Fuel leak?Smell of fuel in car? Help please

[bigtalljim]

this morning as I drove into work I got a fairly strong smell of fuel (petrol) in car. Went away when shut heating off. Got to work and popped bonnet but nothing obvious. smell seemed to be strongest inside drivers front wheel arch? Fuel filter connections ok, and nothing pipewise leaking?

Noticed that a fuel pipe runs into offside wing cavity, whats that all aboutt

[bigtalljim]

Seems to be fine on drive home?

Does this mean that it its related to cold starting, is there a cold start injector that spuirts fuel in on start that may of stuck on?

puzzling me

[bn9af]

make, model, year engine size will help, but i'd imagine the wheel arch lines will be related to the charcoal canister. any changes in fuel economy should be noted.

[bigtalljim]

Sorry forgot that info, 2.2 Turbo S6 Avant on 97 plate.

Didn't know it had a carcoal filter?

Not done it since so appears to be a one off?

My only guess is it over fuelled for a time for some reason. Has this or anything like it happened to anybody lese?

[bigtalljim]

Problem sorted, aparently the fuel vapour is vented from the tank via a charcole filter that lives in the inner wing behind the liner.
It is vented via solenoid and mine had a purge.

Will change filter at next service or if happens again sooner.

Hope this proves useful to other bods

[Defcon5]

Ive always wondered what charcoal filters did. Does the vapour pass through the filter and then into the air then or is it sent into theengine somewhere?

[bigtalljim]

Depends on age of car as to how green it is. Mine vents to air after the filter. I would imagine more modern cars recirculate it somehow, a bit like the old crankcase ventilation that sent gases into inlet manifold to be burnt.