Exhaust smell inside cabin, possible exhaust leak?

[spacecruisers]

thanks for your knowledge on o2 sensors. mine is a manual. the o2 sensor i just replaced, its on the pipe near the battery. i must have some parts from another van. i do know the PO had a parts van he swapped the motor from. you would think he'd have bothered to at least replace some components like the head gasket before doing all that work. the more i work on it the more i realize that 1. this van was incredibly neglected and 2. the work he did do on it was extremely sloppy shoddy work.

now i get to go back and fix all his mistakes!

[NWVanner]

On my 87 4WD has the broken stud on the back of the manifold. I could smell exhaust in the van when I had the drivers window open and it was coming through the battery cover as it didn't seal well because some of the weatherstripping was old/missing. Installed new weatherstrip and all good now...also less road noise!

Both vans (87 and 85) had a strong (running rich) exhaust smell. Replacing and setting the Throttle position sensor helped a huge amount. Now the vans don't smell like they're running rich. Might help?

Brent

[spacecruisers]

you know, i have the same problem, I'm planning on turning out the tailpipe to the side as others have suggested, but I'm going to double check the seal on the battery cover as well. I actually don't get fumes in the cabin until i roll the windows down. I just bought a new TPS though thanks to your suggestion. My guess is the old one is shot just like every other part on this van

ill update when i get it in there.

[mrgrackle]

I get quite a bit of exhaust fumes in the van when driving. I'm guessing the rubber seal/gasket under the driver's seat is failing. What's this part called and where do I find it? Has anyone else had this issue, am I barking up the right tree?

Thanks in advance y'all!

[JPERL]

Sounds like you have an exhaust leak from the exhaust manifold if you are getting fumes in the cab and that's really more of the issue. It is a very common flaw with the van where one of the studs on the exhaust manifold are broken off. The rubber for the engine cover seal is no longer available and so you would have to get some weatherstrip and fashion your own seal also the rubber grommets where the parking brake cable and shift linkages pass through the floor are letting any fumes pass as well.

These seals were never air tight to begin with and so even if you had brand new seals an exhaust leak will still make its way into the cab and so really the repair to the exhaust needs to be addressed

[tennesseetoyota]

Would an exhaust leak make the van smell like gasoline? I've been having bad gas fumes in my cockpit for a while now. Was driving it on a road trip and it started sputtering real bad. Had to get a mechanic to look at it since I was on the road and it ended up being plugs, wires, distributor cap, and one (?) fuel injector. But that didn't seem to fix the issue completely.

Someone said something to me about a fuel rail, could this also be the source of gasoline smells or would it more likely be an exhaust leak? And how do I go about finding out what it is?

I did the test where you put your hand over the exhaust and listen for a leak but heard nothing (and got real good pressure). Mechanic said it also had real good compression (if that helps, I don't know, I'm still learning!).

[trestlehed]

Would an exhaust leak make the van smell like gasoline? I've been having bad gas fumes in my cockpit for a while now.

Unless you want to be driving a mobile barbeque, stop driving that thing until you find the source of the fuel leak. Places to check are the fuel rail, injectors, fuel pressure regulator and fuel filter. My guess is that if you already replaced 1 injector, then 1 of the remaining 3 injectors is leaking. Also replace the fuel injector connectors while you're at it (they get heat-baked and crumble to dust eventually). Use the search function or Google.
I got my new injector connectors from Amazon.com.

I found this thread with good advice and pics:
https://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/...tor+connectors

Good luck and let us know what you find.

[JPERL]

If you smell raw gasoline, this is a potential immediate fire hazard. Many a Van has died this way. The fuel pulsation damper on the fuel rail can leak as can injectors however the pulsation damper is more common failure point.

Are you getting poor gasoline mileage? If you smell gasoline your engine can be running rich which can be caused by air restrictions, ie dirty air filter. A bad 02 sensor , EFI temp sensor can cause the vehicle to run rich.

Mechanical reasons for running rich can be poor compression due to valves and or piston rings not sealing.

Did you get the compression readings ? "Good Compression" is subject to interpretation. The spec range is 128 to 178 PSI, but that does not necessarily mean that if you are in the low end of that range that you will be free of performance issues. Another factor in compression readings is that you want no greater than a 10% differential between cylinders so if you have 150PSI it is ideal to have 150 in all cylinders so the most you should be off on the low side is 15PSI and this you would feel as the engine would feel a little rough so while its not good for performance to have low compression but if you do, it is better that all cylinders preferably be within 5 to 10 PSI of each other.

