Hey all,

So here's an interesting one - looking for ideas what to check:

2009 Justa Clubman with a full tank of gas. Trying to get in a U-turn at a light before it turned yellow, so I turned a bit aggressively.

About a half mile up the road, I smelled just a little bit of gas, and a little more when I got home a few minutes later around the passenger quarter panel. I figured maybe a little came up the filler neck and found its way through a vent hole or something.

Today I drove about 15 minutes to lunch and back - no smell that I remember.

Tonight I drove another 10 minutes to dinner - the smell was back, once again kinda around the passenger quarter panel, and my passenger said she could smell a little from the passenger seat (I didn't smell anything in the driver seat). When I got home, there was still some noticeable fuel smell - this time more in the engine area and slightly in the passenger footwells, not really at all in the back.

So obviously there is something more going on, and the engine smell is concerning - but what could that one U-turn do? Car has 52k miles, I've had it for 10k or so and never had any fuel smells before.

Searched threads, and didn't find the same situation, but made a list of possibilities: fuel tank vent valve, fuel backing up into the Charcoal Canister during that turn, and potentially a fuel pump (although there isn't a smell inside by the rear seats, so I figure that is unlikely).

Other ideas on what to check? If I flooded the canister, would I smell it up front, too?

Thanks!

 

In case anybody else searches with a similar problem, here's what I found:

There are two big lines behind the motor directly under the air filter assembly (didn't trace them, but they pretty much would have to be heater core lines). They each have a clamp with a little tab sticking up.

The main rubber fuel line was resting on one of those heater core lines - and the tab on the clamp rubbed up against the line until it started leaking. The fact that it became noticeable after the U-turn was most likely coincidence.

So now I know what's leaking, just need to figure out the proper part number for that line and if I need any special tools to replace it. There's a schrader valve on the fuel rail, so I am assuming if won't be terribly difficult to let the pressure out of the system.

 

...and not that anyone really cares - but it was actually the clip that is supposed to stand the fuel line off the coolant line - that appears to have broken, and the sharp edge left on the connector between the two is what rubbed through the fuel line.

So...there's that. Ordered new line and clip, only challenge now is confirming how to release the pressure in the system, and how to actually get the hose off/on...plus, you know, not trying to catch anything on fire...

 

Lucky catch. I'll try and look in the Bentley manual to see if it says anything about relieving the pressure. I'm thinking that you can just put a rag over it and push in the valve stem.

 

Thanks! I was kinda thinking the same thing - still waiting for my manual to get here, too, but I couldn't find anything online about a tool other than the for the HPFP models - so I figured either the Schrader valve at the end of the fuel rail would let the pressure out, or worst-case I could try opening the connector slowly to let it depressurize.

I'll try to take some pics.

 

The Bentley Manual says to connect an air hose to the schrader valve and use a quick burst of high pressure air to blow the fuel back into the fuel tank. Unscrew the fuel tank filler cap first.

If you don't have a compressor, then the pressure in the fuel line is only ~75 psi, so you can probably just bleed off the pressure into a rag or something and just be cautious of the fuel.

 

I would bleed it into the rag, be careful as its fuel. Might want to use a couple rags and when you first release the fuel, make sure the rag cover the whole valve, otherwise you will get a fuel spray on you. Wear safety glasses just incase . End near number 2:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=13_1196

 

yeah just bleed it off best you can. Blowing it back into tank using correct presure while making sure not to over pressurize the line creating another issue sounds dicey.

 

That is definitely the strangest way I've heard of to let the pressure out of the system!

I suppose it could work and I have a compressor if I wanted to try it, but I agree it could be a little dicey - I don't want to force crap into the fuel rail or damage the pump on the other end. I'll probably just wrap song rags around it...maybe first put some rags over the schrader valve and try to push in the stem to bleed a little of the pressure first before going after the hose itself.

Thanks guys! Hose and new clip should be here in a day or two

 

Welcome, watch the pressure and make sure you wrap it good.

 

If it's leaking, how can there still be pressure?

 

There was definitely still pressure - it had rubbed a gouge just deep enough that it would leak only when under pressure...if I had noticed much later, it would have started spraying everywhere...which would have definitely not been good.

So after thinking about it, I tried the air compressor thing - not sure it did a whole lot - every time I went to hit the schrader valve with the air, it would vent some fuel...so I think the pressure release from putting the air valve on it and taking it off did more than the actual compressed air itself (I did like 4 short bursts just under 40 psi each).

So I wrapped a bunch of towels around the schrader valve, then hit it to let most of the pressure off.

Both sides of the original hose worked the same way - pull back on the black plastic part towards the metal part of the fitting, and the it pulls straight back (the first one still had a little pressure - towels AND goggles from the very beginning!!)

The new hose has a different connector on the lower end, and it also is wrapped in braided material its entire length, where the old one is only wrapped at the very bottom, so they have definitely updated the part

New one snapped on, put it all back together, check for leaks, then it was Miller time.

Oh, and as it turns out, the clip wasn't broken after all - it was just turned in such a way that there was a flange rubbing up against the fuel line - the fuel is on top, coolant lines on the bottom, and the black bands are the clip - you can see where it was rubbing here:



And this is what it did:




I flipped the Coolant hose clip in the other direction so the flange was facing away from the fuel line, and then used the fuel-line clip that I bought with the hose to stand the fuel line off of the top coolant hose....then sanded down the coolant hose flange so it was smoother, just in case.

All that, plus the braiding, and hopefully I'll never have to mess with it again.

Thanks for the help and advice!

 

Thanks for the update , yes looks like rubbing , is that the fuel tank breather line ?

 

Further on in the Bentley manual it specifically states to check the double c-spacer for proper alignment.