold one morning here in New England (Near Boston) I started up my WRX and let it idle for 15 mins before taking the kids to school.

I got back to the car and the inside of the car smelled like gasoline fumes. Did not see anything dripping from the car -- and nothing else was unsual. Well this has now happened several times -- typically it is in the morning when I turn the car on and let it idle.

I changed the fuel filter -- that did nothing -- took up my carpeting and seats to check the lines running by drivers side floor and they all appear good. Anyone have any experience with this sort of problem?

Thanks so much!

--Bruce Kwartler

 

yes actually. I have a 2002 wrx with 76K on it and was having the same smell of gasoline in the morning. It is actually a TSB from subaru and if you can take it in to a dealership and have them duplicate the smell they will fix it, but if they can't duplicate it then they can't do anything since technically as far as they are concerned, nothing is wrong with the car.

Others on here can back me up on this if my info is wrong, but supposedly the cold weather loosens up the clamps on the fuel lines and causes them to leak a little bit giving off that gasoline smell. The way to fix it is to tighten down all the clamps.

Since I wasn't sure if this was my problem or not, I took my car into LIC and had them take a look at it and they did just that for 100 bucks.

 

Long-known issue on the '02s, as you can see here-
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131755
There is a TSB but NOT a recall, therefore dealers are not required to fix it for free beyond the 3/36 warranty period which has of course long since passed. Some may do so depending on your relationship with them, however such "goodwill" repairs are strictly voluntary on the dealer's part. The full cost of the TSB repair is fairly high, on the order of $500 or so depending on the individual dealer's labor rates, because it requires removal of the intake manifold to replace the leaking fuel line with an updated part. Tightening the clamps on the existing lines is a temporary fix only, the smell/leak WILL come back sooner or later.

 

i have the same problem with mine. i use to be a tech at subaru and its one of the fuel lines under the intake manifold. you just have to order another one because the one they put on it has the wrong angle and a little short.

 

True. They fixed mine (in 2004) only after I threatened to sue them. My position was that the fuel leak fell under the emissions warranty in CA, which is longer than the 3/36.

This issue is one of the primary reasons I did not consider a Subaru to replace my WRX. A manufacturer should stand behind a defect which causes fuel to leak in the engine compartment.

 

i totally agree bling

 

yup my 02 did the same damn thing about 2 months ago up in reno... and ive got two buddies that have 02's as well and both of them have had the same experience. i dont think milage on the car makes a difference..just the temp. ive got 85k on mine. and my buddies got like 30k and 70k on theirs..and the subaru dealer at the Roseville Automall wouldnt do it for free...