Dear All,
I have owned my B’ since last September and I have noticed that sometimes there is a very intense petrol smell in the cabin. It is so strong it feels like I have just left the petrol station. Any ideas why? I have noticed a small gap above the passenger airbag cover, that if you look through in a sunny day you can see all the way into the engine compartment. May that be it? Could the smell be coming from there?
I am booked in for the 70.000km service tomorrow and below is a list of things I m going to ask the mechanic to pay special attention to. Have a look to find out if anyone else has similar problems:
1) Lamda censor (engine stalls when warm)
2) Squiggling and heavy grinding while braking (brake pads are still quite ok)
3) Poor window fittings with hardtop
4) Slight difficulty to get in 1st gear when stopped. (double clutching usually works)
5) Poor handbrake power
By the way, how heavy is your clutch? My left leg has started to look like Stalone’s!

Now lets talk about some mods. The mechanic I am going tomorrow is very well known in Greece for his expertise on Italian cars (FIAT, ALFA, LANCIA, FERRARI) and he offers the mod listed below with 3 years warranty:
- Air Intake, Full exaust, ECU, spark plugs and cables, camshafts and something he calls “flow development”. The result is 180 bhp on the dyno!
What do you think? There is also a turbo kit available, that gives 188bhp but has only 1 year warranty and costs 50% more.
For people that are interested, this mechanic is called “Magos” and the Website is www.autocorse.gr .
Thanks for reading, I m looking forward to read your comments..
Take care All

Sorry for the double post. My browser timed out and I re-posted the thread, didnt see that it had already done it.

I would go with the Turbo if you have the money !! So love to just put my B in and have all the work done. Just turn up and collect your 180 BHP Barchetta Well I can wish.

Any comments on the rest Doc Orange Peel? you seem to be the expert over here
Yeah the turbo seems like the way to go. more torque as well! probably more reliable too.
The price is 5000euros (3400pounds). not that bad for what you get!

2) Squiggling and heavy grinding while braking (brake pads are still quite ok)
My kind of problem for the frond disks.Interested to hear the solution .

As for the smell of petrol i get it only when i top it up.The engine compartment does not smell petrol ,risk of fire if it does!!

sjladopoulos said:

My fear EXACTLY!! that is why i need to check it out. there is no obvious leak of petrol anywhere though. I used to have a punto mk1 and the gas tubes were leaking on the engine head! almost went "boom" then!

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To check if you have a leak turn the engine key just to see the oil and battery light come on ,you will hear the pump work for about 5 seconds and then stop.If it continues to work somethink is wronk.The petrol tubes in the engine are the blue ones.Check them .What is your consumption?Is it more than it used to be?

OK, i checked the fuel pump, it does stop after 5 secs or so.
Fuel consumption is around 11lt/100km combined.
The blue pipes look ok, I left the engine running for about 10 mins pumping on the gas, no leak is obvious.
I ll have it checked tomorrow, I ll let you know.
Thank you!

11lt/100km combined.

Is about 25.7 MPG for us Europhiles / Europhobics

As I do not own a Barchetta yet I am not sure if this is good or bad.

If you could smell fuel from inside the car even if it's came from under the bonnet, there must have been a leak. Some will only show themselves under certain circumstances such as vibration going over a bump straining the hose's then relaxes again. But i'm sure it will eventually show itself. As long as it's on the intake side there is little chance of fire, but would keep a very close eye on it.

Kowalski said:

11lt/100km combined.

Is about 25.7 MPG for us Europhiles / Europhobics

As I do not own a Barchetta yet I am not sure if this is good or bad.

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My average is around 35-38mpg and I like to drive her hard!

Mine is a 2004 B with 29000miles on the clock. Totally unmodified engine.

B-vectis said:

My average is around 35-38mpg and I like to drive her hard!

Mine is a 2004 B with 29000miles on the clock. Totally unmodified engine.

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In mpg, my average is actually 29mpg. (considering Uk gallon = 4.5lt, mile = 1.6km)
This is 9.5lt/100km. This is what I usually get with everyday use. When I drive it hard I easily go up to 12lt/100km.

