Hello everybody! Good day to you! Welcome back! Glad you guys are here! This is a 2007. Chevrolet Cobalt Purple in color I Believe it's got the 2-2 Ecotec four-cylinder automatic. It has approximately 92 867 miles on the odometer. customer States Post purchase inspection.

That's right, they just bought this car. You can tell because it's super clean inside and it's super clean outside. However Upon Returning back to the Homestead uh with this particular Chevrolet Cobalt the uh. the owner noticed a very strong and pungent fuel smell.

They did not see anything dripping, but uh, that's something we're definitely going to check out now considering that this thing has a fuel smell issue. I Don't really feel like driving it because if there is a fuel leak like onto the exhaust or onto a manifold or down the engine or something like that. I don't want to risk, uh, setting the thing on fire so we're not going to drive very far. I'm just going to get this thing right into the shop real quick.

like we're gonna get it up on the lift and we're gonna see if we cannot locate a source of uh of raw fuel leaking. Don't know what it is? It could be a line, could be an injector, it could be a manifold, could be a fuel tank, could be a gas cap. Who knows. So stay tuned because this is going to be a very good video opening.

Z Hood Now like I said, this is also going to be a post purchase inspection. So we're kind of killing two birds of one stone here. We're gonna give this thing a quick looking, but we're also going to attempt to diagnose the source of the fuel leak slash fuel snow. So let's get this thing nudged onto the rack, lift it up, and we'll see what we've got to work with here.

Pretty centered on our rack. Here both sides, the center of gravity is at the driver, that's me and that's right in the center with the lift point. This is good. Let's go to get this thing in park.

Now one thing I'm noticing right away is a little bit of excessive brake pedal motion. You guys see that. and I Also heard a squeak while operating the brake pedal from the rear brakes. So that's definitely something we're going to pay attention to.

So let us power this thing down, get the rack set and we'll get her up in the air circumnavigating the lift. We've got the arms in position, green subscribe button moving on up all the way up there we go. Let's give her a shake, make sure that's safe, and we can begin our inspection looking good that Point's looking good. Let's do a check on the other side.

real quick looking good here. same thing up front. very nice. climbing on in and popping.

Z Hood Let's see if this is a 2-2 or a two four. I'm sure it's a variation of the Ecotec some capacity. It looks to me like we have a 2-2 Okay, classic GM stuff right here. Wire looms disintegrating.

might need to fix that later. That's not any good. Get rid of that. Ah, look at that.

It has a block here. That's kind of weird. look. Sure enough, yeah, things got a block heater in it.

Okay I guess it's for uh, for good starts on those cold winter mornings. See the serpentine belt looks new. You can see some nice shiny lettering on it and they face the words the right way coolant that's still red, so that's probably OE looking stuff. Our Blue Water is a little low.

let's refill that real fast. That guy right on. Oh, it was already full. I Guess looks can be deceiving.

Can they not? there? we go. Let's see. let's check some brake fluid. Look at that.

Somebody's been maintaining this vehicle that is. Crystal Clear brake fluid. It's wonderful. That's what I like to see.

Check our oil. Nice gold tint to that oil. That's good stuff right there. I See some green? Let's see what's going on with this.

uh AC system here. I'm listening for roughs from refrigerant to come out from under this cap and that's a negative. I Did not hear anything but there is some dye in there I'll note that for later. it seems to have cold AC right now so I'm not really concerned about that.

Okay, I think we've seen all we can see right here. Now let's pay some attention to our fuel system. So this is a multi-port fuel injection. So we've got four cylinders, four fuel injectors.

There's one right there, second one one right there, another one tucked in the back. I Don't see any liquid fuel, nor do I smell any fuel in this area of the vehicle. There's our EVAP system. No fuel here.

Here's our fuel line coming into the fuel rail no fuel there, and the pressure fitting or the pressure test fitting that was actually bubbling a little bit of fuel when we took that off. Did you guys see? Hmm. yeah, there's a little bit of fuel in there. not much, but there's a leak at that.

uh, that Schrader valve. I'm gonna have to change that later. So all right, we've got one fuel leak. but I don't know that's that's not giving us a strong smell of fuel.

