Petrol stench in early morning

In the morning when I open the door to the garage and get into my Beetle - the whole place reeks of petrol/gas. The smell is in the garage and in the interior of the car.

When I drive the car off - in the first few minutes- the smell of petrol gets more intense. But there doesn't seem to be any petrol leaking from the manifold.

Changing to 2nd gear also seems to hit a flat spot. Just no power.

After driving the car for about 10 minutes - the petrol smell goes away. And the car drives nicely.

I've very worried about the problem. Not sure what to do. I am particularly wary of petrol smells because my VW caught on fire 5 years ago and I saved it with my fire extinguisher. But not before it was burning for 3 minutes. The insurance replaced all the rubber.

The car was sent to the proper VW mechanics 3 times and I've paid over $1,000 in repairs this year. But they can't seem to find the problem either.

There is a small hole in the manifold boot which I'm replacing shortly. But that doesn't explain the early morning smell of petrol.

I had the exterior fuel lines replaced.

Not too sure whats going wrong.

I had some problems with the carbie not too long back- but the needle was replaced and it runs ok now.

The manifold boots look wet... but that couldnt cause the problem could it?

i have the same bloody thing in my kombi ute i found that the breather tube was broken so no stains on the cement had me baffeled for a month

maybe one of the hard lines has a crack or slight rust hole in the tank or the rubber lines aren't tight enough???

Yes, no give away petrol stains. The breather tuber is the problem? Thats the plastic tube thats connected to the fuel tank intake?

Blue65 wrote:In the morning when I open the door to the garage and get into my Beetle - the whole place reeks of petrol/gas. The smell is in the garage and in the interior of the car.

When I drive the car off - in the first few minutes- the smell of petrol gets more intense. But there doesn't seem to be any petrol leaking from the manifold.

Changing to 2nd gear also seems to hit a flat spot. Just no power.

After driving the car for about 10 minutes - the petrol smell goes away. And the car drives nicely.

I've very worried about the problem. Not sure what to do. I am particularly wary of petrol smells because my VW caught on fire 5 years ago and I saved it with my fire extinguisher. But not before it was burning for 3 minutes. The insurance replaced all the rubber.

The car was sent to the proper VW mechanics 3 times and I've paid over $1,000 in repairs this year. But they can't seem to find the problem either.

There is a small hole in the manifold boot which I'm replacing shortly. But that doesn't explain the early morning smell of petrol.

I had the exterior fuel lines replaced.

Not too sure whats going wrong.

I had some problems with the carbie not too long back- but the needle was replaced and it runs ok now.

The manifold boots look wet... but that couldnt cause the problem could it?

Not sure what model VW You have...
but the cotton covered fuel lines and breather hoses all need replacing...

the manifold boots shouldn't be wet before you start the car as the electromagnetic cutoff switch cuts the fuel to the carby when the engine is turned offf...
so, once the fuel bowl was empty, it wouldn't refill until the engine was kicked over...
and the engine won't go with an empty fuel bowl..

The cotton covered hoses used by VW are not a good idea as there can be a million small cracks in the hose and you can't see any of them...

If the smell is that strong its got to be the fuel tank or hose under the tank...

a wet boot which means a cracked boot = lean mixture =
a VW engine running lean= OVER HEATING...

also check Your exhaust in the morning to see if there are any petrol fumes coming from there...
as if the needle/seat in the carby is still leaking Your muffler could have petrol in it.. and thats not good for Your engine either...

I used to have the same problem and it was the bypass fuel hose next to the filler hose [68 beetle] and it didn't really leak - the hose just got wet with the petrol...
because of that crappy cotton covered hose....

anyway I replaced all the cotton covered hose under the bonnet and the smell has gone away...
My breather tube goes under the car on the LHS of the spare wheel....

