Have a '98 TF Wagon and when I get in the car in the morning (i.e. it's been parked for > 12 hours) there's a pretty strong petrol smell in the cabin. It mostly goes away once I start driving.

Just took it in for its 160K service and the mechanic said they couldn't find any leaks anywhere - basically said bring it back when it gets worse so they can find it without pulling the whole car apart. Fair enough ;-) As long as it doesn't catch fire.

Any suggestions for what I might look for in the meantime?

i don't believe your mechanic would test the injectors which if leaking horrendiously could cause this; when i got my injectors cleans they did a leak down test as well some cars running rich you can smell

if your wondering 220$ for clean injectors including gst

My brothers VN does this too.

Always in the mornings and goes away after a while.

Whats your fuel economy like? One way that you can tell if you're car is running rich is by seeing how much build-up of carbon (black) is in the tail-pipe area. Magna's are usually pretty clean running cars when newish, i know when I bought my new exhaust about 3 years ago it took months to build up any carbon at all and it's still running very clean with 194k on the clock. (TF).
As for the leak maybe try a different mechanic/group because if there is a leak undetected then you'll want it fixed asap.

Light a match - then you can trace the point of origin :D

Any suggestions for what I might look for in the meantime?
Should try pulling off the boot lining around the filler pipe to see.
Could be some venting pipes around the filler neck, maybe became dislodged?

i don't believe your mechanic would test the injectors which if leaking horrendiously could cause this; when i got my injectors cleans they did a leak down test as well some cars running rich you can smell

if your wondering 220$ for clean injectors including gst

yo, got this quote today...

3 IN 1 FUEL INJECTION SERVICE:

LUBE MOBILE

THIS SERVICE HAS THE FOLLOWING FEATURES

* THIS SYSTEM PERFORMS A DECARBONISING PURGE OF THE

MANIFOLD, VALVES, PISTONS AND RINGS

* IT ALSO RETARDS FUTURE CARBON BUILD UP BY LUBRICATING THE

INTAKE AND FUEL SYSTEM

* THOROUGHLY CLEANS THE THROTTLE BODY

* AND IS GUARANTEED TO CLEAN THE FUEL INJECTORS, RETURNING

THEM BACK TO BRAND NEW FACTORY CONDITION

The cost of this service is only $197.80 including chemicals.

We come to you and can offer same or next day service.

We have a 12 Month Nationwide Warranty.

Please call 133032 to book or return email if you prefer - simply send us your
details and we will call to confirm your booking.

check for fuel leaks elsewhere, petrol cap, filler, fuel lines, could be a split fuel hose, as another post up the top said a vn commodore used to do it, well all of them do. and if it's fuel injectors it wont' smell that much as it would most probably leaking internally, do you find your car gets flooded, car hard to start? are your injectors wet or dirty, could be the top o-ring if that is the case

yo, got this quote today...

3 IN 1 FUEL INJECTION SERVICE:

LUBE MOBILE

THIS SERVICE HAS THE FOLLOWING FEATURES

* THIS SYSTEM PERFORMS A DECARBONISING PURGE OF THE

MANIFOLD, VALVES, PISTONS AND RINGS

* IT ALSO RETARDS FUTURE CARBON BUILD UP BY LUBRICATING THE

INTAKE AND FUEL SYSTEM

* THOROUGHLY CLEANS THE THROTTLE BODY

* AND IS GUARANTEED TO CLEAN THE FUEL INJECTORS, RETURNING

THEM BACK TO BRAND NEW FACTORY CONDITION

The cost of this service is only $197.80 including chemicals.

We come to you and can offer same or next day service.

We have a 12 Month Nationwide Warranty.

Please call 133032 to book or return email if you prefer - simply send us your
details and we will call to confirm your booking.

yeah i got all that, the first multiple lines mean they spray this hardcore chemical carbon cleaner (may be made by subaru) onto the back of your valves and goes through the system cleaning everything else. Whats most important is that they do an off car clean of the injectors which it doesnt really say in that??

yeah i got all that, the first multiple lines mean they spray this hardcore chemical carbon cleaner (may be made by subaru) onto the back of your valves and goes through the system cleaning everything else. Whats most important is that they do an off car clean of the injectors which it doesnt really say in that??
I don't think they can do an off-car injector clean ...

... not in that time.

... not for that price.

... not from the back of a LubeMobile van in your own driveway.



I'm thinking more along the lines of a can of carby cleaner and a bottle of Redex. :cool: