UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Bit of a strange one... Over the last few days I have noticed a strong fuel smell when the car is stationary. This only seems to happen after a run where the car has been moving consistently for a short period of time. It is more noticeable when stationary at a junction when leaving the motorway. When the car is moving there is no smell of fuel, it's only when the car is stationary.

My car is a 2011 1.2 TSI SEL with almost 80k on the clock, it's been serviced as a main dealer as per the service schedule.

Any ideas what this could be?

could be the crankcase breather hose not connected properly

I'd check the obvious things like the fuel cap isn't leaking, the fuel lines underneath the car are not damaged and there is not fuel leaking from a chaffed or split fuel line in the engine bay.

After that, I think the polo has a carbon canister that is supposed to trap fuel vapour from the breather system, so check connections to that, as well as the breather hose mentioned already.

I'd be surprised if rubber lines are perishing on a 4 year old car, but they could have worn through somewhere from incorrect routing or being disturbed at service time etc.

Thanks for your advise guys!

Updating in case anyone else has the same problem. This turned out to be a cracked breather hose. After replacing it there is no pong!

Gald you got it sorted, and good call from alex..

Glad its all sorted