Smell of petrol - no sign of leaks

vwblue · Post by **vwblue** » 31st March 2009 - 12:48pm

Hi, I'm getting a strong smell of petrol in the cabin of my 1970 Fastback. It seems seems to occur when petrol starts sloshing about around corners, but seems to stop when the tank is less than half full.

When I check under the bonnet the smell seems to be coming from the filler neck area.

The tank's fine, the hoses and connections are in good order, and there are no signs of any leaking petrol. The connections and hoses under the tank are fine too.

An ideas?

Thanks,

Ian

Post by **Editor** » 31st March 2009 - 12:58pm

Along with many others, you've got a split filler vent hose - a J-shaped pipe that fits between the filler neck and the tank vent, with an integral grommet through the inner wing. It pours fuel out on left-hand turns as the fuel sloshes up the filler pipe.

I repaired mine by using a length of 1/2" breather hose with some flexible plastic trunking to stop it collapsing. Some people have managed to fit a copper plumbing elbow on the filler neck and soldering it, but I've not found one that fits over it yet. That allows a straight length of hose to be fitted. there may be other ways. Jim Adney, a guy in the USA sells a kit to replace it all, but as with most things from USA, it costs a fair bit more to get it sent over.

You can get repro ones - they tend to be expensive, and some don't actually resist attack from the petrol! Typ3Konny has one that's OK for the filler necks with screw in rather than bayonet caps. Yours is likely to have the bayonet type cap.

Post by **purplepeter** » 31st March 2009 - 1:23pm

It looks like this!(yours is the one on the right)

vwblue · Post by **vwblue** » 31st March 2009 - 5:28pm

Thanks both very much for the info.

I've just checked this hose (under front wing) and it looks like someone's replaced it with a piece of braided fuel hose. There's no sign of any leakage but it must be totally blocked as it's twisted and has a bad kink in it, which must be the problem. The hose used is clearly not up to the job!

Thanks again, I'll see what I can do about replacing it.

Cheers,

Ian

Post by **purplepeter** » 1st June 2009 - 10:00pm

A bit of an update for those interested..I've obtained a pair of these pipes,311201179A & 311201179C (early & late),and ascertained that the only difference between them is that the earlier one is approx 10 mm longer!
I spoke to Simon Kelley at stonor yesterday,& have lent him the earlier pipe as reference,from which to make a mould,& it looks like he'll be reproducing them in the not too distant future!
Obviously,as we all know with Simon,it'll be a good quality part,at a very reasonable price!
Watch this space!

69cider · Post by **69cider** » 3rd August 2009 - 6:18pm

wheres the switch over point from early to late?
cheers
jamie

Post by **purplepeter** » 3rd August 2009 - 6:21pm

in the case of the vent hose its around '71 ish,but makes no difference as both hoses are identical except the later one is 5mm shorter

Post by **Editor** » 5th August 2009 - 1:07pm

I believe it's when they put in the screw filler cap. If you have the bayonet sort, it's the earlier one, screw cap is the later version. (Hope I don't look an idiot over this!)

cbst3 · Post by **cbst3** » 8th August 2009 - 8:52pm

I too have this issue - I can see that petrol is coming out of this pipe and has taken off the underseal in a line down the inner wing.

Firstly, does the wing need to come off to get to this pipe? I was going to take the wing off at some point anyway to give it all a good clean behind, so if I can fix the pipe at the same time it would be ideal.

Is there any progress on the repro part for this? I would be interested in some kind of repair/replacement kit if available

If not, any ideas and if possible, pictures, would be appreciated as to how I can sort this out.

Thanks.

Colin

Post by **purplepeter** » 8th August 2009 - 10:14pm

Its easily accessed if You just take the front wheel off!

I think theres an item in the club technical manual,but theres lots of ways to bodge it up-I used normal fuel hose of the right Diameter,Dave Hall advocates the addition of spiral binding to prevent the hose from kinking,or you can solder on a copper elbow & eliminate the 90 degree bend

re progress on the new part-i think its too soon to start nagging simon-reverse engineering does take a while,& its only been 2 months-i'd anticipate hopefully having news by the AGM in october!

Post by **Editor** » 9th August 2009 - 12:51am

It's certainly easier to do the job with the wing off, but not essential.

When the wing's off, make sure you clean off any corrosion from the filler pipe where it sits against the mounting bracket, and apply lots of Waxoyl or something - that's a mud trap and can rust through the pipe.

Post by **purplepeter** » 27th November 2009 - 6:06pm

Time for an update chaps..Simon now has 311 201 179B available

kyle · Post by **kyle** » 28th November 2009 - 1:02am

wat 1 of them?

Post by **Editor** » 28th November 2009 - 1:59pm

He deals with (owns?) a rubber factory in the Far East so he probably has quite a few!

Post by **purplepeter** » 29th November 2009 - 1:09pm

Yes,obviously!
This is now a source of new filler vent pipes,in pretty much endless quantities

You can contact Simon via ebay,where his user name is "notch1500" or PM me for his email address

Here's one of simons