JJ1066
New Member
Hello all,
TL;DR - Just bought a RCZ - smell of petrol in the cabin when accelerating (not really when idling/cruising). Worried.
In a bit more detail:
Just bought a lovely RCZ on Friday from a trader after a long quest on Autotrader. Really happy to be in it and on the way home as I've kind of fallen in love with these cars...
When I test drove it I mentioned to the guy that I could smell petrol or oil when giving it a drive. To be honest, it was in dense traffic behind other vehicles spewing out stuff, the car had had some work done (as evidenced on the MOT run down online), and the salesman naturally said it was just a bit of residue from the work and was literally nothing. I of course was so smitten I wanted to believe him and bought it!
Having driven it quite some way home, and then again over the weekend I was convinced the smell was petrol (not oil). My wife and son jumped in. Independent verification from them - they could smell petrol, noticeably only sometimes, and only when accelerating from start or mid-range speed.
To be honest, I was really worried I was subjecting my family (and me) to a bit of significant danger - petrol should be on the inside right, not smell-able in the cabin! - so I took it in to a reputable local garage who kindly looked it over...
This is where I am now questioning myself - I think the phrase is 'being gaslighted'! - They took it out 2 times with two different mechanics, and had it up on the ramp, and in their words there was nothing they could find - and they couldn't smell anything.
We've been lucky enough to only have cars only 1 or 2 years old before, and always traded them in about 4 years old max (apart from the Discovery, but we don't talk about the Discovery if I don't want my wife rolling her eyes at me again)... My neighbour said - you're just not used to older petrol cars - you just get that... My RCZ is 10 years old - so hardly a dinosaur.
I am not being mental - I can genuinely smell literally unburned petrol - albeit its just a waft.
The only thing the garage noted was that someone had repaired the small (~2cm diameter) pipe immediately to the right of and feeding into the turbo air intake pipe with a zip-tie keeping it 'on'. I don't know what this little pipe does - apologies. It doesn't look like that takes any form of pressure and whilst 'sub-optimal' and likely not the cause of the petrol smell, it made me think that if they noticed that level of detail, then there can't be anything too wrong with the car. The main mechanic said as far as they were concerned it was safe (which was my main question/issue).
Long story short then - what on earth is going on? I have a 'warranty' (as much as used car sales one can be) but its only for 3 months - if this is something significant I need to get it diagnosed and fixed ASAP... so can anyone shed any light on what it could be - and whether I can fix it myself?! I have seen other mention of spark plugs but the symptoms are not exactly as mine.
Any help gratefully received!
TL;DR - Just bought a RCZ - smell of petrol in the cabin when accelerating (not really when idling/cruising). Worried.
In a bit more detail:
Just bought a lovely RCZ on Friday from a trader after a long quest on Autotrader. Really happy to be in it and on the way home as I've kind of fallen in love with these cars...
When I test drove it I mentioned to the guy that I could smell petrol or oil when giving it a drive. To be honest, it was in dense traffic behind other vehicles spewing out stuff, the car had had some work done (as evidenced on the MOT run down online), and the salesman naturally said it was just a bit of residue from the work and was literally nothing. I of course was so smitten I wanted to believe him and bought it!
Having driven it quite some way home, and then again over the weekend I was convinced the smell was petrol (not oil). My wife and son jumped in. Independent verification from them - they could smell petrol, noticeably only sometimes, and only when accelerating from start or mid-range speed.
To be honest, I was really worried I was subjecting my family (and me) to a bit of significant danger - petrol should be on the inside right, not smell-able in the cabin! - so I took it in to a reputable local garage who kindly looked it over...
This is where I am now questioning myself - I think the phrase is 'being gaslighted'! - They took it out 2 times with two different mechanics, and had it up on the ramp, and in their words there was nothing they could find - and they couldn't smell anything.
We've been lucky enough to only have cars only 1 or 2 years old before, and always traded them in about 4 years old max (apart from the Discovery, but we don't talk about the Discovery if I don't want my wife rolling her eyes at me again)... My neighbour said - you're just not used to older petrol cars - you just get that... My RCZ is 10 years old - so hardly a dinosaur.
I am not being mental - I can genuinely smell literally unburned petrol - albeit its just a waft.
The only thing the garage noted was that someone had repaired the small (~2cm diameter) pipe immediately to the right of and feeding into the turbo air intake pipe with a zip-tie keeping it 'on'. I don't know what this little pipe does - apologies. It doesn't look like that takes any form of pressure and whilst 'sub-optimal' and likely not the cause of the petrol smell, it made me think that if they noticed that level of detail, then there can't be anything too wrong with the car. The main mechanic said as far as they were concerned it was safe (which was my main question/issue).
Long story short then - what on earth is going on? I have a 'warranty' (as much as used car sales one can be) but its only for 3 months - if this is something significant I need to get it diagnosed and fixed ASAP... so can anyone shed any light on what it could be - and whether I can fix it myself?! I have seen other mention of spark plugs but the symptoms are not exactly as mine.
Any help gratefully received!