rolex11

My 2007 E350 RWD was in my garage last couple of days. It's usually not, the Porsche lives there, but I was detailing it and wanted to keep it clean for a couple of day and the 911 was not so clean.

Anyway, every three hours or so I would smell the garage and the gas fumes were unbearable. Each time I would air it out with a fan and return to find the fumes just as bad.

I have read many threads on the fuel sending unit in the car under the rear seat cushion cracking and giving off a gas odor "IN" the car. However, this is coming from somewhere "outside" the car.

I spoke with my MB SA and he said there was a known issue with something involving the fuel delivery around the gas tank. He said it can occur when the car has been refueled to its maximum capacity just like the issue with the fuel sending unit under the rear seat cushion.

I have the ELW until May of 2014, so no worries it will be covered. SA said I should bring in the car when the fuel is very low because if it is this issue he described, they have to empty the fuel and discard it. Then replace the fuel tank itself. Sounds expensive, looks like my ELW may pay off.

Just wanted to run this by this forum to see if anyone else has come across this issue????

And...do you think I should check the fuel sending unit under the sear cushion and check for the puddles of fuel that can form if something is amiss, and if so have them replace that too?

thanks.

Drag0na5h

Have you driven the car since it's been parked in your garage with this issue? If not you may experience what I experienced when this "known issue" happened to me after a full tank refill. I was driving around after filling up a full tank when I noticed an unbearable gasoline odor inside my car at a stop light. Pulled into a parking lot and tried to track the smell. Smelled like the back seat so I removed it and found no pools of gasoline in sight. Then I sniffed around the rear wheels and found the odor, but no evidence of gasoline puddles on the ground. Got in the car and had to crank the engine twice before it barely fired up, backed out of the spot and started driving off when I noticed a river of liquid trailing my vehicle. Got out and confirmed it was gasoline. Called a tow with a flatbed to pick it up and take it to the nearest MB stealership and as it was being winched up tons of gasoline gushed out. This repair was not covered by warranty because I had over 100,000 miles plus it wasn't a known recall to my knowledge. Anyways $1000 later I had a replaced fuel sender unit. One week later while driving on the freeway the car goes into limp mode. Called a tow and another $1000 later I got a new fuel pump. Class action lawsuit is supposedly in the works I hear. Good luck.

rolex11

DragOna5h,

Yes I have driven it, maybe 50 miles or so. No issues, at least not the ones you described you had. Have not put it back in the garage to see if the gas smell still emits. I do know for sure that there is absolutely no gas smell "in" the car. It may still be giving off gas fumes, but outdoors it is almost impossible to detect.

I do know I get terrible gas mileage, 14 city/21 hwy at best. Maybe this suckers been leaking all along.

Since I'm under warranty I'm not really that worried. If I was without the warranty I'd do a lot more testing and poking around before taking it in to MB. But, I'll just take it in and get as many things replaced with new ones as possible.

I paid $3,100 for the 3 year/75,000 mile MB ELW (extended limited warranty) and 2 years and 3 months into it I have not had any claims.

I was kind of hoping some issue would come up and justify this purchase. Sounds weird, like hoping you have a flood to justify your flood insurance. I guess what I means is, I was hoping one of the many known issues these cars have would rear it's ugly head so I could have it remedied under the ELW and scratch it off the list of future problems when out of warranty.

jimbo1763

Oh, yes. It is almost certainly a broken seal as described. I have 2 E 350's and have had it on both. The smell will get better if you drive some of the gas out of the tank. Gas splashes up past the seal-ergo, the smell.

If you have warranty coverage, by all means get it fixed. If they are going to replace the tank, they will surely replace the sending unit seals as well, as those units come right out the top of the tank.

Drag0na5h

The clock starts now then, 9 months for the issue to warrant repair. Just always refill with a full tank and I'm sure whatever seals or pumps are faulty will fail eventually.

giant330ci

I had the same problem. Gas oder inside and outside of the car. The problem were centrifuge and cam plugs were leaking.

Had to replace crankcase vent valve, cam housing plug 30m and 65

After, gas oder was gone.

rolex11

Thanks Guys. Going to run the gas down and take it in next week. I'll post what the results are.

By the way, car only has 36,400 miles on it.

Gersh320

Thanks for the information.