Hyundai NU engine fuel smell
 

I bought 2019 Kia Forte about 5 months ago. It now has about 2,000 miles on it. This car uses the same Hyundai built NU MPi (NOT GDi) Atkinson cycle engine as is in many 2019 Elantra, Kona & Veloster models. I'm posting here because I wasn't able to find a Kia only tech forum that looks as active as this Hyundai site. Anyway, the car's great on most levels, except there's a fairly strong gasoline odor coming from the engine compartment. Very noticeable in the garage, and a bit off & on when driving. There isn't much I haven't done on cars over the years, and I have inspected the Forte extensively front to back looking for a leak, finding no signs of wetness from gasoline anywhere on the car, or the garage floor. The odor seems to be coming from the fuel rail/injector area. I've owned numerous fuel injected cars, have replaced some failed injectors over the years, and am familiar with the setup. I've never noticed gasoline smell coming from injectors in on other cars. Again, they're not damp with fuel, but this is the only area anywhere on the car with this smell. Of course, the car is under warranty & I plan to take it into the dealer, but in my experience, dealerships can be pretty reluctant to do warranty repairs, if they can get away with it. "That's just normal." "They ALL do that", etc. I'm wondering if anyone knows if there is a history of fuel odors in general with this engine, and particularly, if anyone knows of this occurring due to the rail/injector seals. Each injector looks to have two o-ring type seals, one at each end, where the injectors connect to the fuel rail & head. Not a big deal to pull & replace them, but again, "Dealers will be Dealers", so some documented history of this would be helpful when I take the car in. Thoughts?





TIA

Kia is Making some pretty good cars lately. The folks I have spoken with are quite happy with them.

With your vehicle,, there may be a problem with the emission system that is supposed to contain any fuel vapors and not release them to be burned until a set of conditions are met.
Some systems require a period of time for fuel temp to go through its changes in order to confirm the integrity of the system. It is supposed to hold any pressure while these measurements are made. It is possible one of the valves in the system may not be sealing as required. The dealership should be able to check the system and components for proper function. A reminder,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,when refueling the correct thing to do when the pump nozzle shuts off is not to add any more fuel to the fill pipe as this can create problems with the vapor recovery system.

Hanky - Thanks for the reply. I like the car a lot, other than this smell issue. I had wondered if the problem might be related to pollution/vapor controls. One thing I've always done with past cars is immediately get a factory shop manual, which unfortunately don't exist anymore, you can only get the info by paying a TON for online access. I know there are sites claiming to have these for free, like this Kia Forte TD 2014-2019 Service Manual but they're nowhere near complete. Do you happen to know if/how I might get access to the full manual, or a Hyundai one (Elantra, maybe?) that would at least cover this engine?

Why not try the dealership where you purchased the vehicle. If they can't get you a manual , they should at least direct you to where you can find the info you seek. They should have no fear because all you want to know is how a lot of the stuff works because without special equip today you are limited by what you can do.

Persistence pays !

Hanky - The problem is factory shop manuals apparently no longer exist in print form, only digitally and only online. My last car was a 2003 Mitsu EVO, for which I had a full Mitsu factory manual, but in PDF form. No print version existed, and that was 16 years ago (aftermarket ones probably were available after a few years, but the factory type I prefer was digital). I've got an appointment with the dealer on Monday, I'll ask them about a manual, but I doubt they'll be much help. On the fuel smell, and possible pollution control involvement, what components do you think might be most likely to cause this smell in that system?

Thanks

It is kinda early for a valve to be malfunctioning, but until checks are done , it could be anything.