Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

Archer - my 2.0 8v - continues to smell of petrol when running.

I renew the fuel filter and the copper piping from fuel tank to engine but there is still a strong smell of petrol when I drive. I've looked under neath for obvious staining or leaks but cannot see anything. It's strong enough - when driving - to irritate my throat and make me cough! The thing is, I cannot see any leaks. I did notice that it was quite obvious when the car was leaning left as I drove right round a large roundabout last night.

Any ideas what this could be or places to check please?

Does the smell come in stronger if the heating fan is on? If it's coming from the engine bay, check your feed and return lines, they may have hair-line cracks in them, my old C18NZ did that on a cold day before I replaced both hoses.

Cavalier342 wrote:Does the smell come in stronger if the heating fan is on? If it's coming from the engine bay, check your feed and return lines, they may have hair-line cracks in them, my old C18NZ did that on a cold day before I replaced both hoses.

Do what this man has said. I had thecsame problems except it was giving me blinding headaches. also it might be leaking from the fuel pipes under load.

Ran the car in the garage and gave it a rev or two and could smell petrol by the feeder pipes. Decided I would remove those pipes cut a slither off and reattach with new clamps. I shall see if that helps!

I had the large pipe from the tank to the filter/pump perish, replaced it with genuine Vauxhall pipe which only lasted a couple of years! I have now replaced it with 2 pices of fuel hose (I couldn't get a long enough piece) and it has been OK
I have also had various fuel hoses under the bonnet cause grief, they are all 25 years old!
If you have trouble with one, the rest can't be far behind?

Alan

Anywhere that fuel can be found...

In my case - my car gave a strong odour from a hair-line crack in the top of the fuel tank.

When fuel vapour escapes, it just wraps itself around the car in a mad bid to confuse the crap out of you.

Most stuff confuses me though...

Robsey wrote:Most stuff confuses me though...

Ditto!

After cutting off end bits of the fuel pipes that lead to the fuel rail and putting on new clamps, my initial run to the Cav meet on Sunday was looking good - no smell after 10mins on the motorway. But on the way back I had to go round a roundabout and then the smell kicked back in again as strong as ever, by the time I got home I could just about smell it. So could it be a blocked breather pipe or tiny cracks in the joins on the petrol tank?

Time to replace the rubber petrol pipes I would say. Probably tiny cracks I them and every time you move them they will get more cracking. Cheap and easy to fix too.

Greig

You mean the one's in the bay or by the tank?

lowrider dave wrote:You mean the one's in the bay or by the tank?

Probably best to replace all of them to be honest.

It'll be worthwhile, even if they are ok at the moment.

Indeed - if you replace everything, it is unlikely that anything will slip through the net.

Just be methodical - work your way from one end to the other.
Engine bay back to the tank...

Have a look for exhaust gas leaks too.

Just remembered my Diplomat had a slight leak around the manifold a couple of years ago and that smelt like a petrol leak. Though admittedly it was burning a bit rich at the time due to a faulty O2 sensor.

Right then. Looks like I'll be doing it properly, new tank and hoses, whilst I'm there start on cleaning up the underside.

So, considering replacing tank.
Any recommendations on where to get a new one, a place I found charges £70 - is this about right?
Any pitfalls or advice to keep in mind when I do it? I plan to renew pipes whilst I'm there.
Cheers

lowrider dave wrote:...Any pitfalls or advice to keep in mind when I do it?...

I would red-lead it then possibly paint over that

CurrentLy running it on near the red on the fuel gauge and getting no smells, I think this back up my suspicions about the tank.