Strong fuel smell

[R222cet]

Ive got an S3 stage 1 and over the last couple of days I’ve noticed a smell of petrol outside the car there isn’t any signs of a leak or anything. I’ve been doing abit of research and it could be my cam follower ? My car is booked in to have suspension put on but it’s not for 4 weeks should I get it looked at ASAP or will waiting 4 weeks be okay ?

 

[jackal_s3]

Where a outs are you? Have you been getting the cold snap some parts of the country has been getting, could just be the colder weather and the car overfuelling to get upto temperature.

 

[R222cet]

Rochdale greater Manchester, it’s been freezing over the last month or so but I’ve only noticed it say this week and it’s started getting abit warmer. This morning when I went out the temp was 6 and I notice the smell quite bad

 

[jackal_s3]

Fair enough, for what it’s worth the cam follower is cheap and really easy to change. Plenty of YouTube guides on how to change it as I’m planning on doing this soon when the weather picks up and have looked at a few guides.

 

[audismart]

If you follower has a hole in it then do not drive it anywhere, if its gone then your management light will glow like a beacon and throw a few codes.
Ive been having a few cold idle problems with mine of late and its when it hit below 5/6 deg, ive replaced a whole load of sensors trying to find the fault, but the problem I have is there isnt any codes been thrown, so its been a bit blind, but a worth while learning curve on the tfsi engine components.
If you can smell fuel it might be the N80 valve thats faulty, as that chucks excess fuel vapors into the carbon canister, check the top of your HPFP it might be the FPR (fuel pump regulator) that is under pressure or leaking.

 

[samuelh_888]

A couple of months ago I too had a strong smell of petrol but I was also getting a P0441 EVAP error. I replaced the petrol cap and the N80 valve and the smell and error has gone. Although I replaced the petrol cap, you can just replace the o’ring which would be cheaper.

- Petrol Cap part # 8P0 201 550 C £23.48
- N80 Valve part # 06E 90651 7A £30.10

 

[R222cet]

I’ve had a look around my HPFP and follower it all looks well (I’ll have another look soon) and there is no warning lights on the dash.
About the fuel cap it does seem to smell as I go to get in the car on that side

 

[R222cet]

@audismart would the hole be really obvious ?

 

[audismart]

No not to the eye, if you spray some soapy water on the top it might bubble, sounds like you might have found your problem though, as vcsd codes point you to a fuel cap.

 

[Nex2]

I have noticed petrol smell on the side of the cap. I think its outside the car but i feel that sometimes the smell comes inside.
When it is hot or i put gas i smell it but not all the times. I have noticed when i drop water to clean the area outside the cap it dont drain in the small hole but it stays there

On my obd eleved i have not any warning

These days I have removed the plastics for other work inside the trunk. Is there some mechanism I can check on the side of the cap that could be responsible for the smell?

 

[Nex2]

Problem solved

I replaced the o ring from the cap and the smell stopped