Weird fuel smell problem

[E34 530]

So I finally got my e34 back from my curb incident (almost $3,000 later lol) and now for some reason it smells like gas. My mom has a really good sense of smell and since the car resides in one of the garage bays she noticed it while coming down the stairs with the door leading out to the garage not even open. I thought she was bsing because she pretty much bitches about everything and I said she was probably just smelling the gas for the lawn mower but sure enough when I was ay work today I smelled it around my car. Now there are no visible leaks (ie spots on the ground) and the only thing I can possibly think of is that I used to fill it up with premium but now that gas is bending me over I've switched to regular. Would this cause the car to smell, and if so, how???

[Ken35i]

Fill a tank with Premium again, see..eer smell what happends.../shrug

[525i winter driver]

there are a lot of hose clamps around the pressure regulator that is where i had a vapour leak.
maybe ask your mom to sniff it out i just followed my nose and came at it downwind.

[Ross]

Look closely underneath first around the filters and all the clamps. The fuel line connects to the fuel rail on the driver's side at the back, remove the engine cover to see a clamp there and on the return side opposite.
The vapor canister is buried up in front and under the master cylinder, check the hose there too.
You put the cap back on , right?
Premium v regular no difference. Winter blends have lower RVP but not that you could notice like this.

[yaofeng]

Find out what was done first before you can focus on what may have been tampered with to show a previously absent symptom. Keep in mind the fuel supply and return line is attached to the undercarriage on the driver side. They climb up behind the driver side wheel well to enter the engine compartment.

[CharlesAFerg]

Do you think this has a significant impact on fuel consumption while driving, what about when it sits - evaporation...?

My car has the same thing, and since it's never in the garage - I never notice it. I smelled it just a few days ago, and it was disconcerting. :/

[joemiami1971]

I had that problem but it was with my Nissan 300ZX. I ended up being my fuel injectors were leaking.

Hope this helps.

Joe

[Rus]

Something else to consider is are the fuel lines around the fuel filter. When I first got the car, my lines were hard and didn't seal very well on the filter nipples. This caused tiny streams of fuel to spray from around the connections. Look at it from underneath the car.

[Omega]

Which end of the car smells the worse? If it's the front then check the flexible hose at the inlet manifold as e34's have a habit of perishing this hose. It connects from the hard line into the manifold and has a 180degree bend. Mine failed here 3 times.