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Curious petrol smell...
#1
During lockdown the car has been unused but I have detected a strong smell of petrol from the rear of the car, (Mk I Ruby), no leaks that I could find, fuel line all good, drain plug tight, unscrewed the fuel filler cap, sniff down the tube but hardly a smell, but down by the OSR wheel and sometimes at the middle of the rear, quite a whiff.

Definitely not leaking, but fuel level indicator on the gauge was about 2 gallons when last on road before lockdown and now showing less than 1 now, car only moving backwards & forwards out of the garage, so no driving to account for the reduction in fuel, anyway, last weekend, I gave it a thorough inspection and I noted that the rubber filler tube was slightly perished, this was new when the car returned to the road in 2015 and would have been actually fitted just before then.

Removed the old rubber filler pipe today and fitted a new one, smell has all gone, on close inspection of the old rubber, the perishing was confined to the outside only, the bore inside was smooth & fine to the naked eye and did not leak, BUT, the rubber stank of petrol, hours later, still really strong, it is like this has been impregnated, I had it in the house to take photographs, but smell was overpowering & had to put it in a zip-seal plastic bag to contain, now in the dustbin.

Topped up with petrol from a fuel can, even petrol drips was nothing compared to the strong as the smell from the rubber filler tube, curious indeed!

   

   

Has anyone else experienced this sort of petrol smell problem?
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#2
My rubber filler tube was new just a few months ago, and only a couple of gallons in the tank, but yes a strong smell at the back of the car.
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#3
Are you saying that you lost 1 gallon by vapour loss? Because the petrol should be in the tank, not at the level of the filler pipe surely? I have to admit that modern fuel eats older rubber tube - even the modern replacement rubbers.
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#4
I have had a similar petrol smell with my Ruby for some time now and not considered this. Because my car is not used some much these days I considered it was just evaporating through the filler cap. I will investigate.

John Mason.
Would you believe it "Her who must be obeyed" refers to my Ruby as the toy.
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#5
Well, the pipe stinks (still - retrieved this from the dustbin this morning) and the rubber must be impregnated with fumes and my feeling is that over the six-week lockdown, fuel has evaporated at an alarming rate - my car is (was) a daily driver so it was re-fueled weekly and I did not notice any petrol smells before, only when it was parked up unused!

Never got a smell from the fuel filler pipe and I had fitted a one-way valve into the outlet of the air vent/overflow pipe (it was just a plastic screen wash valve that I pushed up the pipe & glued it in place), that does not smell.

The new rubber is "Made in England" and looks the same as the old one, time will tell...
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#6
Petrol is extremely volatile and the free space in a tank will be saturated vapour. This will find its way out very easily and will be replaced immediately by more vapour. It's very surprising hoe quickly it will disappear.
Jim
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#7
The strongest petrol smell with my Ruby is for about a couple of weeks after I have filled up. I always thought it was the methanol in modern petrol that was causing this as I assumed methanol vaporised easier than petrol. I am now rethinking my thoughts on this.

John Mason.
Would you believe it "Her who must be obeyed" refers to my Ruby as the toy.
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#8
"I had fitted a one-way valve into the outlet of the air vent/overflow pipe"

Is there any way this valve is increasing the pressure in the tank relative to atmosphere? I seem to remember that a pressure differential will increase the rate at which a gas effuses through a hose wall.
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#9
it is only a basic plastic valve for a screen washer, air can come into the tank but petrol cannot come out when filled to the brim, it has been in there for 2-3 years now.

Late this morning, I slit the rubber tube open to closely examine the internal bore, the cutting seemed to release more petrol fumes, the inside was smooth & fine, so the perishing was confined to the exterior of the pipe, but the rubber does seem to be impregnated with the the smell! Early this evening, having been sat outside, the pipe now just has a faint whiff of petrol, significantly better than earlier.

Car is not smelling!
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