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Petrol Leak! Ughhh


London's Finest
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Hi guys,

Took the car out for a 150 mile motorway run yesterday and on return the car had to fuel up, so I turned the engine off, fan whirring away and then I heard a funny spitting/weird sound . Then it stopped doing that after like 2 mins. Engine temp everything was fine, coolant was fine. Anyway. filled up

Decided to take the car out today and it smelt a little like petrol, just thought I had perhaps got some on the body work when filling up yesterday (given its a hot sunny day today) anyway, took it out and when I returned the smell was there. Noticed on the drive a patch of petrol probs the size of a dinner plate.

Now question is, how expensive is it to replace the replace the fuel tank (if at fault)?

Note, I did have a look underneath, it looks like the previous owner put a new fuel pump in, but the tank does look slightly rusty. I haven't found any visible petrol leak sources.

If it is a fuel line, can it be fixed? Or does it need replacing?

Have I effectively written this motor off? how expensive is it to replace those parts? :(

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with you saying you can hear it for 2 minutes after you turn the car off I think it would more likely be a part of the fuel system that is pressurised

If it was the fuel tank then it would just be more of a dripping

If it's a hole or split in the fuel line then a garage should be able to replace the broken part relatively easily (depending on the location of it )

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

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Hmm just throwing this out there, but its just occurred to me that when I filled it up the weather was cold and the petrol station is like 2 mins walk from my house and I hadn't driven the car for the best part of a day and a half. So I didn't really use any to get home after filling up or in general.Given yesterday was incredibly hot do you think the fuel became less viscous and therefore effectively over filled the tank and leaked a little out of the pump? I went out today and so far I haven't found any smell outside the car or any distinctive patches yet, although I haven't moved the paper from underneath it. There is a petrol smell inside the cabin, but that could've been from me yesterday when I touched the petrol patch on the floor. and it could've transferred onto the carpets from my trainers. Any thoughts? Is this even possible?

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Oh and its also parked up on the drive which is on a hill.

Note: I haven't lost it, just the edit function is glitching up.

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Okay. If you had a petrol puddle the size of a dinner plate beneath, I would say it is a safe bet you have a leak somewhere.
Judging by the fact that you are talking of a new tank, I am assuming that the puddle was around the fuel tank area.

First of all, is it a metal tank or a plastic tank? There tends to be a metal cover over the plastic tank.

First areas I would check are:
Fuel pipe where you fill it, paying attention to where the pipe meets the tank, there is a seal between the pipe and tank which can separate and weep fuel out.

Under the bonnet, where the fuel lines connect to the engine, as this is a high temperature area, sometimes the pipe splits over time and starts to weep. I had a *Cough* Astra* (I know, the shame haunts me to this day) that had a weepy fuel leak here.

If you are looking around the tank, look for tell-tale marks of leakage in the dirt, or if it is warm, look for the air 'dancing' with the fumes, that will give you a clue to the location. And for the love of God don't allow any naked lights near it unless you want an insurance claim!

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Took the car to garage, the dude had a look at it and said they couldn't see any obvious signs, but did agree with me on my previous theory. Unfortunately didn't have time to put it on the ramp but he said there was no definitive sign of petrol. Im sceptical slightly because even tough the amount of petrol I found under the car today was substantially smaller I cant rule it out because the inside stank. So gave that a clean, tomorrow i'll check again and keep this thread updated. Im gonna wait and burn up a lot of fuel and see if I get patches at half tank.

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If it stinks in the car check the overflow breather pipe, it may have perished.

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