Hi Scotty, I have a 2008 Saturn Aura with around 132,000 miles. I have noticed a pretty strong gas smell coming from the passenger side of the hood anytime after driving it. My gas mileage has also gone down about 10 to 20 percent in the last couple of months or so. The car did have overheating issues a couple of years ago and although the cars warms up very quickly, I have not had any overheating recently. Do you think it might be that the valve cover gasket has a slow leak or do you think this might be something else? Thank you very much!
A valve cover gasket leak would not smell like gasoline or cause lower gas mileage. (Though the lower mileage could be due to the onset of cold weather unless you're in a warm climate.)
I'd start looking for a gasoline leak under the hood.
geez it's a 14yo car. I'd be looking at the fuel line connections, fuel injector o-rings, etc.
