Fuel smell in cabin

Squirrelofdoom

Squirrelofdoom

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Hi guys,

Had a search, but couldn't find an answer to this question for this vehicle. S3 8L APY.

Recently I'm sure I can smell fuel in the cabin. Only seems to happen after maybe 15 minutes of driving, and usually when I've been driving and then stop at a set of lights etc. the smell is strongest; then when I drive off it kinda dissipates, but I'm sure I can smell it and I'm not going crazy :)

Just wanted to know, should there be anywhere I should be looking at first to see where fuel could be leaking and I could be getting the smell? Any particular hoses? The injectors? Fuel filter?...dunno. I haven't seen any wet patches under the car and I usually have the air-con on (reading around I see this can affect where the air is sucked in from, so affects whether I would get a smell or not) but given the cold weather sometimes the air-con doesn't work.

I admit I've currently got the car for sale, but I'm getting this fixed before I accept any offers as i'm not selling it when I think there could be an issue!!

Thanks guys,
Aran
 
Thanks guys. Where under the cover is the EVAP canister? Also, would a crummy pollen filter smell of fuel?
 
awesome, thanks buddy, i'll check tomorrow after the drive to work and see if anything like the EVAP lines are rotten / smell of fuel
 
Hi guys,

Popped the bonnet this morning and couldn't see any fuel leaks anywhere or even smell any to be honest :S I'll drive her until I can smell it, then i'll try to pull over and check again then
 
post back how you get on mate, ive got exactly the same problem but everytime i have a sniff round the injectors, rail and charcoal canister i cant smell anything. The only times i do is when i pull up at a junction. weird
 
Hi guys,

An update. Don't think it's coming from the injectors, had a good face in the engine bay sniff :) However, i think it's coming from around the washer bottle, as I can smell it from there! So, that means EVAP chamber?...

Thing is I can't see any physical fuel or wetness (which I guess I should be grateful for). So any ideas which pipes / connectors to check / replace?

Thanks guys!!
 
I had a very similar problem on my pre-facelift S3. The smell would only come in when I was stopped in traffic. I noticed of I turned the climate control totally off then the smell was much less pronounced.

In the end it was traced to a faulty (split) fuel breather pipe. I can't get you the part number out the service history for you to check because I sold it 4yrs ago. I do remember putting a post on tyres mike about it so I'll see if I can find it.
 
I found the post but I didn't put the part number in it, just the cost which was back in Nov 2006. Maybe it might help you but the part cost £8.16 and when under pressure fuel was leaking from a broken fuel breather pipe. This pipe was bought at an Audi garage and they fixed it free of charge because they diagnosed the fault initially as the charcoal canister, which when replaced didn't fix the problem.
 
s3mad_dude said:
I found the post but I didn't put the part number in it, just the cost which was back in Nov 2006. Maybe it might help you but the part cost £8.16 and when under pressure fuel was leaking from a broken fuel breather pipe. This pipe was bought at an Audi garage and they fixed it free of charge because they diagnosed the fault initially as the charcoal canister, which when replaced didn't fix the problem.
Click to expand...

which pipe is it? might go check mine now. Hopefully explain my 22.5mpg
 
I had the same problem .... Only bought the car last week, strong smell of fuel from engine bay .... Split breather hose that runs off the rocker cover .... £18 later no smell and a happy owner!
 
Same problem here, can smell it around the charcoal canister but would have to remove it and check under, if better weather next week.
 
I have had the same prob with my 1.6 a3 sport 1997 AEH now changed to AKL,

I am servicing the car this weekend and ill check the above points,

Exact same symptoms - only when pulling up at junctions strong smell of fuel,

STRANGEEEE
 
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