Fuel smell inside the cabin

[A80Avant]

Exactly which I haven't noticed so far. Good stuff. Hopefully we shall find it

[fourringsrus]

you mean the one going from the top of the tank to the filling pipe? had that happen on a typ85 once with the same symptoms: smell inside

No , the breather hose on top of the engine which I believe returns the fumes back through the air intake for maybe recirculation

[QuattroFever]

No , the breather hose on top of the engine which I believe returns the fumes back through the air intake for maybe recirculation

I had the same when I had a vented to universe catch can fitted. You'd get a waft every now again. More so from a cold start.
Heavy breathers can be stinky beggars.

[A80Avant]

Yes but venting to universe through a catch tank, should only smell with Windows open. Not inside the cabin

[QuattroFever]

Not necessarily. If your heater vents foam seals have deteriorated then you will get air coming in even if they are all closed.
Try it next time you drive behind a smokey truck or bus have all your vents shut and windows up and you'll still get wafts of it coming in.

[A80Avant]

Yes indeed, mine are sort of perished due to all these changes and extra bits coming in

[QuattroFever]

Yes indeed, mine are sort of perished due to all these changes and extra bits coming in

Another job on my ever growing list.

Easy enough to rule out if it is that but even if it's not when you think about it, it's pretty nasty stuff to be breathing in so I just routed mine off the top of the can via a pipe to exit right down low by the gearbox. Before was just a small k&n type mini filter straight ontop with the can mounted on the tower brace so it was right near the pollen filter.

Of course it could all be speculation and you don't have that setup at all

[A80Avant]

I should have all fumes vented correctly back into the inlet. If there is a leak after the n80 valve, I don't know. I'll check that. If there was though there should be oil residue as well from the engine fumes going to may tanks. I haven't deleted that tree

[A80Avant]

If smell increases when taking a steep turn, does that give you more of a hint or makes things worse?

[newsh]

I'm not sure if the avant has a similar setup to the coupe but there's a small hose that routes back to the tank just below the filler. A few of us have had a leak where the small (6mm?) metal pipe is soldered into the tank. Mine was leaking there and yes it would be smellier when the tank was full or when cornering hard. I fixed mine with some two part plastic metal a few years ago now and it's been smell free ever since.

[A80Avant]

Can this explain the smell?

[sailaz]

definitely, but only this part:

Car smells of fuel inside the cabin when left overnight ......
Weirdly enough when the car is in the closed garage it doesn't smell outside, but mainly inside the cabin.

regarding:

Car smells of fuel ..... when driving at small speeds with the windows open.

I would say your car is going on too rich mixture.....

[A80Avant]

When you lift off you are always on rich mixture. Map is ok, it's not rich as lamda is correcting. However the smell wasn't there before so I can't explain the symptom from the rich lift off mixture

Sometimes I get the impression it happens on overrun, but as mentioned I have checked the N80 and it works, so I'll check if there is anything broken on the charcoal canister or the surrounding valves

[sailaz]

I'm just writing from my personal experience. My car is running on too rich mixture and I don't get any fuel smell till I open window ...
I have all that charcoal s**t removed but there is no fuel smell in the garage and inside the car....

[A80Avant]

Exactly and It smells more when the tank isn't full.
Lately after these few checks I must admit it smells much less when left overnight. However I did find the tank cap and will replace with a new unit in 10 days or so.