As I had a petrol smell when turning left with more than half a tank of fuel, I removed the tank filling tube from my bay dual cab for inspection. The rubber elbow from the filler opening was persihed and cracked, despite only 28 years of service and, on replacement this was found to be the culprit.

Fuel was being allowed to leak into the fuel tank area, which is adjacent to the engine bay.

For Kombi owners, inspection of this elbow, pictured below, would seem to be a must to add to the list at next engine-out service. For Ute and 2-cab owners, the elbow is accessible easily.

The part was readily available in Melbourne from Volkspower; part number is 211 201 119 for my truck, yours may vary.

replaced the one on my bus last november, same problem, strong smell of petrol in cabin.

thanks, i'll keep that in mind

Another forgotton link for leaks in the vans & bus's is a short piece of rubber hose in the breather system BEHIND the spare wheel well. Feel up behind it from the engine bay.
Cheers,
Andy :thumb

the easiest diagnosis of the rather invisible filler neck Rubber is - with a fairly full tank turn a long left hand bend fairly hard, you will get a strong smell of petrol almoist imediately, it will take quite a while to go away

Yes I replaced this piece about 4 years ago. Unfortunatley Volkspower did not have in stock, and I hunted for about 4 weeks for a genuine replacement from a long way away.

Sickening petrol smell there was.

I had exactly the same problem a few months ago.

A lot of people seem to think that you have to take out the engine and tank to replace the filler hose, but that's not true: you can do it with tank still in place with a bit of wiggling.

i had the fuel leak on the left side problem. looked behind the wheel well and there it was stuffed as. thanks for that Andy. the forum saves another bus from frying. Even got the hose for free, Repco Penrith – top blokes, found me an offcut.