Filled the car with 97 octain, drove home with the car stinking of petrol.

Got home and had a look underneath, there appears to be fuel "hissing" out of the hole in the guard that surrounds the tank. :eek:

I've now used allmost a quarter of a tank & the "hissing" out has stoped, but the smell is slightly still there!

Question; Anybody else had this problem?

How the hell do you get to the filler pipe at the tank end?

The small hole at the bottom of the surround is just a drain for the aperature so isnt connected to anything in particular.

Is the seal intact on the filler cap?

Is the seal intact on the filler cap?

Still looks like new!

I had a similar problem with my 54 plate vRS approx 6 months ago. For a few days after filling up had strong smell of petrol, (even more noticeable because it was Optimax!). But could not find where it was coming from eventually after journey back from Manchester to Yorkshire, happened to notice a small wet patch under the car in front of the right rear wheel after just parking. After investigating under the car there is a small metal cannister type fuel filter just under the back door which is held in place with a jubilee clip. The result being that when the car was built the jubille clip was slightly too tight and progressivelly had formed a small split in the filter and was leaking fuel very slowly. Had to have the AA out to bodge it together to get it to dealers.

When got to dealer told by service manager that none of the octavias have fuel filters fitted in this way. Pointed out to him it was their ex-demo car and had not been serviced by anyone else but them. I happened to check a couple of others on forecourt and they were!!!!

They try to cl;aim that it is a common problem with stone damage due to the filter position, but the screw on the jubilee clip was in line withthe hole when the AA man arrived so I made my own conclusion. They did replace the filter under warranty as a good will gesture though after some arguing. Now my filter is held with a plastic zip tie!!!!!

Hope this helps. Regards Mark

Kracked it today

Twas the rubber seal between the tank and the fuel gauge sender unit.

This little fecker is accessed by lifting the rear offside seat base, lifting a tailor mate carpet flap expossing the cover plate above the sender unit.

Dealer man said it was a common fault and went straight to it.

Part No: 1J0919133A - Washer -

At least its done and your safe again.

Enviromental charge may be to drain some fuel off so they could safely remove the sender unit without it over flowing.

Enviromental charge may be to drain some fuel off so they could safely remove the sender unit without it over flowing.

Nah!!!! When the sender unit is removed there's more room in the tank thus the fuel level drops.

Plus all the fuel that was gunna slop out had.

It's a fiddle !!!!

Nah!!!! When the sender unit is removed there's more room in the tank thus the fuel level drops.

Plus all the fuel that was gunna slop out had.

It's a fiddle !!!!

Trust me the level of the tank delivery unit is lower than the top of the tank. If you remove the sender unit with a full tank it makes a chuffing mess..lol