I think I may have this problem as well on my 66 reg L&K 280 Estate. There is a fairly strong smell of petrol outside at the back of the car every so often which is most noticeable on warmer days. As yet I've not spotted any fuel on the ground or coming back out the filler cap. The other issue I seem to have is the time it takes to fill the tank with fuel, which is forever! However, this may be down to the petrol pump more than the car. The average indicated fuel consumption has dropped from 36mpg on my pre-retirement 80mile / day motorway commute to around 25mpg now for local trips. This is to be expected but this may also be masking any loss of fuel which will also add to the drop in MPG. I think I'll wait until the end of lockdown & get it booked in to skoda for a look. Meantime I'll see if I can keep an eye out for any signs of leaks & take some pics / video. 

If anyone has any advice on what else I can check myself please let me know. 

On 11/05/2020 at 15:01, Colin170CR said:

I think I may have this problem as well on my 66 reg L&K 280 Estate. There is a fairly strong smell of petrol outside at the back of the car every so often which is most noticeable on warmer days. As yet I've not spotted any fuel on the ground or coming back out the filler cap. The other issue I seem to have is the time it takes to fill the tank with fuel, which is forever! However, this may be down to the petrol pump more than the car. The average indicated fuel consumption has dropped from 36mpg on my pre-retirement 80mile / day motorway commute to around 25mpg now for local trips. This is to be expected but this may also be masking any loss of fuel which will also add to the drop in MPG. I think I'll wait until the end of lockdown & get it booked in to skoda for a look. Meantime I'll see if I can keep an eye out for any signs of leaks & take some pics / video. 

If anyone has any advice on what else I can check myself please let me know. 

Hi Colin170CR and Ronskin,

 

I have had the same spec Superb - 66 plate L&K 280 estate and the same problem which is now, (hopefully fixed). The issue according to the garage was the AKG, (Carbon), filter. Whilst the car is out of warranty, they have reduced the bill as a goodwill gesture. The bill come in at just over £180.

 

I hope this helps

Edited 12 May, 20206 yr by JitsGorilla

On 02/05/2020 at 18:41, Ronskin said:

BTW. Had 3/4 of a tank when this happened.

Hi Ronskin, 

 

Mine is now fixed - It was the Carbon filter and the garage charged me £180 to fix it.  I hope that this helps. 

16 hours ago, JitsGorilla said:

Hi Colin170CR and Ronskin,

 

I have had the same spec Superb - 66 plate L&K 280 estate and the same problem which is now, (hopefully fixed). The issue according to the garage was the AKG, (Carbon), filter. Whilst the car is out of warranty, they have reduced the bill as a goodwill gesture. The bill come in at just over £180.

 

I hope this helps

THanks for the info JitsGorilla. I'll do battle with the dealer after lockdown.

Other than this the car is great. I used to have diesels (Audi A6 1.9TDi, Superb II Elegance 170) but knowing I was going to retire I wanted to switch back to petrol since I no longer needed to worry about the fuel consumption for the reduced annual mileage - which is pretty much zero at the moment. I bought the 280 2nd hand with 25k on the clock about this time last year. The warranty ran out Dec 2019 which is a bit of a pain but the car is great. Ultimate sleeper imo. 

 

Thanks for the info. 

Hi Colin170CR, 

 

I have got the car back now and whilst by and large I have loved owning it. However, this latest episode has really disappointed me. At the time of the fault, the car was 2 weeks out of warranty. Skoda UK have acknowledged that it is dangerous and offered me the following advice, which is a direct lift from the email from the technical team:

 

This is a petrol vehicle so leaking fuel can be quite dangerous due to petrol being volatile. The car should not be driven in the 1st instance and the only suggestion is to place some kind of container underneath the vehicle in order to contain the leaking fuel. The car then needs to be recovered when the current situation is eased. He must make sure there are no naked flames near the vehicle and make all of his house hold, aware of the situation. Nothing else can be done in the with the current lock down
 

I thought that this was a bit of a cop out putting it back on me, but ho hum, these are unusual times. By and large, it has taken Skoda customer services 10 - 14 days to respond to each email. I had to work really hard to find an open dealership and get the car accepted and now it is 8 weeks further on. When I asked for a goodwill repair, they claimed the car is well out of warranty. Given the circumstances, I don't think that 10 weeks is well out of warranty and had they responded more quickly it would have been fewer. I was almost ready to let it ride until I got this email this afternoon from Skoda UK Customer services:

 

While i understand your frustration towards the issue.

