From time to time I notice a smeel of petrol. Not all the time - and difficult to say when exactly - but more usually when either full or nearly empty.
This is a US spec car (1981 injection). Anybody offer any suggestions where to start looking ?
Regards
Geoff

Nowhere with a naked light obviously but joking aside, don't do it indoors either incase a vapour trail turns into a flood. This happened to me and wasn't fun..
Whereabouts is the smell stongest? I'll guess it's boot related and if it's when the car is full I'd suspect any of the pipes/breathers in the boot and the rubber pipe connectors from the filler neck to the tank itself. Next one will be the fuel lines under the car, check the flexibles from the tank to the solid line on the left side of the car at the back, near the trailing arms. BUT only do this with an empty tank! One of these let go on mine when I touched it (and I don't mean "gave it a hard tug"!) and deposited a couple of gallons on me and the floor. I'm not familiar with the injected engine but I'd suggest looking downstream of the (high pressure) pump. Replace anything that looks even remotely perished. Don't reuse old jubilee clips and I'd also look at the injector rail for signs of obvious leaks.
Hope that helps!
Guy

thanks Guy for that. As soon as the snow is gone (I am in france) I will get under and start pulling pipes. By the way, thanks for reminding me to do it when the tank is empty! - it is the sort of small detail I usually forget !
Thanks again for the reply. (coincidence - I too am from Liverpool - Anfield then Knotty Ash)
Regards
Geoff

Okay now this is getting spooky.

It'ss 11am here and in 2 hours I get on a plane from Liverpool to Barcelona, pick up a hire car and drive to an overnight stop at Argeles-Sur-Mer and on Thursday morning drive from there, past Perpignan and up to Font Romeu (and possible Les Angles) for 3 days skiing. So I hope you don't get teh chance to get underneath the car for a few days yet! I NEED SNOW THERE!!

Guy

spooky - you're right - I live about an hour from Font Romeu.
Good skiing !
regards
Geoff

Had a similar problem 15 years ago when I had my first Spider, a 1980 CS0. Smelled of petrol only when the car hadn't been used for a while...
Found that this was caused by a very small hole in the fuel line - the fuel lines actually ran inside the car (left side, under the carpet) from the tank to the engine (not sure if that was original but it looked the part). It must have ever so slightly seeping out when the car was stationary hence the smell inside the car. Also, since it was really not a lot petrol I suppose the moment you drove there was enough fresh air to prevent one from noticing the smell.

It was fairly easy to find though as the petrol disolved the undercarriage sealer (inside the car) where the leak was - what a mess! Since I was young and brave and broke (or stupid with no clue?) at the time I fixed it by slitting a piece of rubber hose, filling it with epoxy adhesive and sliding it over the hole. Then secured it with a couple of jubilee clips. Drove like that for ~4 years and never had a problem, however, that was probably just lucky ... Wouldn't fix it like that anymore but get a replacement fuel line fitted I suppose...

Hope this helps - maybe yours is just a connection somewhere.
Cheers, Stefan