9 replies to this topic

[Benjamin Caney]

hi does anyone know why im get g a strong smell of fumes in my cockpit whilst driving ?

[Spider]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

 

Can you tell us what model Mini you have and what the fumes smell like ?  Fuel, exhaust, hot oil ?

[Tornado99]

I had regular fuel odour inside car whenever having more than half a tank of fuel. This was a carb car. Original fuel cap was not sealing to the neck effective b/c the "ramped" shape on the neck that the cap ears engage with were worn/notched to point clamping force insufficient to seal.
Fitted a monza style flip cap, the type with threads onto an interference fit collar around outside of neck. Used fuel proof gasket maker on collar to neck and teflon tape on the collar to cap threads. No more fuel escaping from under cap, dribbling down outside of body and underside of rubber neck seal, to interior of boot.
Also check the vent line at top of tank if your car has one, ensure it has no deteriorated and that is passes down and out of boot to underside of car.

Other things to check, carb float bowl sealing fully when engine running or e-fuel pump running. Should be no fuel dripping from the bowl vent to end of hose on the vent.

[sonscar]

Loose exhaust to manifold would be my first looky,Steve..

[mad4classics]

Check your crankcase breather system is in good order!

 

But as Spider said; what kind of fumes are you getting in the cockpit?

[mbolt998]

Loose exhaust to manifold would be my first looky,Steve..

Yes and if that keeps coming loose check the engine tie-bar is nice and tight. Otherwise it rocks around too much, and quite often chips bits off the end of the exhaust pipe where it joins on.

[skoughi]

I had regular fuel odour inside car whenever having more than half a tank of fuel. This was a carb car. Original fuel cap was not sealing to the neck effective b/c the "ramped" shape on the neck that the cap ears engage with were worn/notched to point clamping force insufficient to seal.
Fitted a monza style flip cap, the type with threads onto an interference fit collar around outside of neck. Used fuel proof gasket maker on collar to neck and teflon tape on the collar to cap threads. No more fuel escaping from under cap, dribbling down outside of body and underside of rubber neck seal, to interior of boot.
Also check the vent line at top of tank if your car has one, ensure it has no deteriorated and that is passes down and out of boot to underside of car.

Other things to check, carb float bowl sealing fully when engine running or e-fuel pump running. Should be no fuel dripping from the bowl vent to end of hose on the vent.

I've been investigating the same issue recently. I was fully aware of a smell of fuel in the cabin one day when I opened a door and stuck my head in the cabin. I checked under the fuel tank and the boot floor was moist, a fibre pad that the tank sits on was curled up in the style that it would be if soaked in petrol. However there seemed to be no leaking from the outlet pipe and the vent pipe was in place. As with your case the tank was more than half full, I'd filled her up on the previous run out. I've had her out for a couple of runs after that check and the tank level is way down and as a result the smell of fuel seems to have abated. I'll have a look at the tank cap and may just replace as a matter of course. A fancy flip cap looks kinda nice anyway! 

[skoughi]

 

I had regular fuel odour inside car whenever having more than half a tank of fuel. This was a carb car. Original fuel cap was not sealing to the neck effective b/c the "ramped" shape on the neck that the cap ears engage with were worn/notched to point clamping force insufficient to seal.
Fitted a monza style flip cap, the type with threads onto an interference fit collar around outside of neck. Used fuel proof gasket maker on collar to neck and teflon tape on the collar to cap threads. No more fuel escaping from under cap, dribbling down outside of body and underside of rubber neck seal, to interior of boot.
Also check the vent line at top of tank if your car has one, ensure it has no deteriorated and that is passes down and out of boot to underside of car.

Other things to check, carb float bowl sealing fully when engine running or e-fuel pump running. Should be no fuel dripping from the bowl vent to end of hose on the vent.

I've been investigating the same issue recently. I was fully aware of a smell of fuel in the cabin one day when I opened a door and stuck my head in the cabin. I checked under the fuel tank and the boot floor was moist, a fibre pad that the tank sits on was curled up in the style that it would be if soaked in petrol. However there seemed to be no leaking from the outlet pipe and the vent pipe was in place. As with your case the tank was more than half full, I'd filled her up on the previous run out. I've had her out for a couple of runs after that check and the tank level is way down and as a result the smell of fuel seems to have abated. I'll have a look at the tank cap and may just replace as a matter of course. A fancy flip cap looks kinda nice anyway! 

 

Can you give info/supplier on the particular cap you used?

[Tornado99]

I had regular fuel odour inside car whenever having more than half a tank of fuel. This was a carb car. Original fuel cap was not sealing to the neck effective b/c the "ramped" shape on the neck that the cap ears engage with were worn/notched to point clamping force insufficient to seal.
Fitted a monza style flip cap, the type with threads onto an interference fit collar around outside of neck. Used fuel proof gasket maker on collar to neck and teflon tape on the collar to cap threads. No more fuel escaping from under cap, dribbling down outside of body and underside of rubber neck seal, to interior of boot.
Also check the vent line at top of tank if your car has one, ensure it has no deteriorated and that is passes down and out of boot to underside of car.

Other things to check, carb float bowl sealing fully when engine running or e-fuel pump running. Should be no fuel dripping from the bowl vent to end of hose on the vent.

I've been investigating the same issue recently. I was fully aware of a smell of fuel in the cabin one day when I opened a door and stuck my head in the cabin. I checked under the fuel tank and the boot floor was moist, a fibre pad that the tank sits on was curled up in the style that it would be if soaked in petrol. However there seemed to be no leaking from the outlet pipe and the vent pipe was in place. As with your case the tank was more than half full, I'd filled her up on the previous run out. I've had her out for a couple of runs after that check and the tank level is way down and as a result the smell of fuel seems to have abated. I'll have a look at the tank cap and may just replace as a matter of course. A fancy flip cap looks kinda nice anyway!

Can you give info/supplier on the particular cap you used?

My flip cap is from MiniSpares. Note there are several types offered, most are the over cover types, which just fit over the standard cap and have no sealing. The type I have has a separate brass collar, outside threaded. This needs to be pressed onto the filler neck. I heated the collar first to expand it a bit, the placed over neck, tapped it fully down into position with a mallet and block of wood. I used a fuel proof sealant (Locktite 518?) On collar flange where the threaded on cap lands, and teflon plumber tape on the threads. Have never had any more fuel escaping past the cap.

Simply replacing original cap my not solve leaks there. Run you finger under the neck inside rim, to feel if there is a worn notch where the cap ears contact. Mine was very deeply notched, no proper seal pressure could happen with that. To fix means to have a new neck welded on.

[skoughi]

Excellent, thanks for the info. I was looking at the cap earlier and can see that the seal is out of shape and could well not actually be touching the neck in places. I had a look on minispares earlier and found the ones that you're talking about, I guess another order from them is required!