Best of luck

LEE

http://community.webshots.com/user/68autobug

See if you can "sniff" it out

Does it stink in the boot (front) where the petrol tank is??
That is where the breather problems will be

If all is fine there - try this

After running the car for a while have a look in under the inspection plate under the rear seat

See if it is wet (and stinky) there

You may have a ruptured fuel line inside the tunnel

😠 wonder why i know all about this problem 😠

Thanks. I'll give it a check tomorrow.

I also got a good tip from Speedy Jim from aircooled vws

The vent hose I found was not looped upwards and it was also not threaded through one of the three clips.

That could explain why when the car brakes or turns a sharp corner - fuel gets spilled out so easily.

Blue65 wrote:Thanks. I'll give it a check tomorrow.

I also got a good tip from Speedy Jim from aircooled vws

The vent hose I found was not looped upwards and it was also not threaded through one of the three clips.

That could explain why when the car brakes or turns a sharp corner - fuel gets spilled out so easily.

Funnily enough
Most beetle fuel leaks start with a smell when you go round a corner.... lol

I put a hose from the tank up over the top of the dash down the other side to the front where it connects to a pipe and exits outside...

originally I just had the hose from the tank down to the exit hole and I was filling the tank when i noticed petrol coming from under My car....lol

so I've made sure the hose goes over the top and down with stick on clamps...

no More leaks or smells....

LEE

Bizarre wrote:See if it is wet (and stinky) there

You may have a ruptured fuel line inside the tunnel

😠 wonder why i know all about this problem 😠

😂....me too!!

can also peer through the handbrake mount on the tunnel

6volt bugs have a very primative breather setup,
just a hose from the highest point down under the car so not much can go wrong there

im betting Barry is right on the money with the rigid line in the tunnel
there is a plethora of objects in the tunnel the line can rub on
and after 44 years i assure u there would be a nice layer of dirt, rust flakes etc on the bottom of the tunnel

it may only take a couple of drops a night to soak into this to make the fuel smell linger


but it would probably take forever for enough to soak this crud layer completly that it starts dripping onto the ground

Another area to check is the seam between the two halves of the fuel tank. I had one that was weeping ever so slightly, it took ages to find it.

Regards,

Matt.

I checked the tunnel in the small hatch behind the back seat and also the handbrake gap - and the floorpan tunnel is wet. Wet like a footpath after a light rain drizzle.

But I didn't seem to smell any petrol smell though. Is this it then? Could the interior fuel line be ruptured?

I poked in a small swab and got some of the gunk out - it smells more like oil/grease than petrol.

The carbie also seems to be leaking/weeping oil. The seals are wet with oil.

I uploaded the photos onto my blog. So if you want to look - check it out here.VW 1641cc Engine Carbie leaking.

I put on the new Saco EMPI inner manifold boots - and they fit on fine. No drama there. The two old ones were covered in black oily grime. One of them had a huge tear in the middle. It only showed as a small hole with the metal ring bands clamped around it. I thought the other one would be torn but it was just dirty. No matter, replaced them with the new ones.

But I gave my grimy Air Filter a wash - and the foam fell apart.

I went to Repco to buy a new foam but all they had was a Holden paper air filter which was very similar. It also had a rubber and wire mesh frame.

But it was just a fraction too large for the setup. Crap.

One of the problems with maintaing a car this age is the quality of spare parts. More often than not they are rubbish and making them work is part of the fix - but what choice have you got.

A lot of things can cause a petrol smell - for me it was excessive fuel pressure. What happened was when the engine was shut down fuel continued to drip from that accelerator pump nozzle thing - forgotten the correct name, right down the barrel of the carb (stock DP1600 w 34PICT). Yes I know, it is not supposed to drip but it was a brand new carby from ACN.
What was exacerbating the problem was the fuel pump (stock) was delivering 5lbs of pressure when all it really needed was 1.75 to 3lb.
So I stacked some gaskets under the pump to reduce pressure and the problem was solved - including that hard to start when hot condition.
Good luck.

my smell of fuel fumes came from an old dried out fuel cap seal.. new seal and problem sorted..
hope you sort your dramas..