Petrol Smell

[Guest a1galaxy]

We have a 2.3 litre petrol Galaxay Zetec (51 plate) since we have had it from time to time we get a smell of what we believe is petrol from the ventilation system, which at times is bad enough that the windows have to be opened. Appears worse when powering up hills.

 

Outside the car or in the engine bay there does not appear to be a smell of petrol.

 

Local garage has checked it out but cannot find a leak, and we have had the polllen filter changed.

 

Has anyone else had anything similar ?

[Guest vr6galaxy]

IIRC a few others have had similar problems, one of the causes is the carbon canistor in the driver side wheel arch, up behind the arch liner

this stores the fumes from the fuel system, it is then sucked into the engine when a valve on the intake hose opens, it has been known for the hoses to pop out of the canistor allowing fumes to escape and get sucked into the cabin! alo check all the hoses leading to the intake manifold/throttle body

another cause could be a blocked breather on the fuel tank/filling hose, these have be known to be kinked causeing filling problems and fume leakage

to get to the vent/filling pipe you will need to lift the carpet in the rear of the vehicle behind the drivers seat, under there you will find an inspection hatch and under that the fuel tank pipe and hoses

 

 

PS. no smoking while looking for the cause of the smell :(