Your vehicle is outside of manufacture warranty and due to the current climate the vehicle can not be seen by your local Retailer.

It is your choice if you feel this is dangerous to take your vehicle to an independent to repair or investigate.

Once again I am sorry that you was not happy with the response.

 

They also got my name wrong on the email and I thought that the response above was an abdication of responsibility for a fault that is dangerous and in no way related to the usual wear and tear on the vehicle. I understand that no vehicle is perfect, but I do expect faults that are dangerous to be taken seriously by the manufacturer. Following the strings on this website, it seems to be a common problem for the 280PS and to just wash their hands of the matter is folly on their part. I was just about to buy a new version of the vehicle, but will now be looking to purchase something else. For the sake of less than £200 they have lost a sale in excess of  £40,000 and the goodwill of a customer. I've written back to them, but have no expectation of a different response. 

 

Good luck and let me know how you get on. 

 

 

JG

On 12/05/2020 at 17:28, JitsGorilla said:

Hi Ronskin, 

 

Mine is now fixed - It was the Carbon filter and the garage charged me £180 to fix it.  I hope that this helps. 

 

Carbon filter? Got any more details?

 

I occasionally notice a fuel smell near mine, but not always so it may be intermittent. Definitely not enough of a smell to particularly worry me, or put me off using the car.

 

This post explains more:

 

Edited 14 May, 20206 yr by ChrisCh
added link to post elsewhere

Hi ChrisCH,

 

On mine it was the carbon canister that was causing an over pressurisation in the fuel tank and making petrol come back out of the filler cap. I think it may also be known as the AKG filter, (initials for the German acronym), but I couldn't swear to it. 

 

I first noticed petrol behind the back wheel. I then saw it dripping from the tube that is linked to the overspill behind the fuel flap. I then made the mistake of releasing the filler cap and got a deluge of fuel under pressure pour out of the vehicle!

 

JG

1 hour ago, JitsGorilla said:

Hi ChrisCH,

 

On mine it was the carbon canister that was causing an over pressurisation in the fuel tank and making petrol come back out of the filler cap. I think it may also be known as the AKG filter, (initials for the German acronym), but I couldn't swear to it. 

 

I first noticed petrol behind the back wheel. I then saw it dripping from the tube that is linked to the overspill behind the fuel flap. I then made the mistake of releasing the filler cap and got a deluge of fuel under pressure pour out of the vehicle!

 

JG

Sounds about right.
It did it again today... I only filmed the inital findings, but when the leaking didn't stop until I left for another hour and when I opened the cap, a load of pressure pushed out more fuel onto the wheel and driveway, exactly like above.

I've booked it in to be looked at next week.
I just hope this doesn't drag.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Gu2AAQYUzDRHrYs74MTo4CiZN2cXL6gL

As a matter of interest, I have only put Premium (Non Supermarket) fuels in my car.
Would this make a difference?

@Ronskin  It makes no difference to this issue. 

 

  Big named brand in not 'Premium' to Super market 95 ron it all unleaded,

and then Super Unleaded comes in 97 ron or 99 ron minimum.  (That can be bought at Supermarket filling stations, eg Sainsburys, Tesco.)

It happened again to day. Seems to occur at the same time (around 11:30am), when the sun passes round the house on the side where the fuel cap sits. Being black, it attracts the heat and only happens when it's warm.
I've turned the car round on the driveway and was advised to keep the cap slightly opened to reduce the pressure until I can get it seen next week.
I'll keep you all posted on the progress of this issue.

Took the car in for a 40k Service with DSG and Haldex Oil change.

 

The Evap Canister was replaced and I checked it to day.
Opening the fuel cap, there was no leaking and no pressure build up and it was 25 degrees this morning. 

£130 for labour (Canister only).

£34.45 for Part no. 3Q0201801D - EVAPCANIST 
 

I'll let you guys know if it happens again.

