Bongo Fury

But do you get the smell through your heater when at the lights/reversing?

A few years back one of the locals decided to end it all
pipe up the exhaust and through the window closed garage
start engine and lie back, he was most dis chuffed to waken
next morning needing nothing more than a good wash
his car was a Diesel and did not produce enough carbon
dioxide to do the job, he must have taken it as a omen
as has far as I know he is still with us.

Hi,
We have exactly the same problem and are the ones Mikeonb4c remembered discussing this with, see here http://www.igmaynard.co.uk/bongo/forum/ ... highlight=. We never got to the bottom of it and ours is a twin battery one but with the valve removed and a stainless exhaust. As far as we got was to wonder if it was something to do with the cabin pressure release valve which we think is behind the back bumper but it still doesn't explain how the fumes seem to come through the heater vents just like yours. Ours in converted and has a vent in the gas cupboard but we are sure it isn't coming from there, like yours it blows in our faces at traffic lights. Sorry I don't have the answer but I will follow this with interest .

Well I have booked in again at the garage and I have told him exactly what is happening.He is adamant that they couldn't find anything though.

I will let you know what happens.

cheers
Darren

What a veritable heap of replies. I do have the twin battery set up. Yes it does stop when i put it to recirculate the air.
It's going in for a service on Thursday, I'll let them play with it.
I was wondering why I was getting headaches after being stuck in traffic.

Thanks for help so far.........

Cough.

I'm with you matey! Let me know how you get on.

hi all ,
Had similar problem, could smell diesel when stopped or when braking hard etc. found out after a hard search that the O ring in the fuel pump was leaking ,smell vanished when this was replaced.Had the smell again a few months later and it was the injector return pipe had perished. may be worth checking these two areas.

Good point Simon. Unless you are sure the smell actually is exhaust gas, then that is a very plausible alternative cause.

Thanks Simon ,will point the garage towards that.

The only thing is that the smell comes through the heater vents when the heater is on and not up through the engine cover

Hi Gillybump, mine was the same , we would be driving along and then when at lights etc i would get nasty wiffs of diesel from the fan heater . As i said it also took a while for me to pin point the problem . If it is this , it is fairly easy and cheap to fix.

Nice one Simon.
Will get the garage to change the O ring and inspect the pipes.

Curiosity got the better of me and I have been out in the dark with a torch looking at the engine.

How you lot work on these is beyond me. It is a feat of engineering and should win some award!!

Anyway I had a look around the fuel pump and the banjo thing and couldn't see any leak.I did notice a patch of oil on the engine block behind the pump but I am pretty sure this is oil.

I couldn't see any other leaks. Also had a good look at the heater system and cannot for the life of me see how the fumes are coming out of the vents?

While I had the engine open I didn't get a whiff of veg oil and have driven it today with an intermittent smell

Hi

This may or may not be related to the original reported probelm but it may be of interest.

I had fumes coming into the cab last year and I eventually decided that it was a cracked weld around the EGR pipe at the front of the intake manifold. I fitted Allens blanking plates to isolate the EGR and all seemed well.
BUT after a while I again noticed fumes very occassionally - like the others when I stopped at junctions - this time though I decided it was different to the previous smell and wondered if it was hot oil fumes from somewhere but I too thought it was coming in with the heater air.

However, tonight on the way home I got a call on my mobile so pulled over to answer it. I got a very definite 'fume' smell through the heater vents as I stopped - stronger than usual.
While I was talking I noticed drfits of white gaseous stuff drifting up in front of the headlights (I was in a dark back road - no street lights). So jumped out and walked round the back and checked that the was no exhaust gases (engine was up to temperature) - round to the front and yes there was steam drfiting up past the nearside headlamp.
I have a Mason alarm - temperature was normal
I have a low coolant level alarm (float switch) - not sounding
used a torch to see through the header tank - just a bit above the full mark - so OK
Eventually found that I had 2 points that were producing steam.
First was from the junction of the metal pipe and the hose to the top of the radiator (the hose is due to be changed on Thursday anyway) - there must be a very slight seepage past the hose clamp as I can see marks on the metal from where it is turning to steam.
The second appeared to be worse but I could not see very well - it looked as though it was coming from the near side bottom of the radiator.

I drove home (5 mins) and took another look.
Same as before and still can not decide if its the bottom hose radiator seal leaking slightly the same as the other one - or - if I've got a leak in the radiator. Its too dark to see.

Now the point is I have only noticed a very slight drop in coolant level over the past 6 months since I put the alarms in. From the full mark down to about half way between the marks (when cold). The top radiator hose shows signs of weakness at the metal pipe end hence the replacement but i have noticed the sort of 'tide' marks on the pipe before but never seen any steam so never thought anything of it.
The real point of putting this under this thread - yes I know I go on some what is that the smell of the fumes did remind me of somthing between exhaust and hot oil smells.

By the way I would not have noticed the steam under normal conditions - just the time & place that i happened to stopped

Sorry that took so long.

Regards Grahame

Cheers for that grahame, Gillybump has a new avenue to check now...

Gillybump wrote:I did notice a patch of oil on the engine block behind the pump but I am pretty sure this is oil.

I couldn't see any other leaks. Also had a good look at the heater system and cannot for the life of me see how the fumes are coming out of the vents?

While I had the engine open I didn't get a whiff of veg oil and have driven it today with an intermittent smell

I still think it could be a leak from the pump. Was the engine cold when you checked, if so the leak (if there is one) might not smell as much. You could try Dandywarhol's test as shown here:-

Pump Seal

I would advise doing when engine is cool and not running. (of course )