Hello,

If the smell in emanating from the rear of the car, make sure you check all the rubber fuel hoses from the fuel cell. If they've never been replaced, then they might be getting porous. I've experienced this problem before. After the new hoses were installed, no more smell.

Good Luck,

Joe Slemp
Abingdon, VA

Thanks for posting. What kind of car?

------------------
Benzmac:
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
SERVICE MANAGER FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM

Sorry about that! I meant to add a post to an ongoing thread and hit "new topic" instead. I have a 1986 300E, and my car isn't the first 300E I've encountered having this occur. A lady I work with has a 1987 300E which had the same condition. New hoses fixed her problem as well. I only posted my solution because "porous hoses" were not the first thing that rang to mind for me. I was thinking fuel or gasket leak.


Joe Slemp
Abingdon, VA

I has this exact problem in my '86 300E. I would detect a strong gasoline smell that seemed to be centered in the trunk. The smell would last for a number of days and happened only infrequently but always after filling the gas tank.

The lady I work with and myself both had the strong gas smell in the back seat. It was more pronounced on hot, hot days.