Gasoline Smell

[Kent McLean]

Max Hoepli wrote:
> 1986 Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro. there is a gas smell I detect 
> when coming out of the car, strong on the left side of car. 
> There is no gasoline dripping from car.   

It doesn't have to drip to smell.  A common problem with the
older cars is that the fuel line, under the rubber bushings
under the clips that hold the line to the undercarriage, 
gets corroded by trapped water and salt. It starts as a 
small leak.  And when it does let loose a drip, that drip
evaporates quickly.

> When car is hot engine needs to be cranked over 10-15 secs. 
> Cranks over strongly. Then huffs and puffs and engine gains 
> speed slowly while I hold gas pedal down. What could the 
> problems be? 

IIRC, the 200s had an afterrun fan to cool the injectors
(using an easily broken and hard to find plastic piece),
so the fuel wouldn't boil away and cause hard starting.
Is that an issue with/your the 5000?

> Gas smell and hard starting when engine is hot may be 
> unrelated.      

That would be my guess.  Unless the gas leak is a loose
fitting under the hood -- maybe a rubber fuel line that
is leaking and allowing the fuel line pressure to drop.
But that wouldn't be a hot-only issue, unless the heat
cause the rubber to swell/relax to allow the leak.

My 2 cents.

-- 
Kent McLean
'94 100 S Avant, "Moody"
'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy" up in smoke