Check engine light at 137K--excessive gas smell, any idea?

[Cracker]

Hi,

I have a 2005 4x4 SE. My check engine light started coming on intermittently in Dec. at about 130,000 miles. I did nothing to rectify it. It would come on and go away for a few days at a time. Then the interval would be a week or two on and off. Now, 6 months and 7000 miles later it's on and hasn't turned off in several weeks. Vehicle is running great. Gas mileage hasn't changed. A couple of weeks ago I had it turned on in the garage and noticed excessive gasoline smell, like unburned fuel coming from the exhaust. No idea if it's related to the light. Basically, I'd like to get some idea of what (1) the check engine light could be referring to at this mileage, and (2) what the excessive gas smell could be related to before going blindly into a shop.

[eieio]

need to get the codes to determine

[jman9895]

do you have a code reader? If not, you can run to any autozone and they'll pull the codes for you and if you post them, we can give you a better idea of whats going on

or, if you have an iphone or an android phone, you can get a bluetooth code reader off of amazon for like 15 bucks, from there you can download the torque app and pull the codes that way.

Either way, we need a lil more info in order to get a better idea of whats going on

[Cracker]

Thanks guys. I figured it would not be enough info to make an educated guess. I called both Autozone and O'Reilly's. Neither can or will diagnose the error code. The guy at O'Reilly's mentioned something about it being against California statute for them to do so. So I'm stuck doing it myself or just blindly taking it into a shop and and hope K-Y is used on me.

[smj999smj]

You can purchase OBD II code readers at most auto parts stores and even Walmart. You can get them for around $60. The white OBD II port is under the driver's side of the dash.

[nedley58]

I had a similar problem with my 2005 Pathfinder. There was a strong smell of gas on the drivers side of the car.
i don't remember the code but I bought a code reader for $20 from Amazon.

It turned out that the fuel line connectors on the top of the gas tank were not properly connected and were leaking gas. I'm not sure why they came loose. Maybe they were always improperly connected. I've had the Pathfinder since it was new and this problem came up at around 90k miles. I discovered the problem because I was removing the tank to check the fuel pump filter assembly.
All I did was firmly reconnect the fuel lines until they snapped into place and I have not had any problems since. It's been over 1 year.
It is a pain to remove the tank but certainly something a backyard mechanic can do. There is little slack in the fuel lines lines and space between the tank and the vehicle is tight.