On 13/05/2020 at 19:30, JitsGorilla said:

Hi Colin170CR, 

 

I have got the car back now and whilst by and large I have loved owning it. However, this latest episode has really disappointed me. At the time of the fault, the car was 2 weeks out of warranty. Skoda UK have acknowledged that it is dangerous and offered me the following advice, which is a direct lift from the email from the technical team:

 

This is a petrol vehicle so leaking fuel can be quite dangerous due to petrol being volatile. The car should not be driven in the 1st instance and the only suggestion is to place some kind of container underneath the vehicle in order to contain the leaking fuel. The car then needs to be recovered when the current situation is eased. He must make sure there are no naked flames near the vehicle and make all of his house hold, aware of the situation. Nothing else can be done in the with the current lock down
 

I thought that this was a bit of a cop out putting it back on me, but ho hum, these are unusual times. By and large, it has taken Skoda customer services 10 - 14 days to respond to each email. I had to work really hard to find an open dealership and get the car accepted and now it is 8 weeks further on. When I asked for a goodwill repair, they claimed the car is well out of warranty. Given the circumstances, I don't think that 10 weeks is well out of warranty and had they responded more quickly it would have been fewer. I was almost ready to let it ride until I got this email this afternoon from Skoda UK Customer services:

 

While i understand your frustration towards the issue.

Your vehicle is outside of manufacture warranty and due to the current climate the vehicle can not be seen by your local Retailer.

It is your choice if you feel this is dangerous to take your vehicle to an independent to repair or investigate.

Once again I am sorry that you was not happy with the response.

 

They also got my name wrong on the email and I thought that the response above was an abdication of responsibility for a fault that is dangerous and in no way related to the usual wear and tear on the vehicle. I understand that no vehicle is perfect, but I do expect faults that are dangerous to be taken seriously by the manufacturer. Following the strings on this website, it seems to be a common problem for the 280PS and to just wash their hands of the matter is folly on their part. I was just about to buy a new version of the vehicle, but will now be looking to purchase something else. For the sake of less than £200 they have lost a sale in excess of  £40,000 and the goodwill of a customer. I've written back to them, but have no expectation of a different response. 

 

Good luck and let me know how you get on. 

 

 

JG

I sympathise with your frustration. Sometimes the big corporate organisations can be very insensitive & not being able to deal with anyone face to face to at your local dealer does not help in this situation.  Dealers & Skoda HQ are also probably struggling with less staff than normal so cannot respond as well as could do normally. I live quite near Skoda / Audi  / VW / SEAT HQ offices in Milton Keynes & I understand they have laid off /furloughed quite a few staff. That said, you would think that they should still have some sort of plan B in operation. What if you were / are a key worker & need the car for daily commuting? We are in uncertain times & most (not all) garages are closed - for the general public. My wife had her car booked into an independent just before lockdown for an MOT. The garage called & cancelled the appointment & the MOT has now run out albeit the renewal has been extended until Oct this year by  government. I'm no sure if I would walk away from buying another Skoda because of this experience. To be fair most Skoda dealers get better customer reviews than other makes so swapping to another make of car won't necessarily prevent similar experiences happening in the future.  

Ultimately it's your choice. My car is booked into my local VAG specialist independent on the 1st of June which is when they return to work for an investigation once over.  Until then I'm using it only when I have to. Fi

i have just been to my local dealer with this very issue having lost about a litre of petrol over 3/4 leaks and thinking fist couple of time were my fault not fitting the cap right or something, 

my local dealer advised me that the petrol gauge was wrong or the fuel sender was faulty and there was more fuel in the fuel tank than indicated on the gauge and that once id used some it would be fine, plus it is warm now so there will be expansion, 

2 minutes ago, watertech said:

i have just been to my local dealer with this very issue having lost about a litre of petrol over 3/4 leaks and thinking fist couple of time were my fault not fitting the cap right or something, 

my local dealer advised me that the petrol gauge was wrong or the fuel sender was faulty and there was more fuel in the fuel tank than indicated on the gauge and that once id used some it would be fine, plus it is warm now so there will be expansion, 

That's really funny because the warmer it gets the further my 272 goes on a tank of petrol. Last 3 tanks 557 miles, 602 miles, 626 miles.

in our 280 4x4 we are lucky to hit 500 but i love it 

As previously mentioned earlier in this thread my 280 L&K went into an independent for a possible fuel leak investigation on 1st June. They have advised to replace the fuel evap canister but guess what - the part is on back order indicating that their is a run on these parts. £161 to supply & fit.

This must be a more common problem than a few cars here & there. I think the same part is used on many other VAG models so it is probably quite a widespread problem. 

