Morris Minor Owners Club

Over the last month or so I've been getting really quite strong smells of petrol in the cabin while driving, but only very occasionally (I think it's happened about 4 times).

I think, in common, all the times it's been very hot, and the car's been recently started (as in within 10 minutes of starting), and it's been after moderately high revs, I think a scenario something like...

Join a busy roundabout, nip round at some speed, down dual carridgeway, drop revs, stench of petrol.

Now i've dashed round and had a look under the bonnet on such occasions, and had a look under the car also and can't see any obvious signs of petrol leaking (and certainly not like my old golf which was fond of spraying petrol over the entire engine bay) - everything seems dry by the time I look, at any rate.

Anyone got any suggestions of anything I should be looking at? Or am I suffering from paranoia?

Check the float chamber on the Carb, I've had problems in the past with the needle valve sticking.

I've had problems in the past with the needle valve sticking.

My 58 loves to do that - sometimes it drips petrol out of the carb for a second or 2, sometimes until the engine is running - the engine vibrations seem to settle it down. If/when it gets back on the road I'll have to sort it....

Kate,

Have you checked the petrol hose from the SU pump to the carburetter? Mine's rubber with a flexible wire covering, but it did have a little dribble at the pump end - the jubilee clip needed tightening.

And, it's right next to the bulkhead....
Colin

The other cause is the filler pipe in the boot between the tank and the cap these are of a 2 part material, similar to the proper rad hoses in structure, and if you run your hand around it you may find a split in the outer sheathing or it might just be in very poor condition and its often overlooked.

The other cause is the filler pipe in the boot between the tank and the cap

that's not a bad point - you may have a leak in the filler or somewhere around the top of the tank that only shows up after a bit of cornering.

I've had intermittent float problems with a 'bike before. After many 'near misses' when the float bowl just overflowed onto a hot engine, it turned out to be flakes of paint sitting between the needle and the seat. The in tank filter had been removed by a previous owner so an in line one cured the problem.

Thjer's a filter in the pump, so it's worth checking that's still in place.

The other cause is the filler pipe in the boot between the tank and the cap

I find that hard or sudden cornering when the tank is nearly full will cause a small leak from the petrol cap. I really should drive more slowly....

Yeah, I've had that problem with a full tank Chris...

Kate, do you mean like the time we stopped at the DIY place when fixing Hebe?

I occasionally get fuel smells, but I think it's a sticky carb.

Aye, like we did at that DIY place....

Excuse me asking; has this 'pyoor' before your name got any Buddhist connection?

les - nope, although I'm loosely buddhist (am sort of a tauist/buddhist hybrid of my own devising). Pyoor is derived from the name Pure Hackishness which used to be the name of my website (derived via a logo made of a pronounciation guide) - which ended up being my domain (pyoor.org), and thus....yes.... we get to me being PyoorKate

could be worth replacing the gasket round the fuel leval sender

Funnily enough, the problem went away completely of its own accord. It was, as usual, me waiting until I knew I'd have enough time to do a resonably decent job... and by the time I had the time there was no longer a smell of petrol

Boom!

Watching Kids tv lately eh?

Erm, no actually.......... just trawling through 80s memories.......... I know Tony only gave one 'Boom' but I though I'd ad another and before you know it, Basil Brush appeared!

just trawling through 80s memories

Well I thought I was dreaming the other day but wasnt, he is back on TV

YES!!!