sluggish with a smell of gas

[littleblueb2300]

Ive got a 95 b2300 that is sluggish on acceleration and going up hills, and after its been driven a while when its parked you get odor of gas from drivers side between the cab and fuel tank. Any ideas of what would cause this? Thanks for any help Im new to the ranger/mazda truck.

 

[RonD]

Welcome to TRS

Fuel filter and both fuel lines are in the frame rail under divers seats area.
Filler hose is also a known leak point.

2.3l could need a timing belt, when was the last time it was changed?
Usually needs it every 70-80k miles.

I don't think the smell of gas and the sluggishness are related, unless the gas smell was in the engine bay.
If the IN fuel line was leaking then engine would start misfiring at higher speeds first, "like it was running out of gas", from the lower fuel pressure/flow but it wouldn't be noticed at lower speeds even accelerating.

I would locate the gas leak first, fix it then see how engine reacts.

 

[littleblueb2300]

thanks for the help RonD, I just purchased the truck 5 months ago and the timing belt does need replacement, and i was looking @ the filler hose and the top of the tank and it looks like something is leaking from the top. So i guess im dropping the tank and doing a timing belt soon.

 

[RonD]

It is often easier to move the bed back or tilt it back and leave the gas tank in place.

There are 6 bolts in the bed, t55 torx I think, they can be very stubborn to remove, but once you break them loose they usually come out OK.

Then remove the 3 bolts holding filler pipe to the side of the bed

This is the tilt bed method, you loosen but don't remove rear bed bolts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SylPpyg32-o

This is the slide it back method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNpYCDDwpk4
You need to check and probably disconnect taillight wires, there is a connector at the rear.
But this can be done alone, the bed is not that heavy so you can slide it back a little on one side then move to the other side and slide it, repeat as needed.


When timing belt gets older it stretches, the tensioner can only move so far and then it can't keep belt as tight, this throws off valve timing a bit but what can also happen is the the belt skips a tooth on the cam gear, valve timing is now really off and compression drops because of this and engine lacks power after that.
If it happened suddenly then that could be what happened.
But if it has been a slow steady loss of power then it wouldn't be this