[Fiesta98]

Ford Fiesta, 1998, 1.3.

Recently I have started getting a really strong smell of petrol from inside the cabin, this morning in particular actually made me feel rather dizzy and I had to open all the windows.

There are no noticable leaks. Passed MOT early this year and recently did a 600mile drive without any problems.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Ellen

[Hometune]

Best have it checked on a ramp in a garage. Possibly a corroded fuel pipe leaking or the fuel filter may not have been changed and is now leaking. You may see evidence of a leak on the ground under the car.

[Fiesta98]

That's the thing - there are no leaks.

The only thing I have is that the exhaust pipe is starting to corrode and needs fixing soonish, but that wouldn't smell of petrol.

[Hometune]

Have you physically checked the undersdie of the car including the filter?
If the fuel filler breather is blocked may also cause it. Also check the carbon canister as it may be cracked.

[Fiesta98]

Thanks. I had a look around and decided to check tehe spark plugs. They're red! Which apparently means that the fuel i've used is low quality and the additives are affecting the car. Which could be causing the smell. I've put some redex in it today, so hopefully that will do the job.

[smudger]

Let us know if that does solve the problem Fiesta98?;)

[wagolynn]

I hope you cleaned and re-gapped the spark plugs, assuming you have used pump petrol – the colour just tells you the fuel air ratio might be a bit rich on tick over.

You suggest the car smells stronger first thing; this suggests there is a leak in the fuel system rather than the engine producing the smell when running.
Redex will not make any difference to this, but if you ran the fuel tank low put in Redex for a full tank, run the car to mix it in, now any leaks will probably have an oil (Redex) stain highlighting its position. Places to look, pipes under the car running from tank to engine and tank to charcoal canister, charcoal canister purge valve (closed with engine off open with engine running and warm) filler pipe assembly and filler cap, tank, filter body, note there are bits of flexible pipe which are likely to leak. If you open and re-fit the filler cap late at night, when car and fuel is cold, then check for leaks when the sun is well up the fuel system will be under pressure and more likely to show the leak.
Re-fill the tank after finding the leak to dilute the Redex.

[Big Nige]

Petrol cap rubber seal

Probably to late now and you have it fixed but some years ago we had a ford granada 2.4i and the petrol fumes were exactly like you have said and it made you feel ill Well on this the problem was the petrol cap the rubber seal had come away from it normal postion and was not sealing the tank once corrected it was fine
:)