My Mates 316i fuel probs

[johnna]

Hi all,
my mate has a 1990 316i two door.

He reports:"when I start it from cold it smells of petrol I checked it and it looks like it is overfilling, there's petrol on the engine at the back where the fuel pipes connect. The car starts fine but hesitates when cold. Its fine when warm, and there is no petrol smell. What can it be? The pipes seemfine (no splits)"

I told him not to drive it. Fuel and heat is bad!!!
My gut feeling is cracked fuel pipe (heat and age) or a loose fuel union.

I told him to turn the ignition to pos2 to prime the pump and to look for spray (a prism) in the bay and to listen for a hiss to locate the leak.

The poor cold running, well we all have that! I told him to check temp sender and temp sensor in stat housing.

I also told him to enroll here!!

Am I on the right track?

[Brianmoooore]

You're on the right track, except that the (blue) temp sensor is half way back the block under the inlet manifold on an M40, not on the stat housing.
There are a couple of rubber fuel hoses hidden under the upper part of the inlet manifold which give trouble because of the heat from the engine.
If these are the originals, then it's time they were changed!

[johnna]

Thats a great bit of info. Cheers!
I'll pass it on to him.