Hi Folks: About a month ago, I noticed a vague smell of fuel in my garage. After poking around a few days thinking my lawnmower/snowblower/leafblower was the issue I came to the realization my car is the issue. When I crouch down near the driver's side rear wheel-well I can strongly smell the gas odor. I have not noticed puddles under the car (trust me I've been checking), not do I smell an odor inside the car. I took the car to my local shop (not a MB dealer) who said my gas tank is all moist from gas and recommends replacing the tank, they won't patch it. I do also notice the smell is less strong when the tank is less than half full. When I'm at about 1/4 tank I don't smell anything at all.

So: I have been searching around on this forum and the web in general, and have found where a leaky fuel pump seal could be the culprit & is quite common on the E-class which leaks fuel down from the top of the tank. Could also be a bad hose, could be a host of other things as well. I've had a multitude of cars in my life that were far older and far less cared for, and never once had a leaky gas tank on any of them. I'm dumbfounded to think a 9 year old Mercedes that hasn't hit 100K miles yet and spends most nights in the garage has a leaking gas tank, literally overnight. Yes I did see where the next generation of C-class has a lawsuit for leaking gas tanks but I really thought that was confined to the W205 generation, not the W204's.

I have been driving the car, but have to also say I'm really nervous about that, always thinking I'm one pothole away from gas sloshing onto a hot tailpipe. The quote I got from my local shop was high, he asked me "are you sitting down"? In hopes that this is not a gas tank issue and something simpler/easier to fix I've got an appt with the dealer to get it looked at.

Has anyone else with a C-class had to replace a gas tank? Is this a common thing for the age and mileage?

 

Could be this one ...