Help! Smell of petrol

[BikerGran]

My car smells of petrol. She's always tended to have a bit of a niff now and then but the other night it was so bad I was afraid to smoke in the car. The smell is usually more noticeable inside the car, particularly when she's been standing with the windows closed, but I also notice it when I park up.

There don't appear to be any leaks.

Any ideas?

[SimonR]

Hi Bobbi,

Usually I would suggest that this was caused by corrosion of the filler neck, but I know your car has a new one - but do make sure that the hoses are clamped firmly to the breather pipe.

Other than that it's most probably a fuel hose in the engine bay. I say this because air is drawn into the cabin using a bit of ducting that goes from the heater assembly, through the bulkhead and into the bottom of the engine bay.

Fuel leaks can be tricky things to find (I recently had a similar problem with another Maestro) but disassembly and examination is often the only way.

Good luck!

[D87 SMW]

I had a sudden, but strong smell of petrol shortly before my (1.6 S series) VandenPlas conked out at a busy junction at 8.45am. It turned out the fuel pipe coming from the fuel pump had popped out (rather the brass attachment to which the pipe was attached did). Frantic attempts to get the car started again resulted in fuel being pumped all over the engine etc.

Just make sure the hoses/pipes are all fitted correctly and that there are no leaks anywhere.

S series engines, don't you just love them...

[G Force]

Hi, intermittent petrol smell has always been a problem on maestro and Montego ever since production, especially S series powered derivatives.

Once you have ruled out the possibility of any leaks, check the seal on the fuel filler cap is ok and for holes in the breather pipe attached to the filler neck. The body seam around the filler neck can corrode and fumes can enter the cabin through the gap, even if no corrosion is evident check the integrity of the body seam and fill any gaps with clear sealer.

Under the bonnet there were two modifications that were available from Austin rover, the first was a heater drain check valve. This was a small rubber plug that was inserted into the heater drain tube that protrudes through the bulkhead. If yours does not have one you could hunt around the scrappies in the hope of finding one, or try your luck with a dealer (stranger things have happened). The idea was to stop fumes from the carb vent pipe s series in particular and other engine bay fumes being drawn into the cabin via the heater drain. The second mod was a small piece of fine woven asbestos cloth type tube approximately 60mm in length fitted to the bottom of the carb vent pipe to contain any wetness of petrol that formed around the vent pipe to reduce the smell that could be drawn up the heater drain and to stop fuel dropping into the engine bay during normal carb venting. Again you may try source this in the same manner.

If you notice a lot of petrol dripping from this vent pipe the carb will need a new needle valve and seat assembly fitting inside the float chamber.

Cheers Gary:)

[Simon]

Hmmm, interesting...My filler tube/hoses/pocket/tank/carb are all new, yet I also notice a slight intermittent niff of petrol sometimes and I was unaware of such under bonnet mods.

[G Force]

I also notice a slight intermittent niff of petrol sometimes and I was unaware of such under bonnet mods.

Hi Simon, The intermittant petrol smell was a common complaint when the cars were new, and the mods did help but never cured the problem completely tbh. They were only fitted to vehicles where a petrol smell had been reported so not all were modified.

Gary:)

[BikerGran]

Well I think I fixed it! Dunno why I thought there were no leaks - maybe it just got suddenly worse, but the problem was a split end on the fuel pipe wher it enters the pump - temp solution, cut off split end and refit. Tomrrow I'll nip down the local auto shop and get a new bit of pipe and some new clips cos they feel a bit soft.

Good job I went to check the oil today tho, and noticed it - the only visible split was along the pipe, but when I took the clip off, it was obvious the pipe was split nearly halfway round!

[C191JOE]

Exactly the same thing happened to me today. Returning from Cambridge,a sudden strong smell of petrol. Stopped ASAP. Up with bonnet. A split fuel pipe from the pump to the carb. Petrol spitting out all over engine.

A very kind chap in the house outside which I had stopped lent me a Stanley knife. I cut off the split bit, pushed the pipe back on, with the spring clip thingy, and within a minute or so I was back on the road.

