car smells like gasoline in cockpit and stalls after 15 minutes of running

Asked by yenerall Apr 14, 2010 at 01:16 PM about the 1977 Volkswagen Beetle

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Car just shipped to me from vintage car dealer. I am sure it sat for some time. It is original and in excellent shape. The car runs well for about 10 miles and then stalls. It will start up after sitting for an hour and do the same thing. I filled up the tank thinking that would help but now I smell gas in the cockpit as well. Any ideas what this could be? It is original rebuilt fuel injection engine

6 Answers

20

Well i have to say if you still read this CHECK YOUR FUEL LINES. My 73 beetle was doing the same thing except for the stalling but it had the gas in the cabin. I thought this was normal and continued to drive it until one day it lost power. I got out looked back towards the engine and saw smoke. I opened up the compartment and sure enough a nice fire for me. Luckily i was by an autozone so i ran in a bought a fire extinguisher. However the point of the story is i was about to change my old fuel lines and didn't. Now my engines wiring and hosing all needs to be redone. Your choice. P.S. Fuel line to do it yourself is under $15.

2 people found this helpful.
3,195

most likely it's the fuel vent system. you need to check the bently manual and go over the vent system of the fuel tank. if you don't have a manual, you can look it up on thesamba.com

4 people found this helpful.
440

well first its not very vintage if it has fuel injection the lines that send gas and return line that returns it are not working due to a injection malfunc from computer

150

HI, tghe way you are explaining the problem it sure is the fuel system. first of all you should remove the fuel tank and give it a cleanup. secondly you should blow the fuel line with compressed air making sure you remove the line from the side of the carburettor, this means that the line is not connected to any thing. than change the fuel pump. reasons: the car uses the fuel it has in the carburettor thus giving you some milage than it stops working till the fuel trickels to the carb and starts again ang it gives you another bit of driving. I am quite sure that this is your problem . Regards

3 people found this helpful.
10

fuel pump ,change it or change gascket,be careful

1 people found this helpful.

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