Petrol Smells With The Roof Down?

[JulianT]

Hi folks,

 

I've noticed over the last couple of weeks since taking the roof off that I get a strong petrol smell coming from my right shoulder when I'm in traffic. I do seem to remember always having a faint petrol smell and have always put this down to the joys of driving an Elise. But this year it seems stronger somehow?

 

I can only smell it when the engine is running and if I stick my head in the engine bay it seems the strongest behind the engine by the exhaust manifold. It's also seems quite strong where the filler pipe disappears behind the heat shield at the bottom but I don't know it that's just the smell being blown around as you can't really get close. Difficult to say for sure but I can't see any leaks. I can't smell it if I stand by the car, it's only when you stick your head right inside the engine bay.

 

I did have a new flexi section of the exhaust pipe installed recently which is driving me mad as it's catching the chassis sightly (being fixed this week hopefully). It was a standard OEM part and therefore wasn't that expensive compared to the original Lotus part. Could that cause the smell?

 

I did see an old post which suggested it might be the filler cap or just what you get from an Elise:-

 

http://www.midlandsl...2-petrol-smell/

 

 

It's an S1. Does anyone else have the petrol smell?

 

I'm popping over to Mike at Sports Car Services this week as I'm paranoid it's going to burst into flames!

 

Cheers

 

Julian

[Elise+Imp]

I'd wager your filler nick breather to tank hose as a split in it. Seen it a few times. It leaks next to alternator and hot exhaust, check it pronto.

 

Mine was bad, but the quick check is that when you release the filler cap after running the car, you should hear a hiss, this dosn't happen when there is a leak.

 

Brian

[JulianT]

Cheers Brian

 

Will do that now and see. It does smell more down that area so you could be right

 

It looks like my fuel cap is broken. I've just taken it off and the plastic thread inside is broken on the one side. When it's on the car you can lift it away on the one side :S

 

Any ideas where I can get a replacement?

[JulianT]

Just been looking for a replacement. Has anyone on here replaced the plastic insides of their fuel cap?

 

There's an article on Seloc which details the procedure although it's a little sketchy:

 

http://wiki.seloc.org/a/Petrol_Cap

 

Apparently you can ship a replacement cap from RockAuto Parts in the states for £26 and then use the insides to repair the original part. The RockAuto part is 10501

 

I might try this as I would rather have the original cap as a new one would stand out too much on the old nail

[JulianT]

Just for completeness, I ordered a new cap from Rock Auto parts and luckily I had a friend who was on holiday in the states so I got the part sent to him. Only cost £10 but would have cost around £30 if they sent it here.

 

The actual procedure of changing the plastic parts works a treat if anyone is thinking of trying it.

[fentuz]

I recently found out that the lastest elise S1 were under recall for the roll over valve (fuel tank breezer). They were reported to crack and cause fuel fumes leaks...

Guess what, the part is discontinued , even with Rimmer bros so, if it needs to be changed, and aftermarket version (available @ merlin motorsport) is required.

[Jonathan E]

Just for completeness, I ordered a new cap from Rock Auto parts and luckily I had a friend who was on holiday in the states so I got the part sent to him. Only cost £10 but would have cost around £30 if they sent it here.

 

The actual procedure of changing the plastic parts works a treat if anyone is thinking of trying it.

 

I've just done mine but ordered from amazon USA, cost £17 inclusive of shipping and took about a week to arrive. Has it solved the problem?

[JulianT]

Hi Jonathan, I think it's a lot better but I can still smell fumes. I don't get the hiss when I unscrew the cap so it must be breather pipe or what fentuz mentioned. I did call Lotus to check the my recall status as I read that they issued one to replaced the breather pipe but mine is up to date. I even took it across to Mike at SCS but we couldn't see anything unto wards. So maybe fentuz might be on to something as mines a late S1?

 

Does yours smell of fumes?

[Steve J]

I had a manifold and exhaust leak which caused the same when we first bought the Exige. Made your eyes sting with the fumes.

[JulianT]

Still getting that smell so i took the rear wheel off and pulled the inner wheel liner down to expose the filler and overflow pipes. Both had cracks but the filler pipe was split where the jubilee clips connect it to the tank. Brian was right!

 

any ideas where i can get replacement pipes?

[Martin R]

De Roure

 

http://deroure.com/diagrams.asp?TBL=1310&MAK=1&MDL=13&SMA=0&SMO=0&ST=&SC=0

 

Or Bell and Colvill

 

http://www.bell-colvill.co.uk/

 

Give B & C a ring they are very good IMO

[JulianT]

Cheers Martin

[Jonathan E]

Julian

Did you manage to source the required parts? De Roure saying the filler pipe is obsolete....any suggestions anyone?

Jon

[Phil S1]

There's some links on Brian's seloc post that might help:-

http://arc.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=273147&page=1#pid4715544

[Jonathan E]

Thanks Phil, thats about as close as I've got to an answer so far. As above I've done the filler cap but still no hiss, so I'm going to change all the components of the filler system, I can get everything but the filler pipe which is no longer available, would be good to be able to get the correct part.