Not a new issue I know but I would welcome comments on the trial solution I have fitted to my Plus Two. To re-cap the smell in the garage started to become very significant when I started to re-use the car more frequently after a refresh. As the garage is partly integral with the house this smell was infiltrating indoors, very unpleasant. I could not find any leak in the fuel lines, tank or carbs, All the fuel lines parts from the tank to the carbs were renewed over the previous year. In fact the majority of fuel run is solid only small sections are rubber and material used is said to be suitable for the latest fuels. My conclusion was that the tank vent lines were the culprits. So what I have trialled so far is to make up two active charcoal filters and fit one in each of the vent lines and so far the smell has been eliminated completely. I have no idea how long this filtration will be effective as the filters themselves are small and there could be other drawbacks I have not thought of, so any comments would be welcome.
Richard
Thanks for posting this as I have a similar problem. I have bought an aluminium canister and carbon particles to filter the smell but am unsure where to install and ask if you would kindly post some pictures.
I have fitted an electric pump and had the tank out which is original and in good repair but bewildered by the smell and like you have an intergral garage (luckily the wife hasnt noticed)
I am away for the next week or so but when I return I will find the photos I took at the time and post them.
Is this an Elan or a +2? You fitted an electric pump. What type of hose have you used? Most fuel hose is permeable to some extent and will smell in a closed boot. You need to use a ptfe braided hose for plumbing fuel within the boot or cabin. I have had this problem and it took ages to track it down. This has been discussed elsewhere on the forum.
Graham
Hi Graham Merry XMas & thanks
im using FUELPN25BAK ANTISTATIC HOSE 5mm(3/16") WP 2MPa AGOMA sae J30 (20bar) R6 pipe supplied by local hydraulics company with hydraulic metal bends with compression and seals. pipes fixed with jubilee clips (only area of concern
The electric fuel pump came from Kelvedon motors and is a FACET USA
Have in Sytec in line clear fuel filter low flow hose barbs Ebay
Any advice Photos welcomed
Kind regards Dale
Dale,
I did quite a bit of research a couple of years ago, and managed to convince myself that R9, not R6 was the way to go if there were biofuels present. I also managed to convince myself that a lot of the fuel pipe available on the web is fake, and not from the manufacturer or to the standard printed on the hose. From Codan’s website:
R6:
https://www2.codan.com/node/28245
R9:
https://www2.codan.com/node/28273
I did manage to find a reliable supplier, but have mislaid the link. If I find it, I will edit this post.
Good luck.
Edit: Here it is:
https://www.thehosemaster.co.uk/r9-unleaded-petrol-diesel-ethanol-automotive-fuel-hose
Hi Dale & Andy,
In testing for permeability, I went as far as testing the hose on its own.
I sealed off one end with steel round rod and a jubilee clip, filled the hose with fuel and sealed the other end with steel rod and jubilee clip. I put the assembly in a large bucket and sealed the top of the bucket with plastic sheet. A couple of days later I carefully opened the bucket to a strong smell of fuel fumes. This convinced me to use teflon braided hose for all connections within the boot. I also replaced the filler neck flexible pipe just in case.
On the S4 Elan, Lotus used a very short length, 50-60mm long to join the fuel tank outlet to the nylon pipe that goes down the chassis to the fuel pump. Only about 20mm is exposed to fuel. Maybe they knew it was also permeable but so short nobody would notice any fuel smells.
Good luck in finding the source.
Happy new year to all, I have retrieved a photo I took of one of the charcoal filters I fitted into the fuel tank vent lines, This one in on the filler side and the other, not shown, is on the drivers side both used the same components.
So far these have worked.
Does that mean the filter could be fitted to the ends of the hose where they exit in front of the rear wheel?
Robbie
Hi Robbie, on the face of it the filters could be fitted anywhere in the vent lines. I did not look at the hose exit region because I chose to fit them in the fuel tank region as it could be reverted easily if the scheme did not work and there is more room if they work but are not big enough. The jury is still out on the long term effectiveness of the size of filters I used I confess I really have no idea, but I am quite happy to wait and see. If you do give this a try I would be interested to hear how you get on.
Thanks Richard, will do some investigation.
Robbie
I’ll preface this by saying yes, by all means, make sure the fuel lines throughout the car are made for modern fuels.
