I have a 2003 outback wagon with about 195,000 miles and it still runs well.  Lately  I have noticed on first starts on cold mornings, 20 degrees and under, I get a very noticeable gasoline odor  until the car warms up to normal operating temp and sometime for longer than that.  This morning it was much warmer and I got no odor.  I have looked carefully under the hood while the odor is present and can not see any leaks anywhere.  Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Under the intake manifold where the fuel tubes run there are a couple short lengths of hose. Often these will leak a little esp on older soobs when it's really cold.It doesn't take much to leak to be able to smell it, even a drop or two is noticeable.

Often just tightening the fuel hose clamps can fix it.

Thanks for the feedback.  Once the 34 inches of snow we had in Northern Va is gone and it warms up a bit I'll look and see what I can find.  In the meantime have not smelled the odor  for a while.

I had a 2002 outback wagon with the same problem. It gets pretty cold here and as soon as the temp dropped you could smell the gas. CNy dave's fix worked for me.

Dang sou'ners stealing all our snow, quit it!!!

If it's not coming from the engine area, it could be cold cats. Catalytic converters, when engine is 1st started, do not convert the raw gas going unburnt through exhaust, until proper cat temps are achieved. So for the 1st couple minutes of only idling, it'll almost smell like raw gas is being dumped. Once cats get hot enough to function correctly, they convert the gases. 

 

Also, another issue is engines tend to run really rich when cold, to improve cold-start idle, then gradually lean out to correct ratio. When engine is running rich, and cats are cold due to cold ambient temps, you'll get that old car, straight pipe smell briefly. 

Edited February 7, 201610 yr by Bushwick

I think I know the smell you are talking about and this smell is stronger than that.  Had not had the smell for a while but on a cold day a while ago it was there.  So I opened the hood to have a look and couldn't see anything and actually the smell was not a strong under the hood as it was in the car.  I then walked around to the rear of the car on the gas cap side and could also smell the gas there pretty strongly as well.  

 

Would that suggest a leak of some kind in the filler tube or the hoses back there?  I remember I had a 1999 that the filler tube had rusted through,but in that case I smelled the gas all the time.

 

When I say cold I'm talking about 5-15 for lows and 30 and under for highs.

Cold starts require a richer mixture than warm starts. A richer mixture will present increased U burned or partially burned fuel to the cat. The cat is less efficient when cold and more so below 0 deg. Smelling fuel under the above conditions could be considered normal providing that the odor dissipates as the engine warms. By all means ensure the fuel system is tight and no leaks are present. As stated above even seemingly minute droplets of raw fuel can cause a heavy fuel smell.

Edited February 20, 201610 yr by shoebee2

Lift up your seat rear seat bottom. It pulls forward from the seat belt buckle area and rests almost touching the backs of the front seats, and is meant to allow the rear seat back to lay flatter, giving a flat cargo area.

 

May take a little finesse and I can't remember if there are locking clips or not, but once pulled forward, lift the matting that rests on the metal floor where seat bottom was. Look on driver-side area for fuel lines that enter the vehicle through a rubber grommet. The fuel lines enter through this area for some goofy reason, and you might have a tiny pin hole in the rust, or someone might have mended a bad section with rubber hose and now that's failing.

 

Mine did this on a rusted section and was leaking under the car, but the section that was actually bad entered the car through the seat hump grommet. As soon as you lift the seat, kneel down from driver side and see if the gas smells raw or gets stronger. I mended mine, but am getting a small leak pass the rubber section I double-clamped and it'll sometimes be a faint smell in-car when stopped and colder out.

 

Also, there should be not wet puddles under seat. If there are, smell it as it'll either be gas or water entering. Could also be possible the gas line is leaking elsewhere.

Edited February 20, 201610 yr by Bushwick