Smell of fuel inside campervan

[Bucko270]

Hi,
I have a 1971 vw T2 early bay Dormobile campervan. I sometimes get a strong smell of fuel inside the campervan when driving. The smell seems to be worse in the rear.

I have recently had all of the fuel lines replaced, together with new fuel filter but the smell is still there.

Any ideas what might be the cause.

Cheers, any help would be much appreciated.

Bucko

 

[sparkywig]

The tank breather actually vents just under the fuel filler cap, but it might the fuel filler pipe, the breather connections and/or the sender gasket on top of the tank, unfortunately it's an engine out job to access the fuel tank unless you have a hatch in the engine deck.

 

[Bucko270]

Sparkywig

Thanks for your quick response. Is there anything else I can try before having to take the engine out? Could the breather pipe be blocked. Is it dangerous to drive it as it is?

Cheers

Bucko

 

[Bucko270]

Sparkywig

Thanks for your quick response. Is there anything else I can try before having to take the engine out? Could the breather pipe be blocked. Is it dangerous to drive it as it is?

Cheers

 

[sparkywig]

Early bays do just whiff of fuel because of the breather position, especially if you've topped the tank

 

[garytype2]

My customer had a 3mm hole in his tank right at the top rear where previous owner had drilled a hole to fit a new rock n roll bed.
Not the first I have seen

 

[mike202]

If you get a strong smell of fuel whilst driving that’s not good and you should investigate the cause. As said above the breather pipes or the filler pipe could have perished if they haven’t been replaced. Also the tank could be rusty around the outlet at the bottom. In that case you would probably see fuel in that area.

 

[naskeet]

My customer had a 3mm hole in his tank right at the top rear where previous owner had drilled a hole to fit a new rock n roll bed.
Not the first I have seen

I also encountered this, when one of my local acquaintances retro-fitted some second-hand campervan furniture into his 1974~79 VW Type 2, which resulted in him drilling three or four holes in his petrol tank!

 

[naskeet]

If one's carburettor & inlet manifold suffer from severe icing, there is also a strong whiff of petrol inside the front cab; something I experienced with the Minnow Fish carburettor during the winters of 1987/88 and 1990/91.

 

[JohnVW]

I had occasional whiff of petrol and I traced mine to a faulty shut off valve on the carb. So, when I stopped engine some fuel continued to trickle through the carb.