F40 and petrol smell in the garage

On most cars there is a float valve linked to the tank, as pressure builds inside the tank due to warm weather etc the float lifts and the vapour is released. I imagine this is the same on the non cat F40 where as the cat F40 and US spec cars will utilise a carbon cannister after the float valve to neutralise the vapour in order to meet post 1992 emisions regs

 

You don't want to be breathing fuel vapor or have it anywhere near a living space where it can be ignited by any source. (Stove/electric motor spark/etc. You have to make sure that there is NO leak in the car and this is normal pressure venting. If it is you have to ventilate garage. Our garage which houses a lot of cars many of which vent into the atmosphere uses a fan that changes the garage air totally while retaining heat/ac by an air to air intercooler. In a house this may be over kill but you should definitely get the space ventalated with an explosion proof fan that doesn't have brushes that can spark. Consult an HVAC guy and get inlet and outlet to vent the fumes.

 

This!! Don't play with your health and family's safety. It will cost money, but it's only money.

 

That or have an o/e or aftermarket carbon cannister installed into the vent line from the tank. They are quite small and would be easy to install. They normally work off a solonoid and vent the treated gases back into the combustion process when the car is running via the plenum but that is just to meet emissions regs, they can vent to atmosphere instead.

 

My car doesn't smell in the garage. It is a Eurospec with cats.
Occasional fuel smell when tanks full.
Interested to know the final diagnosis.

 

If you have cats then you will have the carbon cannister set up as well in order to meet the then new 92 regs

 

My car smells of fuel when parked up in its smaller garage, Euro pre-cats.

 

Could also be a bag tank/fuel hoses issue as well, I believe the rubber does become porous and perspires over time.

 

i have the f40 and the bbi parked in the same small garage and it always smells of fuel. i asked the same question here and then checked for leaks etc - none. its just a question of the cars venting themselves.

so, in your case i would take jim's advice. luckily my garage is well away from the house so i dont worry about it.

 

My F40 also had a garage fuel smell. I tracked it down to coming out of one of the air cleaner intakes. Leaky fuel injector dripping onto the piston and then wafting up thru the intake into the garage. Got them cleaned and absolutely no more fuel smell. Before I got it fixed by Rifledriver, I always told myself it was normal. Nope.

Tim

 

unfortunately we cannot all go to rifledriver

 

Is there something special about the F40 bag tank that it needs to 'vent' fuel vapour? No 80's/90's era car I ever owned smelled of fuel!

 

All fuel tanks vent, in the early days through the fuel cap and then later via a vent valve. Depends which country you live in I guess. Europe did not go over to cats and carbon cannisters on cars until the 1992 regs were introduced. I believe the US and many other countries have had these requirements since the 70s

Good call on the injectors, probably with the F40 using 16 then the risk of a leaky one is a lot greater than most cars