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Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Ford Dagenham
Hello Long time no posting.

The car is a 1.1 Carburettor H reg.

A work colleague has been having a few headaches recently and She says fuel be smelt when the engine is off and the air vents are open and the fan on.

The lady concerned had the ford serviced at a main dealer and the found the fault and stated it was a valve in the air cleaner (Mushroom valve)

The problem is still there.

How can this problem be rectified.

All comments and help appreciated.

Martin.
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(iam not a mechanic)

Martin Winters
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Peter D
Corroded steel fuel lines from memory againt the lower bulkhead. Regards Peter
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Ford Dagenham
Hello.

Is this for certain or is it just blocked breather lines.

If she takes it back to ford will they check that.

Thanks for the speedy response

Martin
--
(iam not a mechanic)

Martin Winters
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - bell boy
on this year it is the breather lines from carb to filter make sure they also put a new oil filler cap on it as well
If you go in the boot in the rear wells you will find one way rubber flaps make sure these are in place and working or fumes can be drawn into the car.
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\"a little man in a big world/\"
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Ford Dagenham
Hello All.

My Friend at work went into the ford dealership today.

They checked the fuel system and found no fault.

Apparantly it is normal for a fuel smell to come from the vents when the engine is hot and the vents are open and the fan is on.

The stated that at the service they had to replace the mushroom valve because it was blocked up.

They also stated that the engine is very healthy for its age and that it does not have a mayonaise problem.

Any other suggestions most welcome.

Martin.
--
(iam not a mechanic)

Martin Winters
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Civic8
>>Apparantly it is normal for a fuel smell to come from the vents when the engine is hot and the vents are open and the fan is on.

Rubbish,only a leak of petrol would cause it.check out filler pipe/breather this is often missed and causes it,and any other pipes to carb inc float chamber breather

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Steve
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - mfarrow
The stated that at the service they had to replace the
mushroom valve because it was blocked up.


They do "open" after a few years, causing too much air flow through the breaters and exasperating the mayo problem. But as steve.o says, this wouldn't cause the smell of petrol. How does the oil smell? Besides external leaks, could the smell be caused by the fuel pump leaking into the crankcase?

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Mike Farrow
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Civic8
>>How does the oil smell? Besides external leaks, could the smell be caused by the fuel pump leaking into the crankcase?

Doubt it,but what would cause it.Is float in carb overfilling IIRC these are free to air overflows,ie pipe disperses fuel directly from carb..to air..if fuel returned to tank pipe from float chamber would be split/cracked badly-it was a common problem on fiesta many years ago,but forget the layout now

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Steve
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Screwloose
Steve

Good memory-jog. IIRC the carb overflow pipe [black shiny plastic] ends up in one of the casting webs on the top of the clutch housing. There was often a "tide-mark" around it where the fuel had been evaporating. Was it the Weber-made carbs that were always needing new float needle valves?
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - bell boy
i think you are both thinking earlier mk1/2 rather than the mk3 as here ,i have this picture(in my head mind) that the mechanical fuel pump returned all surplus fuel in a return pipe back to the tank.
As i said earlier the vent pipes for the engine from carb to airfilter need cleaning especially the pinprick hole one that vents into the bottom of the airfilter housing,what happens is the fumes dont get reburnt in the mixture and build up under bonnet and then get sucked into the cabin

i could be wrong mind.
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\"a little man in a big world/\"
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - mfarrow
i think you are both thinking earlier mk1/2 rather than the
mk3 as here ,i have this picture(in my head mind) that
the mechanical fuel pump returned all surplus fuel in a return
pipe back to the tank.


That it did.
As i said earlier the vent pipes for the engine from
carb to airfilter need cleaning especially the pinprick hole one that
vents into the bottom of the airfilter housing,what happens is the
fumes dont get reburnt in the mixture and build up under
bonnet and then get sucked into the cabin


The pipe that goes to that pin-prick hole sucks the crankcase gases into the inlet manifold at low engine load.

Surely crankcase gasses shouldn't be smelling of petrol if everything was hunky dory?

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Mike Farrow
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - bell boy
correct but we are talking "h" reg 1990 16 years old so it will have done a few or at the least done a lot of stop start driving and lest we forget its an anglia engine with knobs on so they wern"t cutting edge :)
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\"a little man in a big world/\"
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - jc2
More reliable than a "hi-tec" K-series.
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Civic8
>>More reliable than a "hi-tec" K-series.

Dont get confused in thinking it wasnt a good engine compared to fords,old unit from ford had its problems as did K-series.But I would rather have the K-series lump than any ford unit..hence reason I have not bought a ford since 1984-

going back to thread, never known a fiesta to have this problem unless it had a leak on pipe/carb overfuelling/fuel pump leak
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Steve
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - AlastairW
My old Fiesta used to stink of fuel - particularly when in traffic. Turned out I had forgotten to put the oil filler cap back on - luck it was retained by the attached rubber tube.
That Fiesta was for a long time the best car I ever owned. Despite the abuse I gave it, it never complained, but did leak oil like it was going out of fashion. 1pt every 500 miles was almost as much as the fuel consumption!
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - mfarrow
correct but we are talking "h" reg 1990 16 years old
so it will have done a few or at the least
done a lot of stop start driving


Yes, good point, my HCS regularly does a 50 mile trip twice a week and not much else, so never suffers from this problem. But even so, you should not smell fuel in the cabin from the crankcase unless there's a big hole in the breather system somewhere.

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Mike Farrow
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - madf
I had a similar problem on a 1967 Lotus Elan:-)

No fault with the fuel system at all.. but a rubber grommet in the front bulkhead separating engine from cabin was perished and split. Replaced it and problem went away.

You MAY have a split in the heater hose carrying cold air into the heater . This would allow fumes to enetre the heater.

I suggest check all bulkhead rubber sealing joints and any cold air intake into heater...
madf
Fiesta 1.1 Fuel smell in cabin - Ford Dagenham
Hello.

My friend at work's husband has looked at the underside of the air cleaner box and took the pipes out to find a small hole that was full of burnt up mayonaise.He has made the hole much bigger now and everything flows better the petrol smell has gone.

Why was this designed like this if it kepy misbehaving.

She now states the car is less hungry on oil and fuel.

Thanks for all your help on this matter her headaches are also going.

Martin
--
(iam not a mechanic)

Martin Winters