E46 Petrol fumes in the car!!!!

If you pop the hood, do you smell it? If you pop the trunk?

Gas fumes either can come from under the hood via the cabin air intake, or from the trunk via a broken fuel tank venting system. The thing about gas is that it is very volatile and very smelly, so one drop of gas can stink up a whole warehouse.

The high pressure fuel system does not take too much to leak. On the other hand, if you are in the habit of topping-off your tank, you can also fill your charcoal canister up with fuel very easily and make one hell of a stink.

--scott

Hi Scott,

Popped both the hood and the trunk Seems like it is coming from under the hood alright

Tank was near on empty when it seems to happen.

Any idea what it could be??? Should I just leave be and see if the smell goes???

Thanks, Keith.

Somehing is leaking. This is bad, and it can be a pain to find because it might not be leaking enough to leave an actual stain. Look at the fuel hoses, the outer ring of the regulator, and the fuel rail.

I don't think this is relevant.

No, you need to get it checked out immediately before it gets worse. The wands used for exhaust emissions testing make this a lot easier... the mechanic can start the engine, wave the wand around and when he gets it near the leak it will go right off the scale. Without it, it's a matter of sniffing and feeling and seeing where the tiny leak is.

A tiny leak will become a big one in a lot of cases, and big fuel leaks are bad.

--scott

Thanks for that Scott - will bring to mechanic in the morning Seems to be quite a string smell too

If I knew what I was doing I would have a go myself

H> keithd =A0 wrote:

Use a match. 8)

Just kidding!

Found the source of the problem There was a leak where the fuel line goes into the engine (near the injectors)

The pipe was off a little causing a leak

Scott/anyone - are you familiar with this piece? Excuse my complete ignorance on this - I don't even know the name of it! :)

Put the pipe back > Scott Dorsey wrote: