I saw somewhere that the fuel rails on an EJ25 (?) tend to leak. First of all, I have an 02 OBW 2.5/auto. Is that the EJ25?

 

I did a search, and came up empty. Can someone point me to a thread or TSB#? I'm concerned about gas fumes+ hot exhaust = FIRE. I have AAA, but would prefer not to use it on a Car-B-Q.

OK, as soon as I posted, a bunch came up at the bottom. I'm still open to suggestions........

I saw somewhere that the fuel rails on an EJ25 (?) tend to leak. First of all, I have an 02 OBW 2.5/auto. Is that the EJ25?

 

Yes, it is an EJ25

 

If it's leaking this bad you should be able to see it?

 

I do not know of a TSB on the problem

here is a link

http://www.autosafety.org/subaru

OK, as soon as I posted, a bunch came up at the bottom. I'm still open to suggestions........

Any possibility you're smelling exhaust fumes? See:http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/ExhaustInfo.pdf

I wasn't aware of this issue on the outbacks, but on the 02 WRX's there is a bad problem with fuel smell as well. Why I understood it, the problem lies in the fuel lines that they tend to have slight cracks and cause the smell. Of course this may not apply to you.

+1...We've gotten at least a dozen of these in the past few weeks with the cold weather in this area....what happens is the rubber fuel line between the #2 and #4 intake runners tends to crank/shirk/harden a little bit and lets fuel seep a little bit (usually just enough to make it wet and smell it)...customer complains of fuel smell obviously...The WRX is pretty much the same deal except the fuel line in question is usually under the Passanger side intake runners....and requires removal of the intake manifold to properly repair.....anyways if you are a little technical savy and you have a decent pair of long-nose pliers replacing that little rubber line on your OBW isnt that bad....i could be off a little here but i believe we charge either 1 hour or 1 1/2 hours labor for that job which comes out in the neighborhood of $100....parts are almost nil obviously because all you need is that little rubber fuel line....i believe its 5/16.....

About 4 years ago when my wife was warming up our '01 OB wagon while she cleaned off the ice and snow in 12° weather. When she got in the car she smelled gasoline fumes coming in the vents. I went out and popped the hood and found gas dripping from the fuel line on the driver's side above the cylinder bank. There is a short piece of fuel line between the 2 metal lines that has 2 hose clamps, just above center of the 2 cylinders, the inner one was dripping about 1 drop every 3-4 seconds, there was a puddle on top of the cylinders that quickly evaporated after I tightened the clamp. I double checked the rest and found that another on on the other side needed a quick snugging of about 1/2 turn with a phillips driver.

 

You can see the line and clamps I tightened if you click here.

Edited January 21, 200917 yr by Suzam

This is very common on the 02 wrx, it shows up sometimes on others too. The rubber hoses shrink in the cold and leak. I tightened the hose clamps on my wrx last winter and the smell stopped. It came back this winter and I ended up just replacing all the hoses under the intake manifold.

Here is you a good read:

 

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131755

About 4 years ago when my wife was warming up our '01 OB wagon while she cleaned off the ice and snow in 12° weather. When she got in the car she smelled gasoline fumes coming in the vents. I went out and popped the hood and found gas dripping from the fuel line on the driver's side above the cylinder bank. There is a short piece of fuel line between the 2 metal lines that has 2 hose clamps, just above center of the 2 cylinders, the inner one was dripping about 1 drop every 3-4 seconds, there was a puddle on top of the cylinders that quickly evaporated after I tightened the clamp. I double checked the rest and found that another on on the other side needed a quick snugging of about 1/2 turn with a phillips driver.

 

You can see the line and clamps I tightened if you click here.

 

 

+1 on this. Was the source of the leak on my '02. I tightened the hose clamps and that worked, but I'm going to replace the fuel hose soon. You might also check the clamps around your fuel filter. Just run a paper towel or your hand by the end of the hose, and you'll know.

I can't offer any sound mechanical advice at how to fix this problem, but the fuel smell in my 2003 Legacy (2.5) was linked to failing o-rings at the fuel injectors. They were cracked enough to let fuel evaporate at the injectors when the engine was started and allowed to idle in cold weather.

 

Yuck. I thought I was going to die until I had it fixed...suddenly no more headaches

My 01 Outback H-6 recently developed a fuel odor on the drivers side of the engine. I checked for any dripping or puddles the best I could without removing everything on that side of the engine bay (can't even see the injectors it is so crowded.) but found nothing. The smell has since went away but it still worries me as it is my wife's daily driver. Sounds like this problem is also found on the H-6 engines of those years.