Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 08:55 am, by: Alistair Moorby(Aldmo87)
So I picked up a TT Soarer the other day.
It had a very light smell of fuel, but it was so faint I mistook it for an air freshener or something.
I filled it up for the first time, got back in the car and my head was spinning. The smell was so strong.
The smell got weaker as the tank became empty.
I did a search and found a common fault with the fuel filler not being sealed properly. I pulled it out, have it a good clean and resealed it. The smell did not go away.
The smell is definitely not coming from the engine, and when I open the boot the smell is very strong.
Also when I open the fuel tank cap I don’t get that ‘Psshh’ vacuum sound, which I normally got on my other cars.
Not sure what to do next. Is the fuel filler neck the only place that is faulty on the Soarers?
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 09:31 am, by: Alistair Moorby(Aldmo87)
Also the fuel gauge seems to be inaccurate.
When I filled it up it showed full, it seems to run accurately until about 1/4 tank, then it jumped up to half way for 25 km’s, then down to 10L, then accurately down 9L, 8L > down to 6L. I was expecting it to drop down to below 5L and give me the error but instead it went up to 10L.
I have a jerry can in the boot with 5L in case I run out.
By the way, the 5L jerry can went in last night, the fuel smell has been happening for about 2 weeks so it’s not the cause.
Is the TT suceptable to the same fuel gauge accuracy problems as the V8?
All the tutorials I read about cleaning the fuel dipstick think refer to V8's only.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 04:06 pm, by: Shane Haverkamp(Havabeer)
what fuel where you running on when the gauge started playing up. E10 mucks with my gauge for some reason, makes it jump all over the place. maybe yours will just need a clean have a look in the "how to" section for the cleaning of the fuel tank level.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 09:27 am, by: Alistair Moorby(Aldmo87)
I was running 95 RON. Thing is I just bought the car 3 weeks ago.
When I took it for a test drive the guy had air freshener in there so I couldnt smell anything.
Also the petrol tank was just about empty, and when it's empty you can't really smell it. Anything over halfway is shocking.
I ran out of petrol last night too, (had the backup 5L in the jerry can), it showed 6 L left, then went to Fuel Empty, when I tried to take off from the lights a couple of seconds later it was spluttering.
I put 10L in the it showed 22L on the dash!
I will pull the gauge out of the tank this weekend and give it a clean.
I am also going to try reseal the fuel neck. I sealed it with some silicon stuff that is supposed to go as hard as metal. I will give it another go with something else.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 09:57 am, by: Mike Triggs(Mikeandimah)
Alistair, you may have a problem with the compliance restrictor- I seem to recall some threads about this issue some time ago. Our car isn't fitted with one but I do get a faint smell of fuel for a little while after filling, goes away after about 5 lites has been used- tend to fill pretty high, rounding up to next whole litre past "click". having my parcel shelf out at the moment, I notice a few "unfilled holes" between cabin and boot, maybe for harnesses and equipment not fitted to my model, I'm going to blank them all off, might help a tad with road noise too.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 10:34 am, by: Adrian McGuire(Adro)
check the breather pipe on the fuel tank isnt blocked. it will be a clear silcon pipe on the drivers side of the boot. remove the boot trim on that side and you should see it easy. mine was blocked which was forcing the expanded fuel gas into my boot then into the cabin. after taking the breather pipe of and hitting it with the air gun a heap of sand came out and its now all good.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 12:44 pm, by: Adrian McGuire(Adro)
na thats not the one. there should be another one in there somewhere that runs to the floor of that little compartment. my car is a 92 tt so if you have a different car it might be in the other side possibly.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 02:21 pm, by: Adrian McGuire(Adro)
if you look at the picture you posted up. about were the ends of your rca cables are directly right on the other side of the bit of metal that is there. its just a plastic bit of piping. im not sure where it connects to the tank as ive never bothered looking that for around but you should see a bit of metal piping the same as the filler neck breather coming down and joining to a plastic bit. ill just go and take a photo of mine and pm it to you.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 03:05 pm, by: Tom Richards(Tomr)
at the bottom of the filler neck (you need to remove it from the tank) there is a "flap" to seal the neck. When refilling the weight of the fuel opens it. Maybe it is stuck open/damaged.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 03:33 pm, by: Alistair Moorby(Aldmo87)
OK I snapped another photo.
I can see a white tube (I think it is metal) coming from the fuel filler, looking on the outside of the car there is a small hole, it looks like it's purpose is to allow dribbles of petrol to run down it and out underneath the car, rather than run down the side of the car.
I wouldn't think this is a breather tube as it would get raid and water in it if you accidently left the fuel filler door open.
Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 11:13 am, by: Tom Richards(Tomr)
could be the seal where the neck is attached to the tank. maybe the nuts were not tightened after compliance. leak must be at the top of the tank to only leak when driving, and also to leak into the spare wheel bay.