I was driving today. Made it about a 1/2 mile before I started to smell gas. At first I thought it might have been the car in front of me, because it was kind of a beater. But after that car turned on another road and the smell only continued to grow stronger, I began to figure it was me. I made it another 1/2 mile or so from there, and noticed I could actually see my gas guage dropping right in front of me as the remaining quarter tank of gas I had when I started driving a few minutes before ran out of my car and onto the ground in less than a minute. I managed to pull off the main highway then, sure now that something was seriously wrong. And only just managed to pull it over as the last drops of gas ran out and it died. And there it sits. I popped the hood. There was gas all over the front part of the engine. I will not attempt to start it. I’m afraid of starting a fire. I’ve got a mobile mechanic coming to look in the morning but I wondered if anybody was familiar or had had something like this happen to them?
I haven’t heard such a leak described since they took the fuel pumps off of the front of the engines.
There isn’t a whole lot o f hardware under the hood from which gas can leak. And it’s all readily accessible. The attached link will give you sort of an idea. Sounds like a fitting broke.
Experience tells me you may have a ruptured fuel rail damper. But whatever the case the leak should be easy to locate and repair. You mechanic should be able to pressurize the fuel system and see the leak in short order.
Given the rate of leakage, you should have it towed to your mechanic.
Bad o-ring in the fuel rail. Easy fix. I took my Dodge in for a recall to replace the fuel rail o-rings. It did not leak when I took it in, but it sure did after they were done with it. Then they showed up smoking cigarettes with gas everywhere. I backed far, far away hoping it would catch fire. I had horrible problems with the Intrepid’s transmission.