Is the smell normal?

[NewDirection]

Hey everyone,

 

You've probably seen my other posts on my newly acquired 1978 B210 with 43k original kilometres on it. It was safety certified today and the mechanic pointed out that it passed with flying colours, great! I've also replaced the diff and trans fluids with GL-5 and yellow metal safe GL-4 respectively. Next will be fuel filter and an oil change.

 

Now on to the my issue, the interior of the car smells strongly like old gasoline and oil, with NO mold like mustiness or similar. My question is: is this just what old Datsuns smell like or should I be investigating for a fuel or some other leak? I plan to replace the carpet soon and would like to figure this out ASAP. I don't mind the smell too much tbh and my kids like it lol but I don't want to be missing a potentially dangerous mechancal issue.

 

A few other observations:

 

No smell outside the car at all, very little smell near the fuel cap

No smell under the hood

No excess fuel consumption

No dripping under the car

Performance seems fine with no misfire or hesitation

No smoke from the exhaust

Some carpet smelled up close and does not seem to be carrying the smell

After driving for a while with windows down the smell lessens (which suggests to me that whatever this is must be very very small and only reaccummulates after some time)

 

This seems to be my only potentially big mechanical issue to hunt down before it gets lowered and sent to the body shop for a repaint (in original colours of course)

 

[datzenmike]

Once gas is spilled on carpet or it's exposed to gas smell it tends to remain. Inspect all holes in the cabin such as steering column, shifter boot, throttle cable, electrical wire harness, heater hoses or rust holes in the floor for entry points of smells. Realize that the fuel tank is basically inside the car only behind the rear seat so a poor trunk seal or rust holes in the trunk could cause air circulation into the cabin.

 

Every Datsun I have owned has a 'Datsun' smell.

[NewDirection]

Thanks Mike will do.

At the next Datsun meet I'll be asking everyone to smell their car so I can make sure the smell of mine is within spec for an old Datsun 😂

[datzenmike]

Yup. Easy enough to bring yours up if sub par.

[Icehouse]

I've had many many daily driver datsuns to this day.  One thing I've always noticed is the cars almost always have some sort of old fuel smell.  My 510, Z and others.  My thoughts are that part of the evap system is inside the car.  The trucks all that stuff is outside the cabin.  doesn't matter how deteriorated it is.  No smells which is nice.    I recently rebuilt this 1968 510 and it had zero smell when driving or parked.  It had all new hoses and NOS seals.   My Z is killing me.  If I roll the window down I get the smell you speak of.  So I recently bought all fuel rated hose to redo the evap tank in the rear quarter panel.  I hope it fixes it.  I also did new tail light gaskets.  Good luck!  Here is the 68 that doesn't smell.  

 

[NewDirection]

Damn, that is some car!

[NewDirection]

The smell of mine is coming from inside the cabin because there is no smell in the trunk or under the hood. It is worst when I first opent he doors.

[Dguy210]

22 hours ago, NewDirection said:

Hey everyone,

 

You've probably seen my other posts on my newly acquired 1978 B210 with 43k original kilometres on it. It was safety certified today and the mechanic pointed out that it passed with flying colours, great! I've also replaced the diff and trans fluids with GL-5 and yellow metal safe GL-4 respectively. Next will be fuel filter and an oil change.

 

Now on to the my issue, the interior of the car smells strongly like old gasoline and oil, with NO mold like mustiness or similar. My question is: is this just what old Datsuns smell like or should I be investigating for a fuel or some other leak? I plan to replace the carpet soon and would like to figure this out ASAP. I don't mind the smell too much tbh and my kids like it lol but I don't want to be missing a potentially dangerous mechancal issue.

 

A few other observations:

 

No smell outside the car at all, very little smell near the fuel cap

No smell under the hood

No excess fuel consumption

No dripping under the car

Performance seems fine with no misfire or hesitation

No smoke from the exhaust

Some carpet smelled up close and does not seem to be carrying the smell

After driving for a while with windows down the smell lessens (which suggests to me that whatever this is must be very very small and only reaccummulates after some time)

 

This seems to be my only potentially big mechanical issue to hunt down before it gets lowered and sent to the body shop for a repaint (in original colours of course)

 

 

 

One thing to note with the B210 sedan is the back seat is basically sitting right in front of the fuel tank with nothing but the seat itself blocking it from the cabin. When I redid my back seat I put a bit of a blocker in to separate these two compartments and it definitely helped (but did not completely get rid of the Datsun "smell"). 

[difrangia]

Check the gasket on the fuel level sender on the tank and the rubber filler neck hose if it has one. Our 1978 'Bulletside' 620 pickup has a slider back window from new. I'm the second owner. Anytime I added gas, and not even a fill-up, when I left the station, if the back window was open, there was always a strong fresh gas odor and it would last for a couple days till the next fuel add. I replaced the rubber connect between the filler neck hose and the tank and the issue pretty much went away.

Edited November 9, 2023 by difrangia

[NewDirection]

Thanks everyone, the trunk and cabin defiitely smell like fresh fuel and I find gas mileage is pretty poor. I wonder if my hard earned gas money is evaporating away. I will remove the rear seat and replace whatever can be replaced on the fuel tank back there.

 

And will add some sort of blocker as well. Maybe a type of thick rubber or plastic lining like is use to line shower bases.

 

there is no smell outside the car or under the hood, and no drip under the car, so I figure it's not the fuel lines or carburator.

[NewDirection]

Okay so quick update, I removed the rear seat and was able to localize the smell is definitely coming from the passenger side of the fuel tank where the filler hose inserts. I didnèt get a good look as I would need to remove the parcel shelf and I'm scared of breaking the clips.

 

What is the best way to access this area? Should I remove the rear trunk seperator? I tried but it's held in place by the hooks that hold the jack stick thing and I don't want to break these either..

[NewDirection]

UPDATE: I was able to track this down. I removed the rear seat back and there are three rubber hoses that go from the floor of the car to the fuel tank. One of them smells strongly of gas, even though it's not wet and I dont see any cuts.

 

Umm, I covered it in duct tape and it doesn't smell anymore.

 

A little bit of smell was also coming from the fuel tank side of the large hose that goes from the fuel filler to the tank. I adjusted it and tightened it down a bit and the smell is gone.

 

All in all, getting into the car after it's been closed for a while, there is still "old car" smell but no longer with undertones of fresh gasoline. Good enough for me!