hi all i have a early s type 3.0 v6 auto with 142500 miles on it . car has just been serviced, at my local garage who also does the mots and any other repairs as needed.
but for the life of me and them we cant find the source of a fuel smell, when its cold or after standing for about 2-3 hrs. been told to try air con cleaners ,carbon cabin filters etc. there was a loose plug which was fixed by putting a new set in. its driving the wife nuts as she loves the car,but cant stand the smell. p.s its goes after the car as got warm, and will purr beautifully until its cools down again.

open to any crazy ideas
thanks
mark

 

Most probably a crook injector to fuel rail o ring !
I've had this before! We're the dry cracked oring reseales with temp so only a smell at start up !
It could be many things but that's my 10c

 

^^^ good thinking there

Forget air cleaners etc.

 

Have you read the codes?

Any EVAP codes?
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not had a chance to check codes or for leaks, have had the car up for sale over the last week,so far looking good for it to sell over the weekend.
wife wants it gone now got her heart set on a 2002 x type with full history and one owner from new.

 

I started experiencing the same smell just 3 days ago. I noticed it first when I stopped at the end of my driveway. I have put the car on the lift and checked for any signs of a gas leak. Nothing. Then I moved to the engine compartment, no smells or leaks detected. Next step was to remove some covers. On the right side bank of the engine I noticed a slight damp condition on the top of the injector. You can see this in the attached photo. Any opinion as to whether this could be the source of my gas smell on start-up?

 

I think I found my problem discussion in the thread on fuel rail o-ring.

 

It can but don't forget the S Type has some known problems with the gas tank seals. They are easy to get to under the rear seat.

Might be worth a look?

Here is where they are;



This is a Lincoln LS but same car.
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I went out to my garage and decided to take this new information and see if I could refine my search for the gas smell. I opened the engine compartment hood and started the S. It sat for about 3 minutes and no gas smell near the engine and nothing in the cabin. I put the S in reverse, moved about 3 feet and stepped on the brake firmly, then put the S in drive, moved 3 feet forward and pressed the brake firmly in an attempt to slosh the gas in the gas tank. The tank is full. I immediately started to smell a trace of gas. I have the S scheduled for a visit to the dealer next week. I noticed the recall covers YR 2005 and mine is a 2008. I am wondering if the same problem exists in both years it is just mine has "matured" enough now to exhibit the problem. We will see. If it is the same problem, I hope to be persuasive enough to have the recall apply to my S.

 

All recalls are listed on gov sites (here, USA, etc). I suppose NHTSA for you.

 

You can go a bit further if you want to?

Those black covers are just dust covers and the tank covers are under them. Pop off the black covers and look for fuel staining or wetness.

This might make it easier for the mechanic to find your problem. Yes the only recall for the 2005 S type was for these tank seals leaking. And yes several (not a lot) people with later year S Types have had these leak.

One problem that has been brought up is the tanks are no longer available for the S Type. BUT at least one S Type has had an XF tank fitted by Jaguar.

Let know what you find out.
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I inspected EVERY inch of fuel line from the filler neck to the fuel rails and found absolutely nothing. Every line, connection, fitting, filter, etc., etc. were perfectly dry. I then asked my wife to start the car while I looked closely, not too closely, under the hood. I figured the smell had to be coming from under the hood somewhere near the cabin air intake on the passenger side firewall. After the start my wife started looking with me and saw a wet drop come from the damper on the right bank. She was standing in just the right position to see the drip of one drop per 90 seconds. I adjusted my light and sure enough. There is about 1 drop about every 90 to 120 seconds coming from the damper ring. You can see the wet appearance of the damper in my picture above. I am in the process of locating a damper, damper ring and additionally talking to an engineer I know to see if we can have one of the fancy caps made to spec.