Ran my S3 on a sunny day, first time out of garage in months.( I do start and idle periodically during the winter) Ran fine for 2 or 3 miles then stuttered, died. Got a tow home and it restarted but fuel is coming out from under right fuel tank. I checked the pump and filter and no leaks there. Pump and filter changed about two years ago. I suspected a cracked fuel line but then remembered the fuel return system.

Other details pertaining are: The right fuel tank is new, the left leaks above ~2 gallons and I haven't replaced it yet. I do cycle a bit of fuel in it 'just in case' and started the drive (after a good idle) on that tank. Ran sweet, and I changed to the right tank about a mile from home. It started to languish about a mile after that, lost power, starved and died. By the time I got the car home about 90 minutes had passed. I gave it a try and it started right up, idle seemed 100% normal but then I saw a good flow of gasoline coming out from under the wing. That was when I checked the fuel pump area.

I read about the fuel & injector system on this forum(thank you people for all the great info). One person spoke to a filter that is in each injector, and I thought about possibly having rust in the left tank. I wonders if one or more is clogged, there may be enough fuel for idle but not for driving, and that the excess fuel is being pushed back and the leak is at that end. I will try the tank changeover and see if that makes a difference, and crawl under looking for fuel lines (do they run under the sill?) and check the main fuel filter to see if indication of debris from the tanks.

if anyone has suggestions on how to diagnose I'd appreciate it.

Thanks kindly,
Cris in Saco Maine
S3 California car brought back with me this year, 114K miles

 

Well the first thing is to determine if the gasoline in leaking from the tank or overflowing from the tank. Open the cap and observe. If the fuel is gushing out from the filler neck (and ultimately landing under the car) then it is obviously overflowing. Fuel is being drawn from the left tank but being returned to the right tank.

If you know for a fact that the right tank isn't overflowing then you simply have to trace down and repair a leak

Cheers
DD

 

if fuel is overflowing with gas cap closed, if could be coming out the overflow hose on the back of the gas cap.

if the tank is leaking, the you need to remove the bumper blade, the quarter panel, and the rear headlight to disconnect the sender-float.

anyway it does sound like the classic fuel return solenoid gone dead. Easy to replace it.

 

Thanks Jose and Doug for the advice. Will let you know what I find.
cheers, cris