I own a 2005 subaru impreza wrx sti, upon starting vehicle, idle, and driving there's strong fuel smell under the hood and inside the cabin. I have popped the hood and confirmed is coming from back passenger side of intake manifold where the fuel lines, rails, and injectors are. I have confirmed this to be relating to soa's recall for the 02-03 impreza wrx's hard fuel line / rubber hose leaking issues. I live in southern california so appears extreme cold weather not the cause. Leaking fuel is a huge safety issue!
2005 Subaru Impreza: fuel leak
6 of the 75 complaints about the 2005 Subaru Impreza describe fuel leak.
- owner complaints
- 6
- of this car's complaints
- 8%
- typical mileage
- 95,000
- recalls
- 0
Fuel leak by model year
What owners say
Strong fuel smell in cabin, dealer confirmed leaking fuel hoses.
In january 2008, I noticed a very strong smell of gas when I started a the car on a cold day. I opened the hood and saw gas dripping from the driver left side of the engine. Because of my concern of a fire, I had the car towed to the dealer. It cost $491.30 plus towing to have the fuel leak fixed. This year I started smelling raw gas again when the car is cold. I had it checked at the dealer on 1/16/2013 and they did not find anything. I asked about recalls and they said there were none. The smell of raw gas is very strong on most cold days and I'm afraid there will be a fire. When I searched the web for subaru impreza cold weather fuel leak it looks like it is a widespread chronic problem. Does there have to be fires and injures before subaru is forced to fix this major safety issue.
On extremely cold mornings +/-0 degrees my 2005 subaru impreza rs has such a strong fuel smell that you can not use the heat since you can't turn on the vents. If you turn the vents on the smell is so intense that you get lightheaded and sick. You can smell the fuel smell outside the engine area and fuel mileage is so much lower that you know that it is leaking fuel. Called subaru and they refuse to help without charging and did warn of the potential of the car catching on fire from the fuel leak.
I have raw fuel smell upon start up during cold weather. Fuel drips from the fuel line under the intake manifold on the drivers side of the car and/or drips from the fuel rail. This is a continuing problem for subaru impreza's for years beyond the recall that was entered for the 02-03 models. Research on several subaru forums reflect it is still a very significant problem on 04-05 year wrx imprezas. There have been several fires and accidents caused by the raw fuel dripping on the hot motor block. At this time there is no action being taken by subaru for the later years.
Gas leak in the fuel line causing a strong raw odor inside the vehicle on cold days. This is a known issue for impreza models and there is recently a recall for the 02-03 models. Currently there is no recall for the 04-05 models yet.
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2005 Subaru Impreza fuel leak
Is fuel leak a common problem on the 2005 Subaru Impreza?
6 of 75 owner complaints about the 2005 Subaru Impreza (8%) mention fuel leak. The model year with the most reports is 2002.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2005 Subaru Impreza?
There is no recall or service bulletin for this area of the car on record.
Other symptoms on the 2005 Subaru Impreza
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2005 Subaru Impreza?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history