Smell of petrol through vents, only when stationary A4 cab

[rhencullen1989]

Hi all, as per heading, only noticed this over the last week or so and have had the car for nearly 2 years.

Smell of fuel (petrol) through the vents after several miles when stationary, lifted bonnet and had a sniff around, no obvious leak but think it's a stronger smell of fuel around the "flying saucer" pcv valve at the rear of engine, I replaced some of the crankcase breather pipes and associated brittle/broken plastic last year but that was a different smell, more like a hot oily engine smell.

This is more like fuel smell. Mpg is good and it's a 2005 1.8T.

any ideas anyone.......what's the charcoal canister thingy I have read about under the drivers side wheel arch liner?????

[Skezza]

Hi all, as per heading, only noticed this over the last week or so and have had the car for nearly 2 years.

Smell of fuel (petrol) through the vents after several miles when stationary, lifted bonnet and had a sniff around, no obvious leak but think it's a stronger smell of fuel around the "flying saucer" pcv valve at the rear of engine, I replaced some of the crankcase breather pipes and associated brittle/broken plastic last year but that was a different smell, more like a hot oily engine smell.

This is more like fuel smell. Mpg is good and it's a 2005 1.8T.

any ideas anyone.......what's the charcoal canister thingy I have read about under the drivers side wheel arch liner?????

This sounds identical to my situation. The fuel filter had collapsed. Get down behind the drivers side passenger door. There's a piece of trim there which obscures the fuel filter. Remove it. The fuel filter has 2 hoses in, 2 hoses out. With the trim removed, you will see that where the two outward hoses go, via a piece of sill trim. If you look carefully (with a torch) there is also a small line that is cut, doesn't appear to go anywhere. This is the breather line. Mine was pouring raw petrol out, almost all the time but mostly when stopped. Anywhere up to 300-500ml in fact. You can see the wetness from the fuel on the pipe itself.

It was particularly bad when driving with the sunroof down at slow speeds and idling.

Fuel economy was through the floor at about 25-30mpg. Change fuel filter. Economy up to 35mpg-40mpg.

Check this. Simple and free.

[rhencullen1989]

Ok cheers for that one skezza, I will check under when I get a couple of mins, although my mpg seems pretty good, 45 mpg on the dis on a run. It's not bad, just a bit of a whiff when sat at traffic lights etc.