Gas fuel smell odor in cabin when fresh air on

Have my 06 5 Touring 5MT for 2 months now. Drove it almost daily. Has 72k miles now.

No real problems. Rare instances where I'm cruising and I sense a loss of power it almost jerks the vehicle. My knee-jerk reaction is step on the clutch to try to maintain speed/momentum and maybe prevent engine from stalling. It doesnt stall, but I slowly release the clutch and everything is back to normal. Well this is may be for another thread another time.

Yesterday, my family piled into the car so we can go the mall. I drive about a block and there's a strong gasoline odor. Defroster was on so it was pulling in outside air. Put on recirculate and odor dies down. Put fresh air back on, gas smell comes back. I turn around and go back home. Pop the hood and strong gas fumes wafted. Dont know where it's coming from. Going to take it to dealer tomorrow though it's out-of-warranty. Any ideas? Tried searching but didn't come across any relevant posts. Thanks. This is our first Mazda, and so far we like it, but didn't expect this kind of problem so soon.

The '06s have lots of 1st year bugs. Unfortunately, it can be really hard to figure if your car's OP was diligent in getting TSBs taken care of. Mine wasn't but I got it w/1 year left on the warranty, and w/this forum's help, got all the biggies addressed. In almost 2 years, I have not read about fuel leakage under the hood. Sounds like an isolated problem to me. Depending on what it is, maybe you can have an indy shop do it for $20/hr less than the dealer. If you don't already have a trusted indy now, be careful when searching for one, they become wolves in the wintertime, when there is less business.

As for the hesitation. My wife has complained about it a few times as well. Not really witnessed it myself, and I drive it about 25% of the time, so maybe its driving style-related. Guessing its either rooted in the throttle body or the MAF sensor, but haven't explored it, and since the dealer won't even investigate unless they can replicate the complaint, never had them look for it.

Good luck, and hope that this 1st shop trip doesn't discourage you.

Fuel odor from under the hood is definitely a leak. I suggest you refrain from driving it until you get it fixed. Gasoline on a hot exhaust can spell fire. The places to inspect would be the fuel line, rail & injectors. These can be found under the top engine cover. Make sure your engine is cold, turn the key to RUN, and get under there and look around. No need to start the engine as the fuel line will be pressurized in anticipation of starting. Don't be afraid to wiggle things around a little. Check the connections thoroughly.

Does it have a charcoal canister and EGR system? Problem could lie there as well..

Vapor recovery (charcoal canister) is contained in the back with the fuel tank. I wouldn't smell under the hood. The fuel system is returnless, so there's only 1 fuel line running to the engine compartment. EGR is exhaust gas recirculation, so the fuel is already combusted and wouldn't smell like this either. I still think he has a leak, but if it's not something he's comfortable with investigating, he should take it to a professional.

I'm having the same problem with my '08 5, it has no correlation to when I fill-up. I had it to the dealer once only to be told they didn't smell it. Please post your progress on this issue. -Tim

OP on the engine hesitation thing, maybe the orig owner haven't had the 5's PCM reflashed?

fuel odor

sorry to reply so late. I took the 5 to the dealer the next morning. smell was gone. mechanics checked it over and didn't find any evidence of leakage but they fixed a loose CV boot clamp (!?) which they speculated might have allowed some grease to escape and hit the exhaust. they thought I might've smelled burning grease instead, but now I'm not so sure.
they gave me back the 5 no charge even with a loaner Tribute. the gas smell hasn't reoccurred since. the hesitation I didnt bother the dealer about yet. It occurs so infrequently that it doesnt happen when I want it to to reproduce it, and then I forget about it until it happens again like once every 3 weeks. thanks for all the suggestions.

Hey all, I'm having a similar problem with my 2009 Mazda 5 Sport Touring. It has 78,000 miles and has been the bane of my existence since purchasing it used in December 2016 with 76500 miles. Front struts and tires were replaced right before purchasing, but I've had replaced now the front sway bushings, an engine mount, a transmission mount, and have repaired the oil cooler (see my detailed thread post) myself in addition to changing the spark plugs and cabin filter. About a week ago, it started smelling like gas in the cabin when at idle with the fresh air intake open (not recirculate). It doesn't smell like gas outside the car nor when the car is not running, or when the car is moving above 30 mph. I can't see where gas is leaking anywhere. Any ideas what might be going on or how even to diagnose where this is coming from? It's been suggested that it may be a pinhole leak in one of the fuel hoses, or a problem with the charcoal canister. I'm reticent to take it back to the repair shop without knowing what it could be, and am not confident they'll be able to diagnose it. Any thoughts?

What actual looking have you done so far? Everything that was suggested above (post #3)?


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