B6 1.8T Petrol/Fuel Smell

[Crasher]

I have had two cars recently where breakdown chaps have correctly diagnosed a faulty in tank lift pump on the CR TDI 2 litre A3/Golf 6 but when quickly re-assembling to recover the car, they put the hose fittings on the tank the wrong way around as it looks more correct than the right way. When the garage who fixes the car fits a new pump, they repeat the error. The REALLY annoying thing is that they run perfectly like this until every now and again they cut out and won't re-start or start poorly from cold, a real nightmare to track down initially but now I know the signs.

[Skezza]

I have had two cars recently where breakdown chaps have correctly diagnosed a faulty in tank lift pump on the CR TDI 2 litre A3/Golf 6 but when quickly re-assembling to recover the car, they put the hose fittings on the tank the wrong way around as it looks more correct than the right way. When the garage who fixes the car fits a new pump, they repeat the error. The REALLY annoying thing is that they run perfectly like this until every now and again they cut out and won't re-start or start poorly from cold, a real nightmare to track down initially but now I know the signs.

Mine doesn't start poorly in the cold, but it makes a noise from the back. I'm guessing it's the fuel pump, hence I am really keen to have a go. Maybe I will order one of those tools and have a crack. ECS tuning reckon those tools are the real deal, but it's a shame because there are videos online proving you can do it by hand, not realistically down under the rear arch though

[Skezza]

and I still haven't had a chance to do this The smell is really bad now, in particular in the rear seat behind the driver. Very nasty. I might phone a garage today and ask them how much they'll charge me to get it up in the air and swap the fuel lines over.

[Crasher]

Don't worry, the smell will go away when it catches fire....

ECS tuning reckon those tools are the real deal

Be very wary of that company.....

[Skezza]

Don't worry, the smell will go away when it catches fire....



Be very wary of that company.....

My girlfriend made a similar joke this morning

Cheers. Going to try get out of work a bit early today and then get it up on ramps/stands.

[Skezza]

Ok, so I finally had a good crack last night. Turns out the hoses are actually pretty simple once you've got reasonable visibility and understand how they work. Remove the bolt holding the line in front and your visibility is much improved as if the manoeuvrability of the filter itself.

I was slightly disappointed to see that the filter has already been changed. In fact, it looked nearly new. A Purflux? Now, I know nothing about Purflux but a Google showed they're an economy brand manufactured by Sogefi in India, so I decided to install the German Mann filter, seeing as I've paid for it anyway.

The hoses are actually colour coded:
Going into the filter, you've got a blue hose and a black hose.
Going out of the filter, you've got a white hose and a dark grey/translucent.

[Skezza]

I wasn't able to write much in my first reply as I was on my phone, so I'll fill you in on a bit more detail of my experience, perhaps it'll indicate where the problems lie to some of you with more knowledge than me (i.e. most of you).

So in reality, changing the filter with the car on the floor is possible after all. Just give yourself plenty of time (took me about an hour) and be prepared to get a bit dirty (you'll hear why in a bit). Also removing that big 14mm (Rusty as sin) bolt which holds a line that goes across your face. Oh and I removed the piece of undertray weeks ago. That'll go back on once I'm sure it's sorted. With all that out of the way, you can actually manoeuvre the filter quite a lot and even get it to come down from it's holder (don't forget to release the T25 bolt holding the filter in). Once you start releasing the hoses, your ability to move it is obviously increased.

Once it was down, I was able to closely look at the hoses and actually work out how you open them (without breaking them!) and it's fairly straightforward. My clips don't really look like many of the others I've seen online which was adding to my confusion, but I found this reasonably good image from Google of an Audi A8 D3 which has the same hose clips:

Note: the filter is totally different here.

So to operate the clips and remove the hoses without breaking them (a seemingly common phenomenon). I found the best way was to turn the hose slightly, push it in hard, then simply press the coloured part. For the first one, I used a set of needle nose pliers and it came right off. For the rest, I didn't really need to do that. Just turn, push, then press with my fingers seemed to be enough. With visibility, you can actually see the clip recess into the unlocked position and then just pull and you're done. They're kind of brilliant, once you get over the fact they stupidly used them in the first place. Oxymoron I know.

Just before I say anything, else, I removed the fuel cap as 'required'. Anyway, I removed the blue line first and there was just a dribble of fuel, not much more than a few ML's. The second line going into VL, I removed that and the fuel filter fired a good half litre (if not more) petrol into my face at high pressure. Giving me and the items under the car a wash. It was like a jet washer filled with petrol. I've not seen this on any of the videos online? I wonder if the filter was defective, there was certainly a huge build up of pressure? Odd. I've since been told the best way to stop this happening is to pull the fuel pump fuse for a few seconds before starting the job, so it drains the fuel in the lines.



Once both lines on the left side were removed, I was able to remove the other two fairly easily and plumb the new one in.

I was a tad disappointed to see when I collected some fuel out of the filter, that the fuel looked alright. In fact, as I said above, the filter looked brand new, however, I'm starting to wonder if it had collapsed or something gone very wrong with it.






Two reasons why I'm wondering if this fuel filter was knackered:

A. The fuel pump seems to have stopped moaning, at least nowhere near as much. I'll upload a video when I get chance of it literally crying the other day.
B. Most importantly......... I got under the car earlier and the vent pipe was completely dry.

Touchwood.... could it be as simple as a collapsed fuel filter?

[Skezza]

By the way, big big thanks to Crasher, Niall and everyone else who has helped and put in their time to help me fix this. Without your help, it simply wouldn't have happened. I'd have ended up putting it in a garage.

The smell is slowly going but already it's a lot better. No smell when the sunroof is open (just in time for winter ), I'm pretty sure the only smell now is what's left in the car and that'll fade over the next few days.

I was ready for a big bill to fix/diagnose this problem. Only the advice from this forum help me avoid that.

[strajnarR]

By the way, big big thanks to Crasher, Niall and everyone else who has helped and put in their time to help me fix this. Without your help, it simply wouldn't have happened. I'd have ended up putting it in a garage.

The smell is slowly going but already it's a lot better. No smell when the sunroof is open (just in time for winter ), I'm pretty sure the only smell now is what's left in the car and that'll fade over the next few days.

I was ready for a big bill to fix/diagnose this problem. Only the advice from this forum help me avoid that.

I'm reopening an old topic because I have the same problem. I smell gasoline. Fuel is dripping from a pipe that has an open vented side on one end. Did replacing the fuel filter solve the fuel smell issue?
I ordered a new fuel filter.

[Skezza]

Yes it did. My car was literally pouring liquid petrol onto the floor from said pipe (as opposed to venting fumes).

The effect was almost immediate. The liquid stopped and the smell was gone within a few days, if that.

I suspect the fuel filter had collapsed. I replaced the cheap eBay nonsense with a Mann at a cost of about 30 quid.