I have just bought a 76 beetle and it has a fairly strong petrol smell coming from the front somewhere. I have re-seated and tightened the flexible joint between the filler neck and fuel tank. There does seem to be a little seeping from this join but the smell persists.

The smell also seems to be worse when the window is open.

Any help here would be appreciated. I'm away for the next few days so please understand if I don't post any replies over this period.

Cheers

sounds like you have a breather pipe missing on that model there is 4 i think or a leak from the tank there are other members on here that have had thet problem so you will know soon
a quick look under neath will show if it there as you will see a wet place
good luck

Hiya Cam,

u can bet that all the vapour hoses are 33 years old and probably perishing quiet nicely

also check that the plastic breather collector tube thing hasnt got any splits or cracks in it as the plastic goes brittle with age

Just been there
Even if those braided hoses look solid they are porous.
Get some fuel hose and replace them

Just make sure you have a small hose running to under the car some where and a large hose off the top of the tank connected to the filler

Get in under the bonnet with a lighter and have a good look close at the hoses. Only joking. Nah, the plastic vapour collector tube has probably perished with age. Setting up a simple charcoal type vapour canister that vents under the car would be a simple permanent solution. It is easy to do, takes a bit of time, and if you have basic tools you can do it. If you are a bit worried about doing it, a VW workshop should be able fix it, or modify it for you. If it takes you a few hours, it wont cost much. If it takes the mechanic a couple of hours and it is fixed, then you should be happy. Yeah?

Connecting charcoal canisters.

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=79038 

I've been offline for a few days so apologies for no feedback. Thanks for the advice one and all, I'll start looking into this over the weekend. Hopefully it will be solved shortly.

I've now replaced the 6mm flexible lines under the hood. I am waiting on new overflow hose to come but while surfing the Classic veedeb site found that there are seals between the filler neck and tank. I have ordered these as well and hope that this will solve the problem when they arrive.