Its really hard for me to believe that you get 35-38mpg! that sounds more like a Toyota Yaris 1.0 consumption!

As for all the rest in my initial post, the car is in the garage today, I ll let you know tomorrow what the verdict was.
Thanks for all the replies so far!

Curious to hear what the problem is re: gas fumes. Another thought - it could be the seal on your gas cap. On two occasions I have not turned the cap enough and the seal has been incomplete. When this happens I can get some spillage that I smell in the car. This is particularly bad if the tank is fulll!

patches said:

Curious to hear what the problem is re: gas fumes. Another thought - it could be the seal on your gas cap. On two occasions I have not turned the cap enough and the seal has been incomplete. When this happens I can get some spillage that I smell in the car. This is particularly bad if the tank is fulll!

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And me mate, thought I had a major problem til i saw some petrol residue on the wing around the filler cap!

I REALLY HOPE EVERYONE READS THIS! PLEASE MAKE THIS KNOWN!

My dear Barchetta friends! I just got of the phone with my mechanic and here is the verdict for the smell of gas!
MAJOR LEAK ON TOP OF THE FUEL TANK !!!

The mechanic claims that if I would have smoked a cigarette in the car 99% I would have been blown to HELL! (This is no joke!)
Anyone smelling fuel when toping up the tank MUST HAVE THIS CHECKED as a full tank brings the fuel closer to the spot it may be leaking!
Even after a whole day of having the vehicle standing, there were approximately 1-2 litters of fuel surrounding my fuel tank! Apart from that, gasoline evaporates very quickly causing fumes that are extremely flammable!

A major problem with the brakes has also been found! The braking system (with no ABS) works in a very unstable manner, splitting the brake pressure unevenly and randomly around each tire. The reason has not been found yet, even after removing the air from the circuit twice.

Malfunctioning brakes and fuel leaks are threats against our lives and the life of others. Anyone even suspicious of such events please put your car in for an inspection.

I ll be back to you with further news as the repair goes on.
Take care and please understand the severity of this post.

Like to know what the brake issue is. My B has ABS but it still can be a little uneven on its braking. (when the ABS does not cut in).

Alright, the car has returned.
Here is the summary of what happened:
About the fuel leak, there is a valve on top of the fuel tank which slowly releases fumes in order to keep the pressure right in the tank. This valve was stuck in the open position and the rubber seal around it was broken. These were replaced and now everything is fine.
On to the brakes: The squiggling and the rough noise were due to the new “eco-friendly” brake pads that apparently are much harder than the old ones. They were removed and both the pads and the disks were cleaned. End of the story, no noise anymore.(for now!)
The uneven braking was due to the rear distributors being stuck. These were also cleaned and they now work, but they need to be replaced soon.
My front brake tubes also need to be replaced. They have lost their ability to keep fluid pressure high.
The airbag light that was on was due to the cabling between the airbag and the airbag unit being worn and partially cut. The loom goes by the steering column and needs to be replaced.
At the moment all these have cost 500 euros and I am now expecting prices for the distributors, the front brake tubes and the airbag loom.

sjladopoulos said:

A
On to the brakes: The squiggling and the rough noise were due to the new “eco-friendly” brake pads that apparently are much harder than the old ones. They were removed and both the pads and the disks were cleaned. End of the story, no noise anymore.(for now!)

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Ι am sorry to say it but the noise will come back.I had my pads and disks cleaned but the noise came back after 1000Km.I am not sure if the pads are the originals or not.The rear pads were Lucas and made terrible noise when i was breaking in reverce.The originals make no noise so far.

Yes Bill, I know the noise will come back. Thats what I ment with (For now!).
The brake pads are approved fiat ones(original), but they seem to be of different build standards than the ones produced lets say 2-3 years ago to comply with the new eco friendly regulations. As the mechanic said, the new ones do not have "Amiando" inside. (ss. a certain metal component)

Maybe worth having a look at specialist pads green stuff etc there are lots on the market and there has been some previous posts on the good & bad, as well as looking at replacement discs the originals suffer with brake fade on fast country lanes.

It's something I intend to do before summer arrives.