Cause of unburned gas smell in the exhaust?
 

For a year or so now my '92 ls-l with 98K miles has had a strong smell of unburned gas in the exhaust. The smell is there all the time, from first start up to after a long drive. The car runs and idles great and the check engine light has never come on and no backfires. The gas mileage is only in the 15's though in the city. Any ideas? O2 sensors? Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Bill Z

You really need to have someone with a gas analyzer take a look at your car to verify the contents of the exhaust. If it is indeed running that rich you may ruin your convertors, among other things. The cause would more than likely be a bad injector, but again, excess fuel can ruin other items including O2 sensors.

We had a similiar problem here. It turned out to be caused by a decomposed hose that needed replaced. This happened a little above 90k.

were u getting poor gas mileage before the fix? Which hose? How much? Who fixed it?

Thanks!

i dont recall the gas milage at all really, but the smell of gasline was apparent inside the vehicle every once in a while, which is what promped us to take it to the dealer to get it checked out.

with labor and everything it ended up around $50.

Which hose was it? The ones in/near the trunk from the gas tank?

Thanks for the replys. The smell is only apparent while the car is running, and only outside the car. I'll bring it somewhere to get checked.

I think what they're getting at is that a bad vacuum hose can make the computer think that the engine is under load and is adding more fuel to the mixture.

Mine used to run rich and stink - I found one of the bolts holding the intake runners down was loose. Free for you to check yours.