Whiff of petrol

[LordGrover]

2003 986 2.7 manual

A couple of times yesterday, I caught a strong whiff of petrol. First time I assumed it was the car in front or something but noticed it several times during the course of the day. Is this a 'known issue' to get investigated ASAP?

NB. It's low on fuel, warning light is on. Will fill up today.

[Paynewright]

I had a similar thing on my 996, very noticable parked up in the garage but no visible drips / leaks anywhere.

Turned out to be a split o ring on the fuel cap - tether had broken too so 2 birds one stone!!

Ian

[ooid]

my old one had this when I first bought it. (2000, 986 2.7). On its first major service with OPC west London, they said that the fuel cap was not original so that's the reason. After a while, I started to get the smell again, especially in the cabin. Later I started servicing with my indy who specialized in race cars, he thought it's either mis-fire that will develop badly or a cracked fuel tank. Due to MAF and a few other vacuum problems, it was the misfires causing smell. I sold the car later but did not explode on my 6 years of ownership at least . I would get it checked anyway, the petrol smell is not normal.

[Pope]

+1 on the tank cap seal; howver, the fuel tank has a partially sealed carbon canister and purge system that passes vapours back to the intake system; the pipes connect under the filler neck cover and have been known to split/detach.

The canister can also block or saturate leading to neat fuel pooling in the canister vent line.

Best to have it checked.

[LordGrover]

While the smell was there several times that day, I've not noticed anything since. I'm assuming the fuel cap wasn't properly tightened or something. For now, I'll keep an eye/nose on it but I think it was a one off.