Sportrak petrol fumes

Forum: 

Hi - I'm pleased to be making my first post here as the owner of a 1990 Sportrak EFi model (only 28,000 miles so in pretty good condition).

There is however a bit of a problem with her - she smells really bad of petrol outside around the rear O/S - the cap fits well and there is no visible signs of petrol leaking anywhere. When I'm inside with the windows closed I can't smell it, but as soon as open the drivers window or the roof the venturi effect draws it in, also you get a big waft of it when you open the boot...

I'm going to drop it off at my local garage but would welcome any pointers that I could give them...

Many thanks

David

Petrol fumes

Hi David,

It might be something to do with the fuel vapour seperator thing.
It's a plastic canister shaped unit fitted behind the o/s rear wheel
arch, inside the panel. It's prone to blockages, leaks or cracks thus whiffing of fuel.

Good luck, hope you sort it.

Stone.

Petrol fumes

Many thanks for your helpful points - it's in the garage on Wednesday (before someone walking past with a cigarette lights it up!) and your posts will certainly help them get to the bottom of it quicker... Smile

Cheers

David

Update!!

Well I dropped the car in the garage and learnt a few lessons...

As you probably know the area where the tank pipes is covered by a plastic bolt-on guard. The garage took that off to discover SERIOUS corrosion on both the fuel and brake pipes - so bad on the fuel pipes that they had to take the car outside due to the fumes and so bad on the brake pipes that it would have failed its MOT. Thing is it only passed this on 5th December 2005. I called VOSA up and they stated that rusting brake pipes are covered by the 3 month MOT return policy and I can make a formal complaint and have it investigated. Only problem is how far the corrosion was visible with the guard on. To add insult to this problem the garage says that the corrosion and leaks in the fuel pipes had been covered up with grease to stop in smelling so bad...very dodgy.

Tomorrow I will take the car back to the garage where I bought it and see what they have to say... I'll see it up on the ramp without the guard first...

I'll let you know how I get on! Big lesson on the MOT front though...

Cheers

David

petrol smell

Dave i had a smell of petrol for about 3 weeks and could not find a leak on the pipes but it turned out to be a small leak on the pump body which is hard to see as its on a small platform behind the o/side chassie just infront of the petrol tank.it was'nt untill it got to a drip that i found it ! Good luck.
PS. if it is the pump don't get a model EFP1 or EFP2as advertised on some web sites as it won't run your efi,for cheapness i got a renault 21 pump of a scrapy for a £10 as new pumps are around £110 +vat in the UK .

sportrak fumes

mine was the same, turned out to be the fuel pump, a common fault. It now has a VW one and behaves it self