The exhaust from my car smells a lot of fuel when the car is cold. My wife followed the car the other day and said she could smell it from her car....not good! Any idea what would be causing this?

it could be a few things, possible to rich fuel mixture, or a slight misfire somewhere. Best is to get the car on diagnostics.

Or if its fresh fuel you can smell a leak in the fuel lines is possible. I would have a look athe the fuel filter.

I actually had a small fuel leak from a fuel line near the engine... noticeable mostly when the car was cold. When it was warm, and I was driving it, the fuel evaporated much quicker so it wasn't as noticable.

Are you getting a fuel smell inside the car while driving? (I did). If so, might want to have those lines checked. I've read other posts where they can be a little problematic.

I actually had a small fuel leak from a fuel line near the engine... noticeable mostly when the car was cold. When it was warm, and I was driving it, the fuel evaporated much quicker so it wasn't as noticable.

Are you getting a fuel smell inside the car while driving? (I did). If so, might want to have those lines checked. I've read other posts where they can be a little problematic.

I had this problem too and I was leaking from here:

how did u fix it Jimmy? welded?

:rofl:, Sorry, but a welder and gas don't mix. I just replaced those fuel lines in the red circle of the picture with some new lines and hose clamps which solved the problems.

:P I thought u meant the manifold had a hole or something :)

I had the leaky fuel pipes like the one ringed. BTW you have to REALLY tighten up the jubilee clips or it carries on leaking. There's no smell in the car anymore. The fuel smell is coming from the exhausts, if you smell the exhaust when it's cold it really smells badly of fuel. It looks to me that the engine is running way too rich when it's cold, what might cause that?

this all sounds very familiar, so very interested to know what's going on here

The fuel hoses "Sweat" gasoline thru the walls of the tube after a certain age.

It is most noticeable cold and eventually can cause a fire. The worst hoses are the ones below the fresh air inlet behind the motor. This is why the scent is so noticeable.

If they are leaking then all of the hoses are leaking and contributing to both the smell and fire hazard.:(

The V12 has 8 hoses and the V8 has 2. There are several more in the vapor recovery system that will also need replaced.

Don't forget to check the hoses at the fuel filters in front of the rear wheel as well. Drivers side for LHD. That was where my 840 was leaking.

is it an easy job to change all the hoses?

Can't be too bad just remember to run the motor until it dies completely with the fuel pump relay/s out to get rid of any gas under pressure that may still be in the lines.

I'll do a fair amount of research before attempting it. that's a good start, cheers

Sam, I did the small ones by the heater blower in 5 mins flat. The others are for another day as they look more tricky and weren't showing any signs of leaking. I take the point Terry makes though and I will change them soon as I really don't want to be driving a fireball. I didn't run the system dry and only a bit of fuel leaked when I changed the hoses, not sure if thay was bad.....? Tighten those jubilees tighter than feels good though...

cool, I'll get all the hoses at some point and get started. I too don't want the risk of an inferno!

What would make the DMEs run the engine too rich when it's cold? Could one of the sensors (temp?) be bad? O2s? The smell outside the car is horrible and very uncool....

check the temp sensors in the back of the intake runners. Also, could be the three temp sensors for the coolant located at the back of the engine, passenger side.

check the temp sensors in the back of the intake runners. Also, could be the three temp sensors for the coolant located at the back of the engine, passenger side.

I'm with TX...........bad coolant temp sensor.......

My 95 840 has this smell too, Now I need to replace the cats bacause of a rattle.

My thought are the o2 sensors making the motor run rich, clogging the cats then backing the exhaust up for the first few cycles on the motor. When your not moving the vapors consume the car.
After 1 mi I can't smell it anymore.

I just got 2 cats and 2 o2 sensors today and need to install them. I'll let you know how mine turns out.

If you don't find the cause of the overly rich setting, you will destroy your cats and the O2 sensors fairly soon....