Hi, I am new to the board. I have a 96 SSEI, that I recently bought. Since the beginning, it'* had a strong fuel odor. When you remove the fuel cap, there is way too much pressure in the tank. There is so much tank pressure, that it takes about 15 seconds to release it all, and if you just pull the cap off fast, I'm sure it would spray fuel everywhere. When I bought the car, it had no fuel cap (previous owner probably removed it due to this reason). I bought a new cap for it, then the problems started. I thought maybe the cap was wrong, so I pulled the cap off another vehicle, and it does the same thing.

I am assuming there should be a tank vent somewhere, i.e. charcoal cannister, etc., but am unsure where to look for it. Maybe the tank vent, or the line is plugged, etc.

Any ideas?

mine isnt as bad as your but does have that pressure I think its somthing to do with the evap but I dont know what

might be a bad gas cap....

There is a tank vent line that goes to the Evap cannister (which is under your airbox/PCM as jrs3800 said). With that fuel smell and the pressure, I would check to see if you have either:
- fuel in the charcoal cannister. Bad...throw it out and get a new one. AND/OR
- bad soleniod on cannister. Replace. AND/OR
- clogged vent lines to the cannister. Probably the most PITA to follow and diagnose.

Let us know what you find.

I'll check that out this weekend. The fuel smell is definately from the rear of the car though, not the engine compartment. I wonder if the solonoid is bad, not allowing vapors to leave the tank, and the smell is the fuel vapors being pressured through the gas cap.

Yeah, a good possibility. Let us know what you find this weekend. I'll be back Monday to see...

There should never be a positive pressure in the fuel tank. You will have to make close inspection of all components that make up the EVAP System including interconnecting vacum lines, vent solenoid, purge solenoid, evap canister like the others mentioned. It does sound as if there is a blockage though somewhere in the evap system that is pressing up the fuel tank. 15 seconds to vent is a long time, I wouldn't tighten the gas cap to where it is fully seated as a temporary measure to allow tank to vent.

I'm thinking that'* why the previous moron threw the gas cap in the trash. I assumed they were just retarded, lost it, and never replaced it.