To console myself & as an early birthday / fathers day present I decided to add a Stage 1 REVO Re-map to the bill which will get done when I take it back for the repair when the parts arrive in a week or so.  Looking forward to see what 370bhp & 488nm feels like💨

 

Well if you're chucking fuel away, you may as well do it with a remap too :)

Hi,

 

Same problem here.

Skoda should take care of the problem and recall all cars concerned.

Changed AKF valve one year ago but did not fix the problem. As until now try to have full tank as it do not occurs then.

Any other suggestion to have it solved?

Attached from yesterday.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Richard66 said:

Hi,

 

Same problem here.

Skoda should take care of the problem and recall all cars concerned.

Changed AKF valve one year ago but did not fix the problem. As until now try to have full tank as it do not occurs then.

Any other suggestion to have it solved?

Attached from yesterday.

 

 

 

IMG_0181.MOV

 

I've been checking my car over the last few weeks and since the evap canister was changed, it has not happened again since.
I specified the parts changed in an earlier post.
I did get an engine management light up on the drive home after the canister was replaced which I checked using a Carista OBD II dongle and it mentioned the following.

Basic OBD2: P0441 (pending) (confirmed) - Evaporative Emission System Incorrect Purge Flow 

Central electronics: 197904 Ignition authorization: 65794 - Data bus for suspension - 1 wire mode

Heater & air conditioning: 263425

Driver's seat: 13893632 Engine: 21406

 

They cleared all the errors and the engine management light is now off.
I hope you can get to the end of this soon as it had me worried scared.

6 hours ago, Bigeater said:

Well if you're chucking fuel away, you may as well do it with a remap too

 

Apparently if driven "like for like" the fuel consumption after re-mapping should be the same as the stock engine or slightly better! I'll have to wait & see since I'm only getting around 25-26 mpg at the minute albeit for mostly short stop-start local journeys. I used to get mid 30's when I was commuting 82 miles / day.

That said I'll be happy if I can maintain like for like mpg with all that extra power. TBH I'm more concerned that the fuel leakage / smell from the rear of the car gets fixed - which could be partly the reason for the low mpg. Fingers crossed. 🤞

2 minutes ago, Colin170CR said:

 

Apparently if driven "like for like" the fuel consumption after re-mapping should be the same as the stock engine or slightly better! I'll have to wait & see since I'm only getting around 25-26 mpg at the minute albeit for mostly short stop-start local journeys. I used to get mid 30's when I was commuting 82 miles / day.

That said I'll be happy if I can maintain like for like mpg with all that extra power. TBH I'm more concerned that the fuel leakage / smell from the rear of the car gets fixed - which could be partly the reason for the low mpg. Fingers crossed. 🤞

My 272 hatch averaged in the 1,500 miles after I bought it last December 38.90mpg and in the next 3,500 miles the overall average has risen to 39.07mpg. Best when standard was 45.90mpg yet best at stage 1 (360bhp) has been 49.3mpg. Well worth the £450.

12 hours ago, Ronskin said:

 

I've been checking my car over the last few weeks and since the evap canister was changed, it has not happened again since.
I specified the parts changed in an earlier post.
I did get an engine management light up on the drive home after the canister was replaced which I checked using a Carista OBD II dongle and it mentioned the following.

Basic OBD2: P0441 (pending) (confirmed) - Evaporative Emission System Incorrect Purge Flow 

Central electronics: 197904 Ignition authorization: 65794 - Data bus for suspension - 1 wire mode

Heater & air conditioning: 263425

Driver's seat: 13893632 Engine: 21406

 

They cleared all the errors and the engine management light is now off.
I hope you can get to the end of this soon as it had me worried scared.

Hi,

Interesting. Hopefully it solves the problem. If so, I will change the canister as well.

On my car it seems problem only occurs when fuel tank about 1/2 and not every time.

 

What about performance after tuning?

Happy about it😊

 

12 hours ago, shyVRS245 said:

My 272 hatch averaged in the 1,500 miles after I bought it last December 38.90mpg and in the next 3,500 miles the overall average has risen to 39.07mpg. Best when standard was 45.90mpg yet best at stage 1 (360bhp) has been 49.3mpg. Well worth the £450.

What Octane fuel are you using Shy?

Latest update.

Engine management light kept coming back, even after being reset a few times.

Diagnosed as a EVAP canister purge valve needing to be replaced.

Another £190 later and no more lights for now. I will just keep an eye on this and hope for the best.
Feeling a bit robbed, but I love how this car looks and drives.

I'll keep you all posted.