Vapor so that may not be it all the way back out. Remember folks, just because you found a problem, doesn't mean you found the problem all right all the way up. Let's go ahead and set this on the locks for safety. There we go.

and let's go back down below. and uh, keep looking around for a little bit of fuel here. Let's see: I don't see anything dripping out of it. Motor mount looks good.

Pretty clean under this car except for that brake rotor. A little bit of rust on that. See that. Nothing horrible.

I Can See the pad from here that looks okay, not an issue. same thing on this side. pad looks okay A Little bit of rust on the rotor. nothing to fret over.

Here's our fuel lines running back running back I Don't see any fuel. Nothing going on here. Bump stops looking a little crusty there and there's our fuel filter. Look at here.

we got a winner. See that? uh, discolored business right there? All this. That's fuel. Definitely a fuel.

So where is it coming from? Let's see. looking up at the top of the tank, you guys can't see horrible cameraman top of the tank we're looking I Don't see where it's running down but I Also see it looks like a fuel run right here as well. See that it's from a liquid coming out of this. Over here.

on that side, you see where there's a bunch of fuel. Maybe it's leaking out of that uh, filler neck right there. Let's fetch a screwdriver and try to tighten that clamp to make sure that's not the issue here. Need screwdriver? I Choose that one that'll do it.

See if we can't, Uh, get good line of sight on that guy. There We go here now that clamp's pretty tight I Don't think it's the clamp, so I'm inclined to believe that it's either this fitting the seal right here where this nozzle goes into the tank, or it potentially is leaking up at the top somewhere. Uh, let's see what I think I want to do is I will disconnect the EVAP system right here. And let's uh, smoke, test this thing and see if we can't see where the Smoke's coming out.

That's probably our best bet. Redline Smoke tester, You're coming with me. This is essentially a very large vaporizer with a baby oil inside of it. What we're going to do is plum shop air into it.

Connect the 12 volt power supply and it will, uh, run a bunch of very thick, rich white smoke out of the nozzle here. and once we pump that smoke into the into the system, if in fact there is a leak, this machine will detect it for us and then we can proceed with a repair recommendation. I'm going to need a 12 volt power supply. I've got a battery for that and we need some shop air.

The compressor is running. it's coming up on pressure now so let's go ahead and get this little system set up here. see what we can come up with. Okay, let's get our shop air right here.

connected to the machine and then down below. They are negative and are positive to our power supply. I Heard the machine kind of click on. We've got a green light right here.

Green light and push our button. Red light. That means we now have smoke production and let's turn up the flow. There we go.

We'll give it just a second to warm up and now let's stick that guy right inside of that evap hose and it's starting to fill the fuel tank with smoke. Let's wait until uh, you can see what we can see here. All right. Taking a look around here at the the rear side.

I'm really not seeing any smoke showing up. However, I looked up and I saw a little bit right over here. see that and look at there. there's more fuel saturation going on on the front side of this tank.

You guys see all that. So something over here is causing a leak. Let's go ahead and back up. I'm going to pull this tank down some.

We're just going to take the straps off. There's like a 13 mil bolt there, another 13 there and if I just get the transmission jack out of this. I can lower this tank down slightly. We can take a look up there and see exactly what's causing the leak.

All right, let's get our Jack pumped up so it can meet the bottom of the tank and then we'll unbolt this thing and let her drop down some. Go! Okay, let's get this uh plate adjusted slightly. There we go. that way, it meets the bottom of the tank with a flat level surface instead of being all like sideways and cattywampus and whatnot.

Yeah, I'm starting to smell that fuel now. Okay looking for a driver? I'll take this one. All right. let's see if this quarter inch is going to do speed.

Maybe if I loosened it only. Yep, All right, that's one bolt out both. Numero dos. Okay, so I've got the two straps out.