My Caterham has a fuel cell with a vent opening. When I first got it home I couldn’t believe how strong the fuel smell got in the garage. I did some research and found that a common solution is to connect a length of hose to the vent opening, put a loop or two in the hose above the level of the vent, then exit the hose somewhere a low as possible, preferably lower than the bottom of the tank. The intent is to allow the vapors to condense inside the hose, perhaps even pool a bit. Sort of like the P trap in a sink drain.
The carbon canister is a great solution also, although I believe they will have to be changed out occasionally unless a complete closed system is devised such as modern cars have. There are various carbon canisters available, such as these. usplastic.com/catalog/item. … mid=104111
Here are pictures of how I did the Caterham. I still have a small amount fuel smell but it is enormously reduced; I’m told Webers have vents in the fuel system somewhere? Plus the fuel line in the car is ancient and needs replacing.
My garage also suffered from petrol smells (Elan S2+). Caused by fumes coming from the 2 “venting hoses” , one from the top right of the tank, going to the roof, and down left , leaving the car underneath the back passengers seat and the second one from left top of the tank, right floor.
The purpose of these hoses of course is enabeling topping up the tank to the max, enabling the air to escape , even if the car is leaning left or right.
Going above the back windscreen should stop a petrol flow during fast cornering.
I made an extra connection to the filling pipe, just below the car body and connected the 2 tank-top outlets with one hose (10 mm ) to that one. During petrol filling the air escapes now just near the petrol pistol, so goes fine. No open hoses anymore underneath the car.
Tank cap has just a small air leak, just enough not to starve the engine due to vacuum on the tank.
Air leak is small enough to limit the petrol fumes to an unnoticeable level.
I’ve had my Plus 2 since the early 80’s and for most of that time it has been in a garage attached to the house, and consequently initially led to the house having a lovely high octane aroma.
I also found that the car would lose fuel while parked on the garage as it was evaporating.
My solution has been really effective and cheap. I just stick a cork in each of the vent exits under the cills while it’s in the garage. I use corks from malt whisky as they have the handy plastic tops to them. It stops both the smell and fuel loss.
The only drawback is that on really hot days pressure can build in the tank (I’ve blocked the vent in the cap with cling film to stop fuel slopping out on fast right handers). So when it’s hot in summer and the tank is reasonably full I’ll either take one cork out or leave the cap open to prevent the hot air forcing the fuel out from under the cap.
Richard
Hi.
Curious as to where you purchased these in line filters?
Cheers,
Steve.
Hi
Funnily enough I am dealing with this issue at the moment. I have just one side of the tank vented and the hose goes over the back window. I bought one of these and filled it with activated charcoal once I had removed the internal fuel filter. I used a bit of cotton gauze to prevent the carbon getting out. Will post a pic later
All the best
Berni
Hi Steve, this is the hardware I bought to make the filters, 8mm inline petrol filter from One World Ebay item 305704343508, Activated Carbon Charcoal Granulated for Aquarium Fish tanks from Finest Filters Ebay item 351226809710.
I dismantled the filters and discarded the standard filter screen and filled the body with the activated granular charcoal., I used granular material to prevent it migrating out of the body.(hopefully)… This is very much an experiment from my point of view and I will give it a reasonable trial period to see if any issues in operation, i.e. how long will it remain effective, is the assy stable w.h.y.
Richard
Thanks for the info Richard.
Resourceful to say the least. Will be interesting to see how they work out in the long run.
Cheers.
Steve.
There was a neat solution devised for petrol smells published in the Club Lotus magazine many years ago. The original vent arrangement with two tank vent pipes running up and over into the opposite wheel arch was a poor factory design done to prevent a blow back when filling the tank as the tank inlet is lower than the top of the tank and you can’t fill the tank without letting air/petrol fumes out. Hence the two opposite side breathers to cope with the possibility of filling up on a sloping site. The proposed solution was to make up a 4 way cross in pipe having two 15mm connections and two smaller ones - 8mm perhaps. This was positioned on the top of the tank. The two 15mm connections went to the left and right breather outlets on the tank. A 3rd connection on the 8mm went to the breather pipe soldered into the filler neck just under the filler cap. The final connection was vented into a wheel arch and if the right size pipe was chosen it could be fed down one of the existing vent pipes which cross over above the rear window. You now still have a permanent tank vent but it is one small diameter rather than two large ones. The 4 way cross can be made from a 4 way 15mm copper tube plumbing fitting with a couple of step down adaptors for the smaller pipes.