Petrol smell

[murv69]

Hi all

I have just moved and got a place with a garage, finally got around to bringing the 944 2.7 (1989) down parked it up in the garage. a little later started to smell petrol in the house went into the garage to quite a strong smell of petrol, I can't see any leaks anywhere, the floor is totally dry. There doesn,t seem to be excessive fuel consumtion either

I have not driven it for 2 days now & I think the smell has started to get weaker. I know this is going to be quite difficult to diagnose on here but just thought there might be something blocked or where to start looking. I have not driven it much over the last few months & nothing was mentioned on the mot

Failing that can anyone reccomend a garage in the Bognor Regis area.

Any help much appreciated

Simon

 

[Alexw]

I'm assuming its corroded fuel pipes - mine had similar symptoms, turned out to be a corroded pipe just near the rear axle - quite a common place for corrosion to set in I believe. I didn't see any petrol on the floor but it doesn't take much to make one hell of a smell, which is a good thing to be honest. After a while though you will see a small dot on the floor if it is leaking there. I had it replaced with flexi pipe which has been fine for the last ~18 months. The "official" way of replacing the pipe involves dropping the rear axle which will cost a fortune so I think most people just use flexi pipe until theres a job thats actually worth dropping the axle for, then do the fuel pipes at the same time. If its not that, has there been any engine work lately? Maybe one of the fuel pipes in the engine bay wasn't tightened fully?

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Also can leak from fuel rail - usually where the regulators attach to the rail, run the engine without the cover on the rail ( 3 or 4 clips underneath it and lift) Mike

 

[Alexw]

Yeah, that's what I meant I've done that myself, only hand tightened one of the pipes that goes into the fuel rail, from the damper. Found out when a mate started the engine while I checked to make sure everything was ok. It only leaked a tiny amount, a drip every now and then.

 

[murv69]

Just had a quck look tonight & think I have found the source, I will check the fuel rail but looked under the car and the fuel pipes where they come down from the engine bay and bend to go to the back of the car were wet & oilybut that seems to be where the smell is coming from, I have cleaned them up & see what there like tomorrow night, if wet will take the front wheel & plastic inner arch & investigate more, can anyone tell me if the fuel pipes are in sections & can be brought or am I in for an expensive fix or can I take out a section & replace with flexipipe. cheers Simon

 

[Alexw]

I think its in sections in that area, been a while since I've had the arch liners off though.... IIRC the flexi bit from the engine bay goes down and connects to a hard pipe just inside the hole in the arch. That then runs under the car with the brake lines, but I don't think it runs the whole length though... someone will have to confirm that.