Hi all,

I am new to the forum and I have joined due to my beloved cinquecento giving fuel trouble. I've had the car two years and have done around 15 thousand miles on the car just this year. Recently a friend of mine changed the head gasket for me as the old one was shot. Since then my fuel consumption as gone up considerably. The car has always been great on fuel as all the chics are. But now its costing a fourtune to run! Im getting a very strong petrol smell in the car after driving it for a bit. Only occasionally not constantly. I have looked up the problem and the main thing that keeps coming back is the possiblility the fuel tanks seams giving way but i have had the car on a ramp and the tank is bone dry. Im curious if anyone could shed some light on this? the car is running as normal apart from the fuel problem. Could it have something to do with the way the head gasket went in? or is it Sheer coincidence?

Thank you!
David

Welcome to the forum

Fuel smell in the car is never good, and a lot of pipes, etc would have needed to have been disconnected or moved out of the way in the engine bay when doing the headgasket so it's not out of the question that your friend has missed or damaged something. Best thing to start with is visually check as much of the pipework in the engine bay for splits, cracks, etc (and that they're properly seated) as possible. Whereabouts on the fair isle are you, as there may be a local member with some experience that could have a look?

aye, check all the fuel lines... Get under the car as well and see if you can find any fuel weeping from the tank seams, and the filler neck pipes, breather pipes etc.

Other reasons for high consumption could be a stuck open thermostat or coolant temperature sensor (or both obviously)