My 85 Regency has been wasting a lot of gas lately. I put in 20 dollars today at 4p.m and by the time I got home from school, which 4.7 miles away and I was on 1/4 of tank, when I started off with 1/2..Also sometimes when I drive my car it smells like gas, what should I do or check? Thanks in advance.

P.S My car is a v6 3.8 motor, which should not be wasting that much gas.

 

hole in gas tank,or fuel line leaking

 

I checked the gas tank and it has no hole. I haven't checked the fuel line though, where do I start tracing it from, and do I check for leakages with car on or how do I check it? Sorry I'm not very experienced wit cars, since this is my first car..

 

If it's leaking that much, there will be a puddle under the car.

At six gallons in 4.7 miles, something's gonna be wet.

- Eric

 

That works out to about a gallon a mile, not sure how big the tanks are, maybe more than a gallon per mile?

Check well for any leaks but that would be really obvious, either by a strong smell or a big puddle under the car.
Start it and check around if it has an electric fuel pump, those can really push a lot of fuel out if there's a hole in the line or a leaking fitting.
A lot of The '85's needed new fuel lines a few years back around my rust belt area.
The GM gas gauges can be funky, takes a week to go to half a tank after you fill the car and a day to go to empty from a half a tank sometimes.
Are you sure you burned or lost that much fuel?
If your sure it isn't leaking anywhere including under the hood I would fill it then drive it for a day then fill it again and see what the actual fuel mileage is and go from there.
If it's obviously getting mileage or losing gas as bad as you say and nobody stoled it I wouldn't even drive the car until I figured it out.
Don't park it in the garage or too close to the house if you think it may be leaking gas, be careful.



You said what time you got the gas and how far you drove but never how long it took you?
Lowriding in low gear for 4.7 miles and sitting idling in the parking lot at the local burger joint for two hours could possibly burn that much gas.
Did you stop anywhere on the way home and leave the car unattended?
People do steal gas, problem now is the thieves just punch holes in the plastic tanks and drain it into cans so locking gas caps and doors mean nothing.
Maybe a friend or somebody is messing with you and secretly putting gas in and taking it out?
Next week you'll get a hundred miles a gallon.

That's a lot of gas to leak out in that distance, if it is leaking out hope nobody throws a cigarette or match down on the gasoline trail or a path of flames will go to your car and back to the gas station.

If you see flames coming up behind you in the rearview mirror when you're driving floor it and keep driving until you run out of gas, don't stop whatever you do, ever see that movie "Speed" with the bus?

Can you tell I'm bored tonight?

 

Is there a check engine light on or black smoke from the exhaust at any time? Either of those will point to a definite problem...
Does the car perform well overall?

 

Your 85 has the Buick V6. Is that the sequential injection version? There's obviously something wrong. Could be a leaking injector, could be a bad temp sensor, could be a bad O2 sensor, could be a plugged catalyst, could be bad spark plugs, could be a lot of things. Unfortunately, on these OBD I cars, the info from the computer is limited. Many of the possible causes will not set a code and thus require old-fashioned diagnostic skills to uncover. Sadly, most "mechanics" now only know how to read codes and replace parts. There's little diagnostic skill out there any more.

 

Some gas tank sending units read weird because of tank construction. I would fill all the way up and do a proper mpg test! If its using that much fuel, the engine definately would be running poorly and his eyes would be burning from the smell coming from the exhaust.

How much gas does $20 buy where he's at?????

 

Check your choke after warm-up to see if it's opening a the way!
I just had a '65 442 with a leaking carb dumping fuel into the oil - old 4GC carb.
Opened it up, and found the 'needle holder', [thin wire] was between the upper and lower carb bodies, causing a leak.
Carb kits are amost impossible to find now, but I caught a old-time parts store that had a dusty one in stock - new gaskets corrected the probem!

 

Sorry, but from the OP:

That's the port fuel injected Buick V6. There is no choke. Apparently in 1985 the base motor on the Ninety Eight WAS a 2bbl 3.0 liter V6, but most of the cars got the EFI 3.8.

 

Sorry Joe - missed that!
I'd still be checking the oil for fuel though, those factory GM systems do weird things after 80,000 miles or 10 years!
Had 4.3's with sticky injectors cause 'hydro-lock' and bend rods, or the 'spiders' came apart under the manifold, washing-down the oil, to name a couple!

 

x2

If you take it for a short ride, park it (far away from your house) and then look for the leak, at that rate it has to be pretty obvious.

 

Thats it Joe .And I am not sure where you are but the "mechanics" around here all seem to be be " technicians " nowadays.

Re the substantial gas usage, I suffered similarly ; caused by a cunningly hidden leak in the fuel line right where it leaves the top f the tank . Run it for a minute and look under car and hood --torch and smell test for a start.

 

I wouldn't recommend a torch test for leaking gasoline...