Petrol smell

Hi

Just purchased my first mk1 cabby, it's great! Just one problem, the car is parked in my garage and when stationary smells a bit of petrol. It only smells outside of the car not at all inside. I have looked at the filler tube and petrol lock which is all new, the rubber tubes to the tank and jubilee clips are all great, no dripping petrol etc no leaks under car! Can anyone help?

Small chance it could be the O-ring under the sender unit on top of the fuel tank?

I think they're the same on cabbys as tintops? Under rear seat there'll be a round, metal cover with three screws in. Remove this and you'll see the sender on top of the tank.

See if you can smell fuel in the area first before removing the sender - without a replacement O-ring to hand I wouldn't take it out just in case removal ruins a perfectly good one! It's some years since I bought one from VW for only a couple of quid, I don't know if you can still get them or not.

I hope that helps

Cheers
Andy

You said it smells of petrol outside the car, not inside…. If it was the sender o ring under the back seat you'd smell it inside the car….?

If you're lines are dry and there's no drip patches (remember these will evaporate quickly, so best to look while it's under pressure with the engine running).

If it's your first cabby… or even your first old car… Could it be that you're just not used to the smell of old car? Old engines are a lot smellier than modern cars!

My garage smells like petrol and I love it. 

I checked VW Heritage just in case it's the O-ring but fair point by Mogs if you can't smell fuel in the car, it's probably not that!

Part number is 113919131A. Just enter in the search box and it will pop-up

had a look under the car tonight and no signs of any leaks, the interior has no smell, but it's definitely smelly outside the car! This is the first watercooled vw I've had after having a split screen, squareback and beetle in the past which all smelt a bit musty but not of petrol. Could it be a blocked fuel breather pipe? The rubber thick pipe which comes out from the tank to the vertical filler pipe does smell a bit but isn't leaking.  need to run the car tomorrow and have a look at the pipe!

I've got a petrol smell from mine, just put it down to the fact that its got a carb!

Having said that, my fuel pipe in the engine bay is perished a bit so I've got to change that.