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Diesel smell
I have had my bus since March and since I purchased it I have noticed a faily strong smell of diesel inside the bus. I seems more noticeable in the center of the bus. The further you go to the back or the front inside the bus the less noticeable it seems. Also in the storage bays it seems the cnter bays have the stronger smell.
I thought it may be the Aqua Hot but I have looked every where I can think of in that bay and can not find any fuel leeks. I also shut the fuel off to the Aqua Hot and there dose not seem to be any difference. Is there a braether tub out of the fuel tank that may be causing the oder?
The bay with the generator dose not seem to have the oder.
Thanks in advance for any help.
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10 Replies
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I assume raw fuel smell (not exhaust) since you mention the aquahot. The fuel tank is located about in the middle of the bus. Maybe it has a leak, or a vent has become plugged/ unhooked? Have you looked under the bus to see if there is any fuel puddling there?
The generator bay has good ventilation and that may be why it isn’t strong there….Other than that, I don’t have anything that comes to mind right now.
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The fuel tank(s) is in the center of the coach. Whichever bays are not pass through or which do not have converter installed devices that go through the center are likely to have the fuel tank behind them.
If I had a fuel smell I would first try to get beneath the coach and look carefully under and around the tank(s). Unlike gasoline if you have even a small diesel leak it is not going to evaporate, but get bigger and dirtier as it accumulates dust and dirt. So if it is from a tank or a connection it should show up with a look from below. If your coach has auxiliary fuel you have a second tank joined to the maion tank with a hose connection. That could be leaking. If you have OTR there is a possibility you can pull a panel in that bay and look at the fill tube connections to the tank.
Mark is correct on his comments and you cannot rule anything out.
The leak if any can be very small, but diesel has such a strong odor it is likely you will smell it. Before you go completely crazy looking it will not hurt to soap up and areas that are dirty with oil or possible fuel drippage such as in the areas around the fuel filler and flush them clean. I use Simple Green, but any good material like that works.
Your fuel tank is vented, look there, and follow the fuel lines to and from the fuel tank also. If you cannot borrow a pit such as at a truck stop to get beneath the coach at least make certain you support the coach under the body support points before even thinking about sliding under.
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We had the smell a few years back. Our coach has an aux fuel tank. The hose between the 2 tanks was failing. Had leak fixed and smell left us.
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Dean, I had the same problem and thought the diesel tank. It was summer and hadn’t used for awhile. Over a period of time, got worse. Mine was aquahot fuel pump that was leaking and didn’t show (for weeks) until it actually dripped out the bottom of combustion chamber. Had folks r&r system and that was last year. No more diesel smell. Like I say, it didn’t show until it dripped into compartment but still had the strong smell. Hope this helps.
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I had the dreaded diesel odor and found the problem to be when Prevost assembled the coach they installed a very short vent hose which just let the fumes accumulate. The solution was to drop the tank and install a longer vent hose which solved the problem.
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Thank you for all the suggestions.
If it a leak it must be a very small one because I store it in a shop with a new cement floor and there is not one drop of leaking fuel under the bus.
What is the easiest way to get to the fuel tank vent? That may be the place to start because there dose not seem to be any apperant leak. I filled it with fuel Wednesday before I parked it in the shop and the smell seemed to be stronger yesterday when I drove it out of the shop. I checked the floor again and there was no sign of any fuel leaking on the floor.
I checked the generator compartment and there seemed to be a little diesel smell in there but the strongest smell seemed again to be in the second bay back on the drivers side and in the Aqua Hot bay. I am going to take Jon’s suggeation and do some cleaning in the generator and Aqua Hot bays to see if that helps.
Thanks again for your help
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Dean,
I’ll take a shot at this from experience. I had diesel smell in the Aqua-Hot area in my Royale, now Peters and the problem was a leaking banjo fitting on the Webasto as well a brittle hose causing a small drip. The diesel leaked into the insulation under the burn unit and it acted kind of like a sponge. I had a few drops under the Webasto where it bolted to the burn tube, but most of the fuel was going under and soaking the insulation. I caught it pretty quick so it was not a problem after replacing the banjo fittings and hoses.
You have to take apart the Webasto head to really see what’s gong on. On some, you have enough room to just loosen the bolts and it swings out 90 degrees.
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Banjo fittings one the AquaHot were bad in mine too when I bought it, Tom. Fits the description perfectly for mine.
DKO
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I had a diesel smell in mine……….It was coming from around the filler neck on the drivers side. The seal around the fuel fill door was missing a piece and allowed the OTR air to suck fuel fumes into the a/c condensor on the OTR air.
Replaced seal, and it went away.
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Dean
I agree with Glen the Aqua Hot pump may have a leak. I had the same problem with my Blue Bird and found it to be the pump. Be sure to go to Webasto for a replacement pump, Aqua Hot’s price are some what on the high side. Webasto makes the burner and the pump for Aqua Hot.
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