Fumes through the air vents!!!!

cupra103

Active Member
May 4, 2008
61
0
Richmond, NSW Australia
Hi from Australia,

For a while now (at least 2 months) i've been having a problem with the cupra where if I have fresh air selected I get a sweet fumy smell out of the vents. To me it smells like a sweet exhaust type of smell, my wife thinks it smells like fuel & refuses to go in the car any more. With recirculate selected the smell goes away immediately.

I've had the leaking fuel pipes in the engine bay problem in the past but that didn't stop me spending a fair bit of time trying to hunt down the culprit!

Firstly let me say that there are no fluid leaks in the engine bay, that's a good thing . I don't know how many times i've checked under the bonnet over the last couple of months but I arrived home from a late flight at 2 am the other morning & while the car was idling in the drive I noticed visible fumes ( almost like smoke ) around the drivers headlight & the smell was strong.

I put the car in the garage & with all the lights on there was nothing except the smell .

So today was allocated to sorting this out .

I started by pulling the airbox out to check the charcoal canister & with everything out I ran the engine, there was the smell, in front of the engine & there seemed to be some puffing air flow I hadn't noticed before behind the alternator, ok that seems strange, I pulled some of the plastic covers off & looked further, then I noticed something moving down by the dip stick, bingo The main crankcase breather pipe hiding under the main water pipe!!!!!!!!!!!!

This angle is deceptive & one of the covers is off, the hole looks obvious but if you stand in front of the car to check the oil the hole isn't in sight!
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At a glance it looks like someone has cut a section out of the pipe but the pipe in that area is heavily perished over the full diameter.

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So with the aid of my trusty helper I made a quick repair to keep the car on the road while I hunt for a new pipe
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I am so happy to have found the cause, happy Seat owner again.

cheers

Phil
__________________
Red 99 Seat Ibiza Cupra Sport, coilovers, K&N
Blue 05 Golf 2.0 TDI DSG Comfortline, leather, sunroof
 

cupra103

Active Member
May 4, 2008
61
0
Richmond, NSW Australia
Thanks guys, the car is lowered on hottunings with rear spacers, I've owned it since new in 99

I'll get the name of the ramps tomorrow, they are designed for low entry & work fine. The front lip just touches as the fronts roll on to the the floor extension.

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Phil
 

crossedmike

Guest
i find makes driving more fun ;) no seriously i had a similar problem my hose had a chunk removed and was letting fumes into a point driving gave me a headache even with window open :( as like yous mine has a little rectangle removed but was raggy like had been worn and rubbed out
 

suj

Wheel Connoisseur
Jan 1, 2009
5,808
1
Birmingham
i had the exact same problem, did you have the "mayo" all in the breather system (coming from air intake pipe to the breather box, and then that pipe that was split?) mine did, washed them out, then dried them over a few days, and hairdried to make sure :)

lovely car, amazing garage, one day i will own something like that :D
 
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