smell of disel when driving, a serious problem?

Joe_Horner

bigjl wrote: »

What are you talking about?

I was wondering that. As far as I know, they'd invented non-leaking fuel systems by the 1990s?

In fact, got a '93 and a '95 in daily use here and the only time either smelled of diesel was when the injector pump top seal on one decided to leak - apparently quite common on them and was an easy fix

Strider590

^^ All fuel tanks need a breather system of some description, to allow air back into the tank to stop it collapsing under vacuum pressure....

Older cars used to have a vented filler cap, which means the cap area always smells of fuel, newer cars use a more elaborate system to prevent fuel vapour escaping, often incorporating a vent hose with a one way valve, which sits on top of the tank somewhere. These can and do become blocked.

The change occurred as more cars moved toward fuel injection, as the pumps are such high pressure that the tank would likely implode (or the car would cut out, whichever came first) with just a small vent in the cap.

arcon5

It's a charcoal canister being referred to above, some cars actually have the canister itself in the engine bay. But the principles all the same.

Joe_Horner

Strider590 wrote: »

^^ All fuel tanks need a breather system of some description, to allow air back into the tank to stop it collapsing under vacuum pressure....

But the same applies to older petrol cars and, seeing as petrol is considerably more volatile than diesel and smells just as strongly (although we tend to be more used to it), the same comment about "smelling of fuel" should apply to old petrols if that was the cause.