Last week I started smelling gasoline in the cabin and around the car at times. It isn't consistent and it isn't all that strong. I searched for any leaks or drips but can't find anything or see any residue that I could investigate deeper. After a while I was able to narrow it down to driver's side middle and rear as the source. Turns out that is where the fuel pump and fuel pump housing reside... under the 2nd row, the layers of carpet and insulation, and under the sheet metal. With some research I found that the housing will sometimes develop small cracks leading to fumes escaping... not safe.

The repair is simple enough but is time consuming since you have to remove the rear seat on the driver's side, pull up the carpet and cut a portion of it, and get through the access panel in the metal. Fortunately, before dedicating a Saturday to the issue I stumbled on a reference to a recall about this in one of the forums. The issue described matched perfectly so I thought I'd check it out at the dealership. They checked it out, the recall had been performed when it was issued a few years back so I thought I was out of luck. But the service writer called whoever they call to see what should be done and without any pushback they said take care of it under the recall again.

So, I had my man card pulled out and was ready to do the work. But I saved myself the cost of parts and a Saturday by checking in with the dealership just to be certain. The man card gets put away but at least I also get to keep my soft hands. 😉