Let's just lower this Jack down. That's the wee a little bit. I'm gonna try to do this without pulling the exhaust off of this real quick. I just want to see what's leaking I need to determine if we need a new tank or if it just has like a uh, like a fuel pump seal that leaks or something like that.

and I think I'm gonna have to pull the exhaust out I think I can't get much I can't see much up there. Okay, okay well I'm back at the rear side of the tank and I have conceded defeat on my little shortcut. There's no way I can see the top of that tank without pulling the tank down so it's coming down. Got to figure out what the leak is and I also won't be able to fix the leak while the thing's up in the air anyway.

So as soon as I get these uh, evap lines off, there we go. I can uh I can gain some access to this thing I've got to pull the exhaust down some and then the back of these two straps here. We'll let that tank down all the way. There's a there's no other option for me.

Okay, I'm gonna need to disconnect the electrical connectors here. One goes to the pump and then I think the other one. It's kind of weird setup that two twin pigtail thing. the other one's running over here to all the EVAP stuff.

So I need to disconnect that too because I can't have half of the harness connected. It's half disconnected. Let's just get these clips unclipped real fast. Get the harness free from the body mounts, and then we'll disconnect everything right over here.

There's one. there's that one. Okay, so this is the fuel pump wiring harness. We'll let that thing just kind of hang out about back here.

We'll put that over there for now. Okay now I need to remove. So you got those lines off. Uh, looks like the two fuel lines at the back of the filter.

Those are coming out next. fuel spill. If it didn't smell like gas, it definitely does now. leakages.

Stop doing that. I don't want gasoline on me. This is going south Quick. There we go.

Just let that kind of dribble for a while. All right. One more fuel line. sorry if I'm blocking the view.

Come here you? okay? Fuel line number two. Let that one leak out. Got some uh, absorbent mat down here to uh, catch these villages. You don't need that anymore.

Get that out of here. Okay, so it is disconnected electronically and it's disconnected with its hoses. Let's uh, Let's pull this exhaust down some and then we'll get those last two straps and then lower the tank. You know, just for fun.

Let me see if I can't get this tank to come down without pulling the exhaust. see if it can be done. that's the third bolt, second strap, and fourth bolt. second first strap, fourth ball, second strap.

There we go. My map is not mapping all right. Last up. I Just need to get that filler neck disconnected and I can try to squeeze this thing out of here.

Okay, let's reach in there with a long screwdriver. We'll unclamp this clamp. Hopefully that filler neck just pops right off. I Don't want to fight with it.

Pleasant To deal with. Yep, it's coming. It's there. We go.

It's off. Got it? How's that? Look inside? Not horrible. Alrighty, cool beans. Let's try to let this thing down and I'm going to attempt to lower it and maneuver it outwards without pulling this exhaust off.

I might be able to do it. There's not much of this over the exhaust over here. I should be able to come like down in that way. we'll see.

so the right side of this deviation is at this tank. Feels like it's like I don't remember seeing what the fuel level was but I think this is not full? We'll see. Let's get that strap out in the way. coming down some more, it's leaking on me.

Nah, never mind. I'm wrong. This thing's got more fuel in it than I thought it's heavier than I anticipated. I'm gonna go ahead and let the exhaust down.

All I need to do is pull the hangers off right here. right here. In a couple more and it should just kind of plop down some I'll let it rest on top the axle here and that should be sufficient space to get that uh, that tank out. You need to make this easy on myself.

Get some lube on these uh, rubber hangers. that way they slide off easier and probably this one as well and that one definitely wants to come off. All right. let's do here.

a special tools for removing exhaust hangers. Where are you special pliers there? they are. Got them. Check this out.

You're gonna love this. All we got to do is get that on there and it's basically going to pull that hanger off of the bracket. see that? No pry bar necessary. Beautiful.

Okay, got one more back here. actually two more back here. Let's see if I can't get this one to come off. Ah, come here.

come on. Nice and easy like. look at that and then there's the uh, it's counter part right over here on the other side. Come on, come off of there.

there we go. Nice. So I have the exhaust Now supported by a pole Jack Let's let this thing down a little bit until the thing contacts the axle up front. There we go.

