SRX fuel smell

bluebullet

bluebullet

New member
Joined
Jan 28, 2004
Messages
558
Age
65
Location
Augusta, Maine
All, I could smell fuel while riding last weekend and opened air box to find alot of fuel vapors in the lower area of the box. I removed the Carbs cleaned all and checked everthing Choke, jets ETC..... I couldnt find any issues. I put everthing back together and started with air box off to look at all the lines, pump to see if anything was leaking but still didnt find anything! I did notice while running there was a quiet abit fuel mist comming from all the carbs and I beleave this is why the bottom of the box had so much fuel and vapor build up. Is this is normal? has anyone experianced this? The sled still runs great! Slam the throttle and she holds RPM's 8500-8600 all the way thru the power band. I just cleaned the Exhaust valves( pretty gummed up). I have about 1000 miles on and was just doing my midseason checks. I hope to get her out for lake testing this weekend, if this heat wave goes back south were it belongs! Thanks
 
Sometimes when the reeds get weaker i heard they tend to let more spitback go into the airbox. Might be a thing to check but if everything is good in your fuel lines, pump, and carbs idk where it could come from.
 
how are your float settings? Not that they would suddenly change and cause this to happen quickly, but something worth checking.
 
Just got back yesterday from riding up in the U.P. for a couple of days. My 2000 SX-R 700 had a strong fuel smell while riding. My sled seemed to run fine but the fuel smell was terrible! I checked here first to see if anyone else has experienced and then solved this problem. This post by BlueBullet seems to be the exact same issue as mine but it doesn't really say what the root cause was. I'm wondering what he found out was causing the fuel smell. Was it the carb floats out of adjustment, bad reeds, loose or torn carb boot, gas tank vent line broken, or what? If BlueBullet can't respond, do any of you guys have other ideas for me to check out? I did notice that the rubber tape on the top of the cowling on each side of the handlebars that keeps the hood from rubbing was coming apart. Almost as if it was getting gas on it somehow but there's no noticeable sign of any gas leaking anywhere and my fuel mileage seemed to be close to what it's always been.
 
tsiceman said:
Did you check you vent tube & nipple at gas tank, mine had leaks there
Click to expand...

I would check this as TSICEMAN has said. This is not easy to get to but the fitting probably needs press back in. As far as the carbs spitting gas without the air box..... i think this is typical without the air box.

As your fuel line gets old is shrinks pulling on this fitting that Tsiceman is talking about. Try to get yourself some slack in the line leading to the fitting and push it back in.

Lift your hood and it is near the steering post.

Tod
 
I had the same problem on my SRX. It was the gas tank vent fitting came apart. Look at the top left of the tank behind the hand warmer controls.
 
Last year fuel smell

JLSXR, Yes I remember that smell, Not a 100% sure what I found as I replaced all fuel lines and smell went away! So It must of been a line somewhere. I would start and look for the obvious and then if nothing found start replacing the lines, hair line cracks can be hard to find in a line. also clean your airbox well, I had quite abit of fuel residue in there. Yes, I found that if you run without the airbox ( test in garage only)you will have strong fuel smell in the carb area for sure. This is the place to ask for help, what a great web site!!!! Thanks To all! Terry
 
Found the problem -- just as you guys said

As you guys said, the problem was that vent fitting nipple. The vinyl tubing must've shrunk with age and pulled the nipple apart. Now, the question I have is what is the best way to replace that vinyl fuel tank vent line? Is it easiest to just remove the gas tank or is there an easier way? Looks like that tube snakes its way across the top of the tank to the right side and then back again to the left side where it connects to the left side footwell.

Image shows nipple attached to tube (above the left-side screw) and the fitting it's supposed to be pressed into to the right.
 

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Just loosen up the tie straps and pull some of the slack over to the fitting. Leave a little bit of extra slack for future shrinkage.
 
My 2000 Venture/Vmax Rage just did this very same thing last week. I took the screws out of the cowl and that gave me a little more room to work with. Four screws plus the hood hold down post screw thingies.
 
Make sure it isn't coming out of the fuel pump breather it self. That is what my sx 700 started doing, and we kept duing test runs to find out what it was, and melted it down. it was a bad base gasket, put preasure back through pump. Had fuel all over around the air box. maxdlx
 
I don't have any gas anywhere in around the air box so I don't think I have a more serious problem. Thanks though MaxDlx for the heads-up! Would really suck to melt it down early in the season like this. I just pulled on the breather hose and got a bit more slack -- enough slack at least to get the nipple to fit back into the fitting on the tank. I got it back into place with a screwdriver and a few gentle taps with a screwdriver. Then, for added insurance, I put a dab of red locktite at the joint. It seems to be holding now. I then got some foam mounting tape and repaired the rubber strips that let go from the gas sloshing on them at the top of the console (between hood and console). Just got some basic 1" double-sided foam mounting tape and that fixed that up good as new. Took it out for a spin in the field and everything looks (and smells) good now. Thanks again so much you guys!
 
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