Talon Fuel smell in cab?!?

[Fyathyrio]

Yesterday, while out bombing around the area I had a decent smell of gas in the cab for a while. I was heading up a pretty steep trail from about 6,000ft to 9,000 ft, what little wind there was seemed to be mostly at my back on the way up, I have a front windshield and rear soft windscreen on, and I'm sharing the ride with the fuel tank on the passenger side, so perhaps this smell isn't unreasonable? (It wasn't strong, like a leak, but definitely noticeable.)

Once I turned around and headed back down the mountain, the gas smell disappeared and the cooler outside air was able to get into the cab. I attributed the gas smell to relatively stagnant air in the cab and also pressure changes in the tank due to the fairly rapid elevation changes on the way up.

But . . . once back to "normal" elevation, the fuel smell returned on flat ground, when I was headed in a roughly similar direction as earlier when going up the mountain.

I put 100 miles on the tank, mixed with mostly 2Hi but some 4Hi & 4Lo, not racing but not exactly slow, varied terrain between pavement, smooth gravel roads, fast trails, and slow rocky crawls. I put about 4 gallons in, so fuel mileage was within the 20-25MPG range everyone is reporting. Post ride inspection doesn't show any fuel leaks and the gas cap is/was tight; any leaks should show up well with all the dust coating everything.

I've not seen others report fuel smells while riding, but maybe it's so normal nobody is surprised or concerned? Is gas smell normal under certain conditions?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Admin]

 

[PaulF]

Yesterday, while out bombing around the area I had a decent smell of gas in the cab for a while. I was heading up a pretty steep trail from about 6,000ft to 9,000 ft, what little wind there was seemed to be mostly at my back on the way up, I have a front windshield and rear soft windscreen on, and I'm sharing the ride with the fuel tank on the passenger side, so perhaps this smell isn't unreasonable? (It wasn't strong, like a leak, but definitely noticeable.)

Once I turned around and headed back down the mountain, the gas smell disappeared and the cooler outside air was able to get into the cab. I attributed the gas smell to relatively stagnant air in the cab and also pressure changes in the tank due to the fairly rapid elevation changes on the way up.

But . . . once back to "normal" elevation, the fuel smell returned on flat ground, when I was headed in a roughly similar direction as earlier when going up the mountain.

I put 100 miles on the tank, mixed with mostly 2Hi but some 4Hi & 4Lo, not racing but not exactly slow, varied terrain between pavement, smooth gravel roads, fast trails, and slow rocky crawls. I put about 4 gallons in, so fuel mileage was within the 20-25MPG range everyone is reporting. Post ride inspection doesn't show any fuel leaks and the gas cap is/was tight; any leaks should show up well with all the dust coating everything.

I've not seen others report fuel smells while riding, but maybe it's so normal nobody is surprised or concerned? Is gas smell normal under certain conditions?

Thanks,
Mark

I was experiencing something similar a couple times and once at the sand dunes it lingered for quite a while. Just filled the tank and was doing some fast whoops mixed with some pretty steep hill climbs. About 15 minutes into the ride I noticed a slight gas smell and the smell pretty much stayed with me for the remainder of that ride (about an hour) even though I only have a half windshield and no back window.

I have (had) a tenancy to really fill my tank up and make sure it is full. Fill, let bubbles subside, fill some more, etc. After the smell, I decided to stop filling it that way and just fill it until it reaches the little neck inside the tank (like the manual says), leaving a little air space in the tank and the smell has never returned and I ride the dunes a lot (probably put 500 miles since I last smelled it).

My (untested) conclusion (I guess that would make it a theory) is that the tank vent probably goes into the roll cage (like all the other machines I have ever looked at) and that I was overfilling the tank to the point that it was overwhelming the airspace in the roll cage and pushing out some of the vapors into the cab area. The vapors lingered even after the tank was no longer overfilled giving me the impression there was some sort of leak.

Conclusion, I was over filling my gas tank.

 

[RCI]

I always smell gas while out in mine ?

 

[906UP]

I used to get this in the P5 until I ran the tank vent line above the passenger area, I haven't looked at the Talon yet but maybe it's set up similar? The vent on the P5 was right under the passenger side of the seat.

 

[PaulF]

I always smell gas while out in mine ?

I don't think that is normal, or at least it shouldn't be.

 

[Ezgoin]

Yesterday, while out bombing around the area I had a decent smell of gas in the cab for a while. I was heading up a pretty steep trail from about 6,000ft to 9,000 ft, what little wind there was seemed to be mostly at my back on the way up, I have a front windshield and rear soft windscreen on, and I'm sharing the ride with the fuel tank on the passenger side, so perhaps this smell isn't unreasonable? (It wasn't strong, like a leak, but definitely noticeable.)

Once I turned around and headed back down the mountain, the gas smell disappeared and the cooler outside air was able to get into the cab. I attributed the gas smell to relatively stagnant air in the cab and also pressure changes in the tank due to the fairly rapid elevation changes on the way up.

But . . . once back to "normal" elevation, the fuel smell returned on flat ground, when I was headed in a roughly similar direction as earlier when going up the mountain.

I put 100 miles on the tank, mixed with mostly 2Hi but some 4Hi & 4Lo, not racing but not exactly slow, varied terrain between pavement, smooth gravel roads, fast trails, and slow rocky crawls. I put about 4 gallons in, so fuel mileage was within the 20-25MPG range everyone is reporting. Post ride inspection doesn't show any fuel leaks and the gas cap is/was tight; any leaks should show up well with all the dust coating everything.

I've not seen others report fuel smells while riding, but maybe it's so normal nobody is surprised or concerned? Is gas smell normal under certain conditions?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Ezgoin]

I’ve never smelled gas in mine over the 240 miles I’ve ridden it so far.

 

[Fyathyrio]

Went out for 5 or 6 hours and about 100 miles on Tuesday, still smelled gas for most of the ride. Not just a hint either, enough to border on eye & throat irritation. The smell didn't really change with fuel level, but did get worse when going slow over rough stuff. I'll start tearing things apart and hope for a simple fix like a loose hose, I'd rather not take it to the dealer and have to leave it for a few days.

 

[Cyberjunk]

Went out for 5 or 6 hours and about 100 miles on Tuesday, still smelled gas for most of the ride. Not just a hint either, enough to border on eye & throat irritation. The smell didn't really change with fuel level, but did get worse when going slow over rough stuff. I'll start tearing things apart and hope for a simple fix like a loose hose, I'd rather not take it to the dealer and have to leave it for a few days.

If your tank was full when laid over and you haven’t extended the vent on the fuel tank yet you could of had gas pour out the vent on top of the tank under the seat and puddled there.


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[ArkansasTalon]

We just got back from a trip to the Silverton/Ouray area and I noticed a gas smell out there. On our Talon, it seems to worsen when the tank goes from full to around 1/2 and is bouncing around on rough terrain. I also own a 2015 Can Am Commander and it's even worse with the gas smell in the cab.

 

[desert rat]

along with the gas smell, I had backfires on hill descent . seemed like an over fueling situation. i just performed an oil and air filter changed and everything is in place and correct.