We're good to go here. now. We can proceed with lowering the tanks some more. I believe that's enough space to squeeze this out.

Yeah, definitely okay. Fuel tank. Put this thing down. It needs to come down and then over to clear the exhaust and then down the rest of the way.

That was fast I Turned the lever the wrong way. That's how you drop a fuel tank. It's not the uh, the goal here I mean it's it's just plastic. So I guess if I drop it, it'll be all right.

But that's not what I'm trying to achieve I want to fix it, not break it? It's almost free from that exhaust. almost down a little more. Now it's free from the exhaust, down a little more all the way down and we are free and clear. Very nice.

I think I Found that leak. so looky here. This is not what I expected to find. It appears to have had a new fuel pump put in and if we look at the collar that holds the pump down to the tank, we can see that it's not engaged right here on this one tab.

That's probably not ideal. I'm pretty sure we found the leak right here. Yeah, look at that. These Tabs are all locked in.

This one is not so I need to drive this tab Or drive this thing back off and check that O-ring You can even see it. It's sticking out right here on the side. That's the O-ring that seals the pump to the tank. Surprised this thing didn't throw an EVAP system code yet and we're going to do this the fast easy way.

Foreign. Okay, let's see what we've got in here. Let's just make sure this pump is in fact new. It looks like it's new.

Yep, here's the O-ring You can see that O-ring is not quite seated. It's a little off. I'm just going to move it a little bit, fit all this stuff back together, and then re-tighten it. It's either going to work or it's not okay.

All the tabs have started to engage. Let's re-tighten this thing. see what happens? Ah, look at that. See what it did.

It did not engage. So let me tap it over. from this side. Here they all must be engaged and I'm looking at the seal and it's still in position.

This is good. I Can see how that could have been. Uh, missed. During assembly, it does appear someone just put this pump in not long ago.

Now it's locking in. Good, good, good, good. A little bit more on this side. All right.

All right. Recap real quick. Like we can see our seal. We can see the seal.

We can see the seal right over here. You can't see it because the lighting is not the greatest. but I can still see the seal. So this is good.

Looks like we've got ourselves and no parts repaired. How about that? Saving people some money? All right? So now I need to make sure these lines are pressed back into their little holders. I Recall them not exactly being positively affixed in their position. they were just kind of flopping around.

That's not what we want. We want it to fit like it's supposed to fit. Let's get in there we go and a little bit right up here on that one. Ah, got it.

That was tight squeezing. All right. Well anyway, that's cleaned up, that's in good shape. leak should be sealed.

if not, we'll figure that out pretty quick. like and if it, if it does leak again, we're gonna have to replace that O-ring or uh or try again. We're not really starting but I'm pretty sure we got it. This is good.

Let's reconnect our connector. that would be horrible to forget. Put the wire harness back inside of its little uh little tab spot thing groove or whatever in there. Get that set up right there is good.

Okay, let's get this thing back up in the air. knock it down, begin pumping now. Fuel tank moving back up. Well, that was fun.

It's in position kind of I've got it above the exhaust. we're going up the rest of the way. I'm gonna get the straps lined up. There we go.

Very nice. Okay, let's go around back and start getting things lined up and plugged in. All right, let's see how we're gonna work with this here. Let's go ahead and get our fuel lines reconnected.

plug those guys in so they stop dripping. We'll get our connectors reconnected, it's on the wrong side, that guy on there and then the little one for the EVAP stuff right there. Let's see over here. on the canister side.

we get the red one in the gray one, evap line kick and the vent hose kit. Very good. Okay, so everything is connected except for the fill spout and the straps. Let's go ahead and run this thing up a little bit farther and get the rest of this equipment plugged in and we'll get the strapped on and then, uh, it'll be off to the exhaust to get the hangers back on and we're good to go here.

