Gas Smell / Low Fuel Economy

Ron P

Ron P

Active Member
13
5
Hello. Hoping for some ideas short of going to service.

I have a '12 automatic EX-L with 37k mileage. It's been running flawlessly up until two weekends ago. I am now periodically getting a gas smell at idle, like it's running very rich, and my mileage in the display run around 32 - 33 mpg. This is just happeneing a couple of times per week, otherwise it sticks to around 37mpg, 80% hwy.

I live at the beach, at sea level, and this all started happening after a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountais for a long weekend where we cruised the parkway and were up and down in high elevations. On the way home, after about a 100 miles we noticed a very strong gas smell at a light and I thought it was traffic in front of us. I've noticd it a couple of times since and the mileage on the display takes a nose dive.

Is this something with the computer or ECU? My thought was the ECU made some adjustments to compensate for the higher elevations and now that I am back down to sea level, it's not adjusting back very well.

I was going to try and pull the battery cable to see if it resets. Is this wise? Is there an alternative way to reset the ECU other than the dealer? If there is an alternative, that would be great because if I pull cable, my next issue is going to be getting my radio/nav back as I anticipate an anti-theft lock kicking in.

Thanks.
 
I would start by disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes, reconnect it, then start the car and let it idle for 15 minutes. It should reset you AF ratio. If this doesn't work, take it to the dealer. As far as the anit-theft, find your packet from when you purchased the car. The code will be with it.
 
squiggy said:
I would start by disconnecting the battery for 15 minutes, reconnect it, then start the car and let it idle for 15 minutes. It should reset you AF ratio. If this doesn't work, take it to the dealer. As far as the anit-theft, find your packet from when you purchased the car. The code will be with it.
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks for the quick reply, will give it a shot.

I'll have to research the radio piece, no packet. Bought the car used, not even a manual. All I have is the radio id code from trying to reset the navigation where the previous owner locked down the unit with a pin code.
 
I've pulled my battery so many times and all you need to do when turning the car back on is hold the power button for a few seconds, and the radio will turn on with all your settings.
As for the mileage and gas smell, i recommend what squiggy mentioned above, it has solved issues for me as well.
 
I reset the ECU Thursday by disconnecting the battery cable for about 2 hours and reconnected. Driving Friday and Saturday, no change to the mileage display, started at 29, got no higher than 33.1. I am not noticing any gas smell, but I am hovering around 31 to 33 mpg in econ mode, light driving all highway. I use to see 38 consistently, highest recorded was 45. Was I suppose to do something after powering it back up? Anything else other than the dealer and do you think something like this is covered under the drivetrain or emissions part of the warranty? I am at 37k mileage.

Thanks again.



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Hmmm...I was going to suggest it may have to do with living in a cold climate. Scratch that. I would take it into the dealer at this point.
 
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