Hey Gang,

Of late I've been noticing the smell of gasoline near the rear of my 2001 Accord; yesterday it was rainy and there was a petroleum looking sheen on the wet pavement around the rear of the car. Given there are no codes being thrown I'm thinking there are no leaks in the tanking system because, unless I'm mistaken, that would generate one of the infamous Evap codes.

Side note, two years ago one of my brake lines failed due to rust; I'm wondering if the fuel lines may also be affected by rust on the Gen 6 Accords. Anybody experienced this issue?

 

Update...

I drove the TL to work today and when I got home there was a puddle about one foot in diameter of gasoline under the Accord. The puddle was located in from the left side about six to eight inches and just in front of the rear tire.

I drove the old girl up to the shop; I'll be sure to post what the final diagnosis is.

 

I had that happen on a 1995 Integra at about 2005, so you got more years out of yours.

I started to smell fuel before there was any liquid. The fuel lines were becoming a bit porous from corrosion, so there wasn't a well-defined leak. And for me it happened first on the fuel lines. So I had all 5 lines replaced (2 rear brakes, 3 fuel).

Don't you just love how much salt they put down on the roads?

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Interesting; all of my brake lines failed two years ago (down-hill on ramp, traffic slows, I hit the brakes, pedal to the floor, next exit 7 miles). I caught a whiff of gasoline a week or so ago but thought it was a loose gas cap. Then Thursday I smelled gas, and yesterday, bang, a puddle.

 

Update...

I had my local shop put the Accord up on a lift; here are their comments:

• The fuel lines look intact and dry
• The fuel sending unit (accessed via the trunk) looks dry
• The entire front of the tank is wet with gasoline (they're going to drop the tank Tuesday for a closer look)

 

Update...

The car is fixed, new gas tank! Yup, the gas tank was leaking fuel; I didn't think that was even possible for a relatively late model car. I'll get a picture of the tank tonight and post it up.

 

Here is a shot of the old tank; notice a shallow bowl type depression on the top of the tank which allowed water to collect and ultimately corrode the tank. Really annoying.

 

Normally the tank rusts out at the seam, and it doesn't always cough up a code as you've found out. Did they (or you) look over the lines too? Just asking as 1 of mine looked rough, but wasn't leaking (plus someone else had been in there already). It was the one that kind of looped around the evap stuff in the corner.

 

Yup, they checked the lines and showed me photos of them; they all looked good. The new tank has a very different method of rust protection employed; looks to be some sort of an anodizing or galvanizing treatment. Not that the new tank is going to do me much good, the car is either going to be sold or lent to my brother who is going through a rough patch, and then sold.

 

Mine was painted silver that I got from Rock Auto. I'm just hoping to get another 10 years out of it. The rear sub had some pits and scale type rust in it too. Painted it to get some more time out of it, since the Japanese paint was already gone. But the car already has lived for almost 19 years (built in September 98) in the salt belt, and even the stainless steel exhaust is trying to rust out. :O But it only has 232K miles on it, so it's just broken in.