It's nice that's in position. How's this one doing? Is that one correct? or are we misaligned? Hmm I Can't see the hole? Where is it? Oh I can feel it. It's right there by my thumb. Okay, all right, we're good.

We're good. So far we're good. Let's get our filler nozzle plugged back in right there. We'll tighten that clamp in a minute.

Let's get the straps bolted on next. Got four four Fasteners two straps. There's one right there. We'll start with this one.

That's the easiest to work with. What I'll do? Get the socket on on the bolt, run it through the axle because there's holes in it. Get that one started and let's move forward and hit the front one on next. all right front side of our strap.

Let's see if I can get this thing aligned. Come here. Fuel tank. There we go.

a little bit more forward. Come on. You gotta kind of manhandle these things. Sometimes they're non-compliant There we go.

play kids. Okay, okay, let's get the front one on the passenger side. Get that guy started. Keep this thing over a little bit more up.

Uh oh, the heat shield got caught. Look at that. That's uh, not what I want to do. Let that down some more there.

it's not okay. All right. Bolt coming in through the axle. All right.

Brought one tight and that left. River We started with tight tight. There we go. Let's get clamp.

Let's get our clamp tightened up. That's for the filler neck hose. Twist that guy on. there's some clamp pickage right here.

Okay, that's good. Alrighty, the unit is secure. All the straps are in, hoses are connected. fill our filler hose.

Let's let this guy down, get her out of the way, and then we'll come back over and get the Uh exhaust put back on real easy. Like all you need to do is raise it up with the post Jack and then just fit the uh the hangers back on. They're already lubricated so I can probably just slip those on by hand all the way up. Come on now.

more uppages. there we go. almost in position. Let's push that guy on.

Oh, that one's good. Let's let it down some for some more clearance and we can get this other side set up and let me try it with some light. I couldn't even see what I was doing. How can I expect you to see what I'm doing well I can't even see what I'm doing.

It's not fair and inconsiderate there I don't like being inconsiderate. We got enough of that in the world right now. Okay, so the uh, the rears are on. Let's get this front one right here in front of the muffler set up and just slide that guy over.

get on there, get all the way on there. there we go and then one more up here. Get this guy pushed in. all set, beautiful, All right.

let's let her down. restart the engine. Go ahead and get this thing backed out because they just bought this car and they really want it back and so I would like to get them their car back today. Plus I'm out of parking spaces too anyway.

I'm not going to re-smoke check that thing. Um, there's really no need in doing that, especially since I've got everything put back together. I'm 99.99999999 Uh, positive because that thing is not going to leak. Uh, and if it does, I'll just do it again later.

so you know, skin off my nose Okay Cobalt LS off the locks lock release Cobalt coming down all the way down. So this is the moment as I can do nothing except hold the locks. This is the moment that I uh I go through everything that I touched in my head just to kind of double triple quadruple check myself. I'm imagining all the lines and all the hoses and all the connectors and all the nuts and all the bolts and all the clamps and things of that nature just to make sure I didn't forget anything.

Uh, the way my head works is if I don't have that photographic memory of me performing that task, I will doubt myself and I'll think that I didn't do it or I didn't do it right. So I'll have to go back and look I've done that with like engine oil drain plugs so many times run out into the parking lot because I didn't remember tightening the plug and being super scared that I left the thing loose or whatever. So uh, I've just learned it. Just go back and recheck if I can't uh if I can't remember that exactly like in my head, it's a Fail-Safe device I suppose bro.

Anyway, let me get this thing cleared out. we're about done here. I'm gonna get this thing uh, packed outside like I said. they're on the way to come pick it up.

It was a good news kind of day. So that being said, I'm gonna go ahead and close this video right now. I will do such things as always by thanking each and every one of you guys and gals for watching this video As always I Hope you enjoyed this video. Tight squeeze If you did enjoy this video, please feel free to let me know about that by tapping that like button down below.

drop me a comment or two, Wire down there stockings the engine, you know, Start there, we go. and most importantly, do not forget to have yourselves a great day! See you guys later in the video in the Cobalt and today in the transmission.