Distinct smell of petrol

[b-havers]

I see some of you state 'whiskey cork...'; is the hose that big, so a Whiskey cork can be used?

No wonder it smells petrol, whiskey smell should make a great improvment

[tdafforn]

You better believe it...
you can see what you're dealing with if you remove the trim panel in the boot that covers the tank. the breathers come out either side of the top of the tank
Cheers
tim

[tdafforn]

I also thought that the breather arrangement on the elan was designed so that if you flipped the car the petrol wouldn't pour out..
The outlets from the breather system would be above the tank in that situation..
Mind you if you flipped the car I think you would have a lot of other things to think about..
Tim

[b-havers]

Looks like I'm into a 'get to know the hidden secrets of your car' the coming weekend

Thanks to everyone who has been helpful answering all my questions

[JJDraper]

I have had a few petrol smells in the past in my +2, but have got rid of almost all residual smells. The filler cap is a lockable unit with new rubber seal - this does crack & new seals are available; no leaks from the cap under any cornering speeds. The fuel feed from the tank to the pump was slightly leaky and over the years had soaked the felt around the tank. I replaced the felt and cured the leak - clean the threads of all connections & tighten firmly. The smelly old felt would never have lost the whiff of petrol... Replace all fuel hoses regularly (2-3 years), or use braided stuff. Check the path of the vent hoses for kinks or splits. There is a slight whiff of petrol when working in the wheel arch, but nothing to get worried about. I always fill the tank full (maximum I have got in is about 44.5 litres, after 296 miles) and don't seem to get any leakage. Biggest problem when filling is frothing of the fuel slowing the fill. I do keep the car outside, so this probably avoids problems of evaporation smells in a confined space. The greatest source of petrol smells at the moment is the webers, which seem to weep fuel around the spindles, caps etc One day I will have a go at them, but frankly I can't face it!

Jeremy

[Hamish Coutts]

Jeremy,

Agree completely.
Most of the petrol smells have gone after I did the same as you. I've also fitted a new tank as the old one was badly rusted and weeping. The felt underneath had a strong petrol smell - and has been replaced along with new fuel lines.

When the new tank went in I only reconnected the original offside breather - and made sure all joints were leakproof. The nearside breather I connected to the filler neck (to help with filling).
I keep th car in a garage and there is hardly any petrol smell - just enough to let you know a Lotus lives there .
My car has Dells' and they don't smell at all.

Hamish.

[iain.hamlton]

I "installed" corks the other evening. I drilled them 8mm to allow sufficient breathing. So far, the petrol smell in the garage has gone, and I was able to fill the tank with no problems.

best regards, iain

[chrishewett]

Bjorn,
I fitted the spyder system over a year ago and have not had any problem with smells at all since. I highly recommend it. If you are getting your sills from Spyder why not talk to andy about the converted filler tube. If you search my old posts I have described it in detail.
Chris

[jeff jackson]

I did the tank vent modification that was illustrated in the Club Lotus magazine. It reduced the smell inside the car. However I replaced the fuel cap for a new lockable cap at the same time and I now have a slight leak from the filler cap - so I still have the smell in the garage.

The modification was failry straight forward you need someone who can braze the vent connection into the side of the filler neck - I did mine myself.

Andy,
Could you recreate that article please? I was going to send my fuel filler neck to Spyder, but I couldn't bring myself to be without the Elan for too long. I am quite capable of brazing a tube on the filler neck if that's all it takes.
Just be nice to know the details.
Regards
Jeff 72+2

[john.p.clegg]

Andy

Ditto.

John

[andyhodg]

Jeff

I will attempt to scan the article and send it to you. I am not sure if I can attach it to a post in this forum (or whether copyright would allow) but I will have a go. With regard to the brazing you need to braze a suitable nut to the inside of the filler neck and use a threaded hose tail as you need to be able to fit the neck thought the hole in the body.

Regards

Andy

[john.p.clegg]

Andy
Have been spurred on by your posting and have and gone and done it,silver soldering a largish nut on the inside of the filler pipe and a screwed spigot with a half inch section screwed in when the pipe is in situ,fitting a short length of 1/2" bore pipe from the breather straight across,almost level....
And while I was at it silver soldered the top of the filler pipe and levelled it off to give the filler cap a better seating....
So now i should have no foaming back when filling full??? ...and hopefully no petrol staining on the rear quarter when taking the bends like one should....

Thanks

John

[b-havers]

Do you mind sharing this article with the rest of us petrol-smelling drivers as well? If you send it to me, I can put it out on my web-page for a time, so everyone in need can download it there