Greetings from one of the many long-time NG readers. I have an unusual problem with my 1989 Toyota truck (4WD, 5-sp, 3.0 V6, 124K miles) I was hoping you all could help me with.
The truck lives and is a daily driver in the southern California area, at about 1,500 ft. elevation. About once or twice a year I drive it to the Colorado mountains to visit my lovely daughter who lives in Gunnison (elevation 7,300 ft.), and whenever I spend more than about a day or two at the higher elevations I start getting a very strong odor of gasoline (sometimes so strong I'm afraid of anyone even walking by with a cigarette). However, as soon as I come back down to lower elevations, the odor immediately goes away. The time period is significant, as it does this only after the truck has been at altitude for at least one or two days. I live close to the mountains here in So Cal, and if I drive it up to the mountains (6-7,000 ft) and back in the same day, then there's no odor.
My first thought was the EVAP charcoal canister, but when I asked about it at the dealer, he said he didn't think that would be the problem - that the canisters generally don't go bad on these trucks - and that more likely it was just a leaky fuel hose somewhere. If that's the case, then why wouldn't I be getting an odor all the time? (And besides, he quoted me a price of something like $250+ for the canister.) I've been all over the fuel system and hoses, but have not been able to find anything obvious.
So any ideas why I would get a strong gas odor only at high altitudes? I would appreciate any advice you can offer, as I am scheduled for another trip up there at the end of this month, and would really like to not have to worry about this.
Thanks,
JimC in Redlands