I will have to take it to a garage, but I thought I'd just throw it out there to see if anyone has any ideas. My 2004 Nissan Primera 2.2DCi has started to emanate a strong diesel smell from the engine bay in the last few days, to the extent that when the car is stationary it fills the cabin. I have had a good poke around in there to see if I can see anything leaking but to no avail. It's only been a few days so I haven't managed to work out whether the fuel economy had dropped, but there are no pools of fuel under the car where it's parked so if it is a leak it's definitely not too severe... Do you think this will be as simple as a split pipe/loose connection somewhere, or is it more likely to be an expensive job like the fuel pump? Either way I'm preparing for an expensive repair bill Any pointers on where to look?
Im certainly no expert so this is only coming from my own expirience I had problems around a year ago where i would constantly break down and send my car back to the same garage it went through lengthy changes as they really could'nt pin point the problem I would always get it back and slowly over the period of around a month my car would have a constant strong smell of petrol on the inside whenever stationary even if i got into the car first thing in the morning left overnight. It did turn out to be the fuel system and had the fuel pump replaced (and tank because it had a crack in it meaning when i would fill up over half it would leak a little) that fixed the problem of breakdowns and the smell. Although my car had alot changed in the month sensors the lot so it could have just been all the alterations that caused the initial smell, just something to think about.
The fuel pump will likely be at the back of the car, probably in the tank itself, so it is unlikely to be that. You didn't specify if you could smell diesel itself or diesel fumes. If you can smell diesel itself, then something is leaking. If you can smell fumes, your exhaust is leaking tldr; something is leaking.
There will be a high pressure pump under the engine bay though RTT, being a common rail, but yeah, leakage present somewhere.
I'm no mechanic, but it may be one of the seals in the engine has failed or is deteriorating and that is leaking the fumes into the engine bay and in turn they make their way into the cabin. It's just a guess, but I do remember a car from the Wheeler Dealers series (I know Dad TV!) on Sky having a similar issue and that was a seal problem.
Yep, there's a lift pump at the tank and high pressure pump for the common rail injection under the bonnet. Quite simply if you can smell Diesel, something is leaking somewhere
Ah, I figured that was done much, much nearer the injection sysstem (which run insanely super high PSI )!
The high pressure fuel rail is under the bonnet, attached to the inlet manifold. Maybe you meant your post in an "I thought so" way instead of an "I thought differently but you're right" way. I'm a little now
The diesel is drawn up from the tank and fed up to the diesel filters at low pressure and then on to the high pressure injection pump and from there to the fuel rail and injectors, as you say there maybe a leak in a pipe or filter seal which may not be that obvious as it's low pressure (relatively speaking) but if it's leaking from the high pressure side of the system ( 1,000's of psi) you can often see it. If you look under the bonnet when the motors running and you can't see diesel squirting out some where and if the engine seems to be running alright it's probably a low pressure leak, a high pressure leak on the injection side will often affect the running of the engine as the motor is being starved of fuel.
Revisiting this old thread, it has taken me until now to get the damn problem fixed. For anyone who was interested, the union between one of the fuel rails and injector assemblies was leaking. Cost to replace was £210 inclusive, which wasn't bad since it took them a few hours to clean up the mess and find the leak, and that was a main dealer price. Shame the air blowing though the climate control still smells like stale diesel, methinks when the sun is out properly a bit of dashboard disassembly and cleaning might be in order, a small amount of diesel has clearly worked its way into the vents somewhere between the intake and the back of the dashboard. It'll be fun though
I wouldn't bother disassembling the air inlets - get down to your local motorfactor and find a degreaser - slather the engine bay in it and rinse (gently, just mist water on it). Chances are the stray diesel has dribbled about and misted onto various components. Generally air intakes are positioned at the high-pressure area in front of the windscreen, drawing all the smells through from the engine bay if something's gone astray.
Just replace the cabin filter, that'll improve it a huge amount. Pulling the dash is a painful task and with passenger airbag's just makes it dam dangerous to go in blind with best intentions. Unless you've got a manufactures workshop manual (not haynes) I wouldn't bother.
Krikkit - they've cleaned the engine bay pretty thoroughly and it doesn't smell much any more. Burnout's spot on, I'm going after the blower filter first since that will have picked up a lot of stink. It's behind the glovebox so relatively easy to get to. I do have the Nissan workshop manual as well, I just lack tools and expertise
Ah, apologies, I forget about these fancy pollen filter thingies. Mine just has a coarse sponge to keep bits out - once it got loose and I ended up with tiny blossoms coming through!
That reminds me of my first car, a Rover Metro. Unbeknownst to me the filter had been removed by the previous owner. I found this out the unpleasant way when I parked up next to a pond on a muggy summer's evening, and the cabin promptly filled (and I mean filled) with midges and flies.
lol, my old volvo had no filter what so ever, and the vent system filled with pine pollen/seedy things about the size of pin heads. Turn the blower on and I would get coated in them.
Now see to chaps like Krikkit and Burnout (and many more of you I'm sure), this probably makes perfect sense: But it fills me with dread. Will it go back together again? Is the filter washable or does it need replacing? Will I even be able to get the bast out? Will my hands be torn and bleeding by the end of the process?
It doesn't look too bad as long as removing the glovebox and cover isn't too technical. The thing that looks crazy is the exploded parts at the bottom, but chances are it'll all look very straightfoward in-hand. Is there no procedure for replacing the filter on its own? Seems mad you should have to take the whole blower out. If you're going to all that trouble I'd just replace it - £10 or so well spent. [edit] Don't have to take it all to bits, there's a cover over the filter that just unclips and you're done, apparently. Much easier than disassembling everything. I'd suggest replacing the filter first, if the smell persists have a crack at cleaning the blower too.