Must remember a Stanley knife in the emergency tool kit! Motoring with Maestros is never boring.

[D87 SMW]

Exactly the same thing happened to me today. Returning from Cambridge,a sudden strong smell of petrol. Stopped ASAP. Up with bonnet. A split fuel pipe from the pump to the carb. Petrol spitting out all over engine.

A very kind chap in the house outside which I had stopped lent me a Stanley knife. I cut off the split bit, pushed the pipe back on, with the spring clip thingy, and within a minute or so I was back on the road.

Must remember a Stanley knife in the emergency tool kit! Motoring with Maestros is never boring.

As in my above post, that is much like what happened on my S series. The brass fixing in the fuel pump outlet had come out of the pump, liberally spraying fuel all over the engine/bay.

Must be something about the S series... :worried:

[Austin-Rover]

I think your incident was down to an iffy fuel pump Steve.

Simon, I too have suffered the split hose just before it enters the carb. It was spraying petrol all over the engine. Very smelly! Infact I took a picture to remember the occasion by...

:)

[ChrisM]

I think your incident was down to an iffy fuel pump Steve.

Simon, I too have suffered the split hose just before it enters the carb. It was spraying petrol all over the engine. Very smelly! Infact I took a picture to remember the occasion by...

:)
Yes, you left a trail of fire round the estate... :D

[D87 SMW]

Yes, you left a trail of fire round the estate... :D

Gave me a headache following him round Stockport. He should really have checked the car over, knowing all day that there was a strong smell of petrol. Could've been nasty up on the M60 when I was following it.

[BikerGran]

Well I wasn't as clever as I thought cos yesterday it was smelling twice as bad and I opened the bonnet with the engine running to petrol ******* out all over the place!

I'd sorted one bit of the problem but moved it along to the next weak point, being where the fuel comes out of the pump towards the carb.

Off to town (in Mike's car) to get some new fuel pipe and clips. Where would you go for those? The car accessory shop of course. Not in our town - they had MILES of the wrong size pipe - but only one size! And no clips. I've never actually found anything I want there, I don't know why I bothered to go. So, off to Bovington several miles away, got pipe and clips, back home only to find it fits the bit before the pump, but the bit after is a different size. Back to Bovington again (filling up Mike's car with diesel on the way). Home again, yes the pipe is right, yippee!

By now there was only an hour or so before I was due to leave for work, so I pushed the pipes in place to avoid getting any damp in places it shouldn't be, and decided to use Mike's car for work. Time enough next day to finish the job and see what else is going to go wrong!


So today I put the shiny new clips on the pipe that goes into the pump and did them up - lovely! Different story on the output side. The pipe looked exactly the same size as the one I took off, but when the clips were tight I could still pull it off. After much head scratching I re-used the old pipe (it wasn't very old by the look of it) with the new clips.

Started up, had a look, no leak. Took her for a run, had another look, fine. Went to work, checked again, no problems. But when I got home after midnight tonight I thought she was smelling again. Decided NOT to look at it tonight!

[SimonR]

Well... <long story cut short> ...tonight!

Well Damn it!

It was't the smell of the engine running on choke was it? Could you have a slightly blowing exhaust that's allowing the smell to get into the car?

I only ask because I have a car which does that to me.

[BikerGran]

Might even have been my imagination!

Didn't look at it today - dry and not too cold so I was out on the trike.

[BikerGran]

Shouldn't be running on choke after 8 miles! Might even have been my imagination.

Didn't look at it today - dry and not too cold so I was out on the trike. :cool:

[BikerGran]

It was definitely smelling - more petrol than ever pouring out! Now that I've fixed the pipe on the ouput side of the pump I've transferred the problem back to the input side - the pipe I have on there is deffo to big, and the other pipe is too small. So it's another day with Mike's car (all those gears, good job I don't have far to go!) and back to the auto shop again!

Hope they've got a pipe in between those sizes.

As a matter of interest, whats the difference between the black (rubber?) pipe and the transparent one? Can I use either?

