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.
2005 Subaru Impreza fuel system complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 19 of 19, newest first, as owners wrote them.
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.
Exact to the subaru recall issued in '09 (2002-2003 impreza only), my 2005 subaru impreza wrx smells terribly of gas on cold morning when I start the vehicle. The smell is so bad that I cannot sit in the car without feeling faint if I do not roll the windows down, and cannot have any passengers in the car at startup until the car is warm and driven around the block for five minutes, which is the worst considering the cold winters I face in connecticut. This smell occurs upon starting the vehicle and letting it idle for about after a minute, but about after five-ten minutes of driving the smell finally goes away. I am aware of the issue with earlier year models, but am surprised at the fact that there is a grand amount of people with the same exact issue with 2004 and up imprezas as well, and a recall hasn't been issued yet (and my local subaru told me that I would have to pay full price for this repair which might take two days and cost around 500$ and up..wow!). This only occurs when it it below zero, but for me that is quite common during winter. I have seen numerous reports online that people with my year have called subaru of america, and that they had paid for the car to get repaired as if it was a recall type of procedure, but personally called them today and was told by the rep that there were no such reported cases with subaru of america... Sure! Quite disappointing, but most of all dangerous, and I dread driving the car and putting myself and others in danger. I was told by a tech at subaru that if there was any sort of ignition or spark around this area for any malfunctioning reason, or an accident, that there would be a good chance that the car might ignite. Help me out here, I know I am not the only one with this issue with this year and model subaru.
On jan 12 2011 my 2005 subaru impreza wrx started to have a raw fuel smell coming into the cabin area when it was cold outside no matter if it was in a garage or outside. On further inspection I could see raw fuel streaming out of the fuel lines onto a hot engine block. There is a recall for 02-03 subaru imprezas with the same problem, but it does not cover any newer models with the same fuel delivery system problems. Nothing was done to correct it by the dealer because it was not covered by the recall. It should have been covered by some type recall because of found defects in just slightly older models but the same engine configuration and fuel system.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 subaru impreza wrx. The contact was driving 25 mh when there was an overpowering gasoline odor emitting from the air vents. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnosis. The dealer tightened two hose feeder clamps that were connected to the fuel rail to correct the problem. The failure recurred two weeks following the repair. The vehicle was not further repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 71,000.
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.
Dt*: the contact stated the vehicle's cruise control turned itself off without warning. The service dealer determined the electronic control module was not coded correctly and could not be fixed. Updated 1/19/2007 - the consumer explained that this problem occurred when the tank was half full. When the tank was completely full the problem never happened.
Raw fuel odor inside cabin of vehicle. 2005 subaru impreza rs, research from the web resulted with many complaints from all impreza models and ongoing problem past few years.
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