The point is the better the compression, more of the fuel mixture will be burned so that there is no fumes left to smell meaning raw or partially ignited fuel is not getting dumped into the exhaust which in turns kills the catalytic converter.

More commonly I have seen lean misfires which means there is more air than fuel which is caused by a vacuum leak or a leaky intake manifold gasket . When you hear random put puts in the exhaust that's a lean misfire

[tennesseetoyota]

My gas mileage seems to have gone down I would say, but I largely chalked it up to driving in the city.

I didn't get any of the readings but can ask for those tomorrow when the mechanic opens back up. He said the other three injectors were find, which I trusted him on (perhaps too blindly).

I do hear occasional put puts in the exhaust when it's idling, and notice that it has a really hard time starting now (like it never did before, I have to crank it to get it going whereas it would turn without a single turn of the starter motor before).

I recently replaced the air filter, so I would assume it's not that (unless I managed to mess that up, which seems unlikely since the enclosure for it likely wouldn't shut unless it isn't snuggled in there just right).

When driving, it runs just as smooth as ever. It's just at idle and start that I'm having problems.

Also noticed that the mechanic turned the idle WAAAAAY up (perhaps to get it to start since it's struggling), so I'm wondering if something's been hidden there...

Any thoughts?

[boogieman]

when you replaced the air filter its likely you disturbed the intake boot and have an air leak between the maf and throttle body, make sure the t fitting on the underside is all hooked up and look for possible cracks in the rubber tube..

[tennesseetoyota]

I will look for sure my suspicion leads me to think this is unlikely. I drove around 4000 miles after changing the air filter before this problem started.

I suppose there's always the chance the mechanic messed with it and messed something up. I'll check it haha.

UPDATE: The mechanic said when he tested the compression they were all within the acceptable range and were all about the same, although he didn't have the numbers on them. He also said the other three injectors that he didn't replace were all "hitting" so there was no reason to replace them.

[llamavan]

Check the Fuel Pressure Regulator and Fuel Pulsation Damper.

Failure of either will cause the raw gas smell; failure of either is a significant fire hazard. Make sure both are sound or replace before driving the van!

Gwen

[tennesseetoyota]

So I think the cause of my issues may be the fuel pulsation damper. Looking at the other posts, mine doesn't quite look the same.

It honestly appears to be some sort of bolt that's stuck in there as opposed to the actual fuel pulsation damper (unless the bottom of certain fuel pulsation dampers was flat like that of a bolt). What do y'all think?

I've got the fuel pulsation damper and related gaskets on order.

[JPERL]

you have no damper installed. that is just a bolt. Get that fixed ASAP, that is a fire hazard waiting to happen

[tennesseetoyota]

So I got the fuel pulsation dampener and replaced the bolt that was in there. Had some trouble getting the dampener in there but after putting some grease on it successfully got it to go in. Started it up and let it warm up to operating temperature and smelled no gasoline, so I would assume I am OK.

There is still a bit of a burble in the exhaust note, so I'm not sure if I've totally solved the problem. It just sputters on occasion, maybe every two or three seconds.

UPDATE: I drove it around about 20 miles or so with the windows up for a good bit, stopped, and let it sit for a few minutes. I came back out and opened the door to see if I smelled any fumes (like I had before) and didn't so I would assume I'm OK at this point (though if I go to the passenger side and smell beneath the door at the wheel well I can still smell a little bit of gasoline fumes). Just a little curious about the exhaust burble. Starting it hot after letting it cool down a bit makes it sputter almost as if it was misfiring (but it smooths out over time). It's also been making a lot of whooshing sounds when I give it the beans.

Any thoughts?

[Burntboot]

Fuel filter mounts near the RF wheel, maybe make sure that you have no leaks there, reusing banjo bolt gaskets is the No. 1 cause of filter leaks.
The rubber lines can get damaged/deteriorated, but hopefully its just gaskets.

[tennesseetoyota]

I for sure replaced the gaskets around the pulsation dampener (copper one and the one next to the dampener). It doesn't smell nearly as much as gas (I really don't think i smell any, I'm just having rough starts when cold and when I've let it cool a bit).

What is the "RF wheel"?

[llamavan]

What is the "RF wheel"?

Right front.

Gwen