S1 reeking of petrol

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:49 pm

Not sure what the issue is and thought i must have just doused the car liberally during my last fill up, but my S1 is smelling very strongly of petrol.

Any thoughts on the cause would be much appreciated.

She hasn't yet gone on fire, but i won't be parking next to any smokers any time soon

Post by ed » Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:57 pm

Perhaps its the de-cat?!

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:07 pm

Nope My money will be on either a perished beather or filler pipe or rusted through fuel tank... Not good either way.

I get the occasional whiff after a fill up but not a proper pong. (As it where!)

You can get to the filler and breather in the driver side clam if you drop the wheel arch liner out. De-cat just makes you feel sleepy and sick

You can drop the shear panel under (above?) the undertray the one with the holes in to see the fuel tank. Don't drive with it out though it keeps the chassis stiff!

Does the tank hiss when you remove the filler? Shows if the tank is airtight.

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:21 pm

will pay more attention next time I remove the filler cap...its doesn't seem to be leaking fuel though, as there was no fuel on the garage floor this morning....stinks like mad though - even my jumper smells of petrol now

tut · Post by **tut** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:33 pm

Andy

As Rich says, check the easiest first, that is the flexy pipe between the filler cap and the top of the tank.

tut

renmure · Post by **renmure** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:51 pm

tut wrote: check the easiest first, that is the flexy pipe between the filler cap and the top of the tank

That was the part which needed replaced when I got my exige last year. Up till that point there was a definate petroly wiff!!

bertieduff · Post by **bertieduff** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:44 pm

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:05 pm

just checked - no pressure in the tank when opened.

Will need to have a check on saturday

Post by **campbell** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:44 am

The wee valve in my filler cap is faulty, so you get a whiff of fuel when stationary or just when parking up etc. F1 said not to worry about it, so I haven't

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:29 am

now the fuel is down to 25L, the smell is not nearly so strong, is eminating from behind the seats, but there are no sign of leakage that i can spot.

Its driving beautifully though

DaveG · Post by **DaveG** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:13 am

Had the same problem on my S1. Turned out to be a split breather pipe.
You should borrow someone's fuel cap for a while to eliminate a faulty cap valve!

D

Dicey · Post by **Dicey** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:20 am

There was a breather hose recall on Series 1 cars - lots about it on SELOC
http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php? ... pid2610339

I suppose you'll need to be a member to read it. Could be your problem though, Andy.

Mike.

woody · Post by **woody** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:47 am

Not really connected, but i had a thought the other day:

Would it not be quite Lotus, make more sense and

if the fuel readout was in KG instead of liters. Ok, it may reek of F1 inspired tackiness and i'd bet a lot more people would run on empty, but still....

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:09 am

cheers Mike - hope to have this sorted shortly