[E_T_V]

The transparent pipes (PVC usually) aren't resistant to fuel and when fuel flows through them they go hard and brittle (I used to have them as carb breathers on my trials bike). The problem with finding fuel line to fit is finding the non re-inforced stuff. Most stuff sold in shops has lots of re-inforcement in it as it is designed for fuel injection systems (much higher pressure than carb's use and sadly doesn't stretch easily). However austin-rover in their wisdom used non reinforced pipeing and so having different sizes on each end wasn't really a problem you could just force it on and it'd stretch to fit. Normal rubber pipe also won't work as that cracks up and goes brittle too. You need proper fuel line (usually says suitable for unleaded on the side of it). I had exactly the same problem finding a hose to replace the leaking vent on my tank as the re-inforced stuff wouldn't stretch to fit or was too large. In the end I tracked down some non reinforced stuff and that worked a treat.

[BikerGran]

The transparent pipe I'm on about is being sold as fuel pipe - surely they wouldn't be allowed if it wasn't fuel resistant?

You're right, the pipe I have is reinforced. At least I now have one that's too big and one that's too small so maybe I can find one in between! Even the transparent one would last long enough to enable me to get the car to a garage or to my mate who has all sorts of odd bits of stuff including fuel pipe!

[E_T_V]

I'd double check on it being sold as fuel pipe whether they mean petrol or diesel. If its sold as fine for being for unleaded then yes if it fits you can use it but I suspect it isn't.

[Simon]

Well said. Unleaded fuel pipe usually states as such on the side, so be careful of plain stuff. I made double sure that the replacement length of pipe I got was unleaded compatible, just in case...

[BikerGran]

The saga continues.

There wasn't a pipe in between the two sizes, so I bought some small jubilee clips on the basis I could kepp doing them up till they're as tight as I want, till they compress the pipe enough to make it fuel tight.

Yippee! It works!

:( So where's the petrol coming out now then? Well I've got the SU fuel pump with the silly inlet and outlet pieces that fit into the pump and then you have to peen the edges over. Of course where I'd been battling to fit a too small pipe onto the inlet one, it had become loose. So I gave that a few taps and tightened it up.

Hooray! That works too!

So where's the fuel coming out now? :banghead: It's coming out round the edges of the fuel pump itself, which looks to me like I need a new pump. Anyone know where I might get one from? I saw this coming a while ago and tried lots of places on the net but none had the SU pump.
I believe I saw something on here about swapping it for the other kind - that's beyond me but I do have a mate local who could do it - but unless someone on her has done it & knows it's ok, I'd rather put the right one on!

[ChrisM]

You can get a fuel pump from any half-decent motorfactor, Bobbi. Shouldn't be more than a tenner IIRC. :)

[SimonR]

Hi Bobbi,

I've just had a quick look on eBay and the following is available:

Original Rover Item (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AZX1819-Fuel-Pump-Austin-Maestro-Montego-1-6-Carb-84-89_W0QQitemZ150085284454QQihZ005QQcategoryZ27376QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) But expensive!

Cheaper 3rd Party part (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Austin-Maestro-1-6-Fuel-pump-New-boxed-Old-stock_W0QQitemZ200071856061QQihZ010QQcategoryZ2737 6QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem)

Or just go to a motorfactors and they should be able to get one in for you. The original Rover Part number is AZX 1819.

I would advise you to get this changed sooner rather than later because aside from the fire risk, you also might end up with fuel-contaminated oil which will kill your engine very quickly. What happens is that the pump fails, fuel runs down the pump's cam-follower inside the engine and the cam shaft ends up unlubricated. Bad news!!

Hope that helps!

[BikerGran]

Cheers Chris, we've got a place in Poole that was very helpful with my vacuum pipes, I'll give them a ring tomorrow.

[BikerGran]

ot the fuel pump no problem, and it's a better one than before, it doesn't have those bits you have to peen over to keep the pipe connectors in place. My biking mate Toad came over to fix it, I love to watch a bloke at work who has lots of experience (he drives a breakdown wagon and been mechanicking for years). Fitted the pump and had a listen, twiddled a screw here and there, she's idling much better now. And starting instantly instead of making me wonder whether I'll have to call the RAC!