fault code 88

[sphs2]

Hi all, having bought a griff on sunday i noticed a strong smell of fuel on start when the engine is warm, the car was serviced by leven in september,on the notes they said there was code 88 present on the ecu, which it seems is related to the carbon can purge valve, any ideas?

[Hamburglar]

Not sure about your type 88 fault, but having owned a 98 500 for 4 years now, fuel is a smell you will get used to smelling in various forms!

1)If the fuel smell is especially potent whilst driving, like opening a can of fuel in front of you, it will almost certainly be fuel rail supply hoses coming up from the gearbox area on the drivers side. These commonly break down due to the heat from the manifold proximity - prepare to scrape your knuckles they suck to change.

2) A close friend who works for an indy once told me to only put the fuel cap on half shut, as it vents the tank better than TVRs carbon can system. Some owners even fit vented caps or modify there own to suit. This usually produces a less potent and less noticable smell.

3) If you arm the fuel pump when the car is stationary and sniff around the rear wheels and smell the potent open fuel can whiff again, it means that some of your return hoses and possibly the fuel pump/filter hosing needs changing due to some interesting angles by TVR + Zipties

But above all, depending how old your car is, or if its been modified, it may smell of the classic old non-cat four star burning smell as per the 80's, which you'll be glad to know is both normal and noisy!

Edited by Hamburglar on Wednesday 10th March 12:56

Edited by Hamburglar on Wednesday 10th March 12:59

[blitzracing]

88 means the purge system is leaking and You need to be able to do a vaccume test to check it out, drop me an email and Ill send you the test manual.

[sphs2]

blitzracing said:

88 means the purge system is leaking and You need to be able to do a vaccume test to check it out, drop me an email and Ill send you the test manual.

YHM, thanks for your help.