I thought I would share some knowledge of this problem I've had with my 2003 TL which I have now fixed. I've owned the car for 2 years and intermittently I've been getting strong fuel smells in the car (my wife complianing about it the most).

Because the problem seemed intermittent I left it alone but it had got worse recently. Had a mechanic check it out and he put smoke in the fuel tank and said the fuel cap was faulty and replaced it - but the problem persisted.

After trial and error I realised that the smell was more prominent when I had more fuel in the tank, and was almost completely no fuel smell when the fuel was nearly empty. I figured that when more full the tank will overflow more, so did a bit of research and figured it must be something related to the charcoal canister (which the fuel tank vents into). I almost bought a replacement canister but then read something about the purge solenoid valve being faulty. Since this is the valve the 'clears' the fuel vapour from the charcoal canister, I figured if this doesn't work properly then the canister will eventually be filled and then vent into the engine bay. Did some tests on the purge valve according to the manual and the resistance values of the valve were well out of spec.

Priced a purge solenoid valve at Mitsubishi and it was $170! So sourced one from a wrecker it was $70 including a pair of TCL solenoids (also faulty on my car).

It took a week for the system to purge properly and for residual smell to dissipate from the car, now it all smells fresh again!

EDIT: for anyone with similar problems, the purge solenoid valve is the bolted to the intake manifold on the front of the engine (there are two solenoids there, its the one on the left).

Nice Work, Thanks for the heads up..

Will be checking mine ASAP. Thanks chief!

Good tip.

Any change in idle quality?

I thought I would share some knowledge of this problem I've had with my 2003 TL which I have now fixed. I've owned the car for 2 years and intermittently I've been getting strong fuel smells in the car (my wife complianing about it the most).

Because the problem seemed intermittent I left it alone but it had got worse recently. Had a mechanic check it out and he put smoke in the fuel tank and said the fuel cap was faulty and replaced it - but the problem persisted.

After trial and error I realised that the smell was more prominent when I had more fuel in the tank, and was almost completely no fuel smell when the fuel was nearly empty. I figured that when more full the tank will overflow more, so did a bit of research and figured it must be something related to the charcoal canister (which the fuel tank vents into). I almost bought a replacement canister but then read something about the purge solenoid valve being faulty. Since this is the valve the 'clears' the fuel vapour from the charcoal canister, I figured if this doesn't work properly then the canister will eventually be filled and then vent into the engine bay. Did some tests on the purge valve according to the manual and the resistance values of the valve were well out of spec.

Priced a purge solenoid valve at Mitsubishi and it was $170! So sourced one from a wrecker it was $70 including a pair of TCL solenoids (also faulty on my car).

It took a week for the system to purge properly and for residual smell to dissipate from the car, now it all smells fresh again!

EDIT: for anyone with similar problems, the purge solenoid valve is the bolted to the intake manifold on the front of the engine (there are two solenoids there, its the one on the left).

congrats on working it out. My TW was doing the same. I had a suspicion it was the canister in the engine bay but mine was intermittent and just stopped after a while. definitely was an issue with a full tank and the fumes were getting that bad in the cabin I was starting to worry about an explosion in the engine bay.

Great write up

congrats on working it out. My TW was doing the same. I had a suspicion it was the canister in the engine bay but mine was intermittent and just stopped after a while. definitely was an issue with a full tank and the fumes were getting that bad in the cabin I was starting to worry about an explosion in the engine bay.

I reckon the solenoids get sticky on these cars and intermittently get stuck open/close, especially in hot weather. You are lucky if the stickiness goes away. My TCL solenoids do the same, my second set now are ok but used to get stuck all the time and cause a CEL.

I thought mine was the canister too, but the canister is a static part so I can't imagine that much can go wrong with it. Its just a can of charcoal. As long as it gets purged correctly and is not physically damaged, it should last the life of the car.

Best link this to the common faults thread - great write up

will be checking mine out :) misses keeeps complaining about it

thanks i have been wondering the possibilities