Am I missing my charcoal canister?

opihinalu

Active Member
Feb 10, 2021
180
19
28
Florida
I have a 1986 GT and I get gas fumes coming from the engine. I don't know much about cars but I will try to explain the problem the best I can.

I smell the fumes in the car, especially while accelerating fast and sometimes after idling for a long time. It doesn't smell like raw gas and it's fairly strong. I have had people notice the smell on my clothes. The car is pretty much stock. There is also a faint black smoke coming out of my exhaust and the gas gauge wavers quite a bit (not sure if that would be related to my problem).

My first guess after doing some research was that it was the fuel pressure regulator. I have looked at it and it doesn't seem to be bad. I pulled off the vacuum line (or whatever the lines is that comes out the top of it) and no gas came out as I heard was a symptom of it being bad. Now I am starting to assume that it is something wrong with a fuel injector but I don't really know how to tell. I ordered some UV dye stuff to put in my gas tank and hopefully tell where the leak is coming from. There is also a slight leak coming from the bottom of the car but I am pretty sure that is brake fluid because I have to refill that fairly regularly.

Does anyone know what the problem could possibly be?
 
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Brake leaks....smelling gas fumes...you need to stop driving that thing until you can get those things fixed.
 
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I smell the fumes in the car, especially while accelerating fast and sometimes after idling for a long time. It doesn't smell like raw gas and it's fairly strong.


Are you smelling gas......or are you talking about smelling exhaust? You say your clothes stink...that sounds like exhaust with no catalytic converters and/or running rich.
 
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If there are no gas leaks on the engine especially around the fuel injectors and rails I would definitely check the charcoal canister and lines going from it to the fuel tank. Part of the line is rubber and part is steel tube.. Also check the exhaust for leaks.
 
I dont know much about cars and I recently bought this 1986 GT. Ever sense I bought it I have noticed a gas fume smell coming from the engine. I ignored it for a while but it has recently started to annoy me. I have tried to find the cause and I think I have with the help of people on this forum. I was going to test if my charcoal canister is bad and when I was looking for it I found this. I am pretty sure this is where it is supposed to be located (the image is taken right behind the radiator on the right side) and there is a detached cable and a metal line running into a pipe above my radiator into the engine area. Is this where the charcoal canister is supposed to be? If not, where is it? I'm having trouble finding it.
IMG_2463.JPG
 
I dont know much about cars and I recently bought this 1986 GT. Ever sense I bought it I have noticed a gas fume smell coming from the engine. I ignored it for a while but it has recently started to annoy me. I have tried to find the cause and I think I have with the help of people on this forum. I was going to test if my charcoal canister is bad and when I was looking for it I found this. I am pretty sure this is where it is supposed to be located (the image is taken right behind the radiator on the right side) and there is a detached cable and a metal line running into a pipe above my radiator into the engine area. Is this where the charcoal canister is supposed to be? If not, where is it? I'm having trouble finding it.
IMG_2463.JPG
Looks like you have the bracket, but not the canister. This link will show the pieces: