Try it and see.
I'm surprised nobody else is weighing in on their experiences with gas smell or not. I know none of the 5 cars at my house have gas smells even after rearranging them, which we do pretty much every night in the winter when street parking is prohibited. Two always end up in the garage and it never, ever, ever smells of gasoline. I even asked my wife, whose nose is better than mine.
Mike
that says more for your sense of smell than it does basic physics.
So, you still haven't checked it out for yourself? Go ahead - science isn't painful. This morning when I pulled my 2002 Prius into the garage after my wife left (it had the same sort of run time the OP was describing) I opened the hood - no gas smell. I removed the air filter cover - no gas smell. I removed the air filter - no gas smell. I put my nose to the throttle body - faint smell of gas and crankcase odor. I'd say your theory of gas smells normally coming from the intake when the engine is cold is busted.
I am curious about what you would check out and what you would let ride. Many oil pressure light indications are the result of a bad sender; do you routinely ignore them? Engine temp lights and guages could be wrong, too. Clattering sounds coming from the engine could be innocuous. Smoke from under the hood can be anything. Diving momentarily to one side when braking may be a sluggish brake caliper, not a ball joint failing
Several years ago the entrance to our parking lot in Phoenix was blocked by a Cadillac. That afternoon I asked the guard what happened. He said the driver tried to make a U-turn and a ball joint broke. After the guard determined what the failure was, he asked her, "Didn't the steering wheel shake [pantomimes] when you went over railroad tracks?" She said, "Yeah! Just like that!"
Mike
In my experience many cars do smell of gas after being started then shut off within the first minute or two.
that is what's called "ad hominem". and utter bullshit.
and the o.p.'s reported that hasn't he. oh, wait, you're just being chicken little.
drama queen.
No - ad hominem is a personal attack. My concern is for the logic - there is still no apparent trigger point in your recommendations for investigating alarming indications. You leave the question unanswered: what does it take in your view to investigate, especially when it would cost nothing and could save a vehicle and even a home? Since my simple test (one you can recreate as easily as I did) left the source of the gas smell unexplained, do you still recommend the OP ignore it?
(Still not ad hominem - that is metonymy.) I really like to see fire hazards controlled before the fire occurs - I guess I'm funny that way. How would you feel - honestly and seriously - if tomorrow the OP reports a fire that destroys his Fit and possibly his home, particularly after you have been so adamant he should ignore the only warning he will get? Surely you recognize it could happen and that it has certainly happened to others. Personally, I would have trouble looking myself in the mirror for a very long time.
Now *that* is ad hominem. You finally nailed it. Wish you had answered the question though.
Mike, the chicken little drama queen (CLDQ to my friends)
Thanks for the input. I think long threads like this are put on a lot of "ignore" lists, so I don't know how many contributors are still with us.
Mike
no, ad hominem is indirect attack. you're citing bullshit, then trying to imply that it applies.
yes i did. age of vehicle. track record of vehicle. circumstances of use. physics of situation.
what does it take? well, it /doesn't/ take worrying about the feelings of a drama queen!
the op /did/ ignore it!
no it's not! it's direct observation of fact! seriously, you need to use a dictionary. and calm down.
you mean, how many can put up with the drama queen getting their panties in a bunch long after the case is proven? go to a doctor mike - get your sense of smell checked out.
From Microsoft Bookshelf, ad hominem is "Appealing to personal considerations rather than to logic or reason." Your "observation" (opinion) is immaterial to the subject at hand and I don't see how you could have meant it in any impersonal context. Thus, ad hominem.
I have been asking you to get factual but you have been ducking the questions. I checked your basic premise - that most or all cars smell of gasoline if shut down after a short run while cold - and found my car doesn't do it, none of the other cars around me (including two Honda products) appear to do it, while another contributor says in his experience that some do. It really doesn't matter to me what you think of me; you are entitled to your opinions. I just wish you would focus - once more, why should anybody ignore the only warning of a well known hazard of such serious consequences when it is *free* to check it out? Are you saying cars that smell like gas never have fuel leaks, or that without checking we will know which ones do and which ones do not?
You cite:
And wake up.
Mike
"Jim," I have tried to be civil. You are not making sense and are becoming increasingly rude. Be as blind as you want about this. I am out of here.
Mike
no dude. look up wikipedia
argumentum ad hominem consists of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the source making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim.
that is precisely what you were doing. you couldn't refute the facts of gasoline wetting and evaporation, so you went off on some tangent about ignoring oil warning lights, smoke under the hood, etc. i never suggested ignoring those things, so you undermined your own ad hominem by using patent bullshit.
er, i've repeated the facts for you several times...
then you have a defective sense of smell!
well known hazard? in year-old cars with ZERO HISTORY OF THIS PROBLEM???
i'm not saying either - and you're just clutching at straws. look at the facts.
mike, get your head out of your ass and admit:
On 3/1/2009 11:37 AM jim beam spake these words of knowledge:
You've researched this about as well as everything else. As usual, you are partially correct, and think you know more than you do.
'Ad hominem' is literally translated as 'against the man'. Figuratively it means the same. It *is* (generally) a form of indirect attack, but Michael's definition (personal attack) is much more informative and apt, and therefore much more correct than yours.
This is typical of your argument process and your shoddy reasoning process. And *that* is ad hominem, although it is decidedly *not* indirect. It is precisely to the point.
RFT!!! Dave Kelsen
what is with you guys??? he can't address the facts, so he attempts indirect discreditation of the person instead.
Thus spake jim beam :
Yeah, but last semester it was a 20 mile one way commute. And school is about 15 miles and 25 minutes (thank you, Austin downtown traffic).
And I still put in some good mileage on a regular basis. But yes, my sister's commute is about the same distance. She ran through a total of three mufflers on her 80 CRX (traded with 60K miles in 2005). Guy at the Honda dealer (who did not do the muffler) told her it was the water vapor that wasn't being sufficiently heated.
As far as the bike is concerned, US 290 west of Austin is deadly enough in a car.
Maybe you have a gas leak in your car, too? I do not smell the gas from my car, from under the hood or from the tail pipe.
Absolute and unadulterated bullshit.
I have *never* smelled gas on *ANY* fuel-injected car (Honda or otherwise), regardless of how long it was run, unless there was a problem/ leak somewhere.
You're full of shit. Quit spreading FUD, and/or just be quiet when you don't know what you're talking about.
Dillon,
I asked the senior mechanic at work, Jim, if gas smells (not in my work truck, which is diesel) are normal when the engine is cold. He said, "Yeah, if you have a leak." Giving him more of the details he said the most likely problem in a new car is a rolled seal between one of the injectors and the fuel rail, in an older one the same seals harden when cold. The seals get more pliable when warm and the smell goes away. He said that gas smells, warm or cold, always mean a leak of some sort.
Mike
and my friend's friend says you need to go to the doctor and get your nose checked out.
Your friend's friend is a psychic doctor? Or is that your odd way of claiming you are infinitely more qualified than a career auto mechanic? Maybe you are just fond of wacky non sequiturs, since I didn't mention anything about my sense of smell.
Dillon asked an honest question and I provided an honest answer from a source I trust. He is entitled to know what I was told by a qualified mechanic, whether it fits your explanation, or mine, or neither. What he does with the info is his business. I would have reported it all the same, though I have the distinct impression you would not have been so impartial. I have no problem with people disagreeing with me - I have certainly been wrong from time to time, often quite publicly - but the boorishness of your posts is inexcusable. As you may have guessed, what you think no longer has any importance to me, and I am sure the feeling is mutual... so why the snide comments?
Mike
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