TR3A smells in the garage (it stinks)

[cvtrian]

Hi everyone

I tried once before with this/a similar posting, but nothing very helpful/or that worked came back, so I'm back again with a theory....

 

The Issue

when I park the TR3A in my garage, which is integral to the house, there is no problem if the car is "cold", but if I drive it straight in the garage after normal use, the house soon stinks of engine fumes, even if the hot car is pushed into the garage so no exhaust fumes, and it takes ages to disperse! Needless to say I'm not very popular when this happens. Naturally my solution is to leave the car on the drive for an hour or so to cool down before putting it in the garage.

 

Previous suggestions included fitting a petrol tap, but I'm struggling with that as a) the smell isnt petrol, and the fuel tank is vented anyway and the garage doesnt smell if the car is cold, even when I drive it straight in.

 

There doesnt appear to be any pressure build up in the rocker area when I hold/close my hand over the filler neck.

 

Theory, based on my previous ownership of a TR4a:-

My TR4a with exactly the same engine set up never ever manifested the problem, I could put the car away after hours of driving, no problem. The only difference between the cars I know about is the venting of the rocker cover, which on the 3A is via the large filler cap in the rocker cover, whereas the 4A had a PCV valve linked to the in inlet manifold, so producing a closed system. I cant quite remember what the crankase breather arrangements are but I'm asssuming they are the same on both engines.....

So, would putting a PCV valve in and closing the rocker venting system solve this problem (I have a rocker cover to suit anyway)?

Or, should I swap the PCV valve for an oil catch tank (as race cars), and if so, should it be closed or vented?

Or, I'm told some cars have carbon emmissions filters in their breather systems, would this do the trick if I adapted something to suit?

 

Its pretty frustrating, so if anyone has solved this problem I would very much like to hear from them.

Fingers crossed

Ian

[KEL]

hi i had the same prob still not solved-- ive put it down to oil dripping on the eghaust or misting as it goes along i do have a small leak so thats prob it if you find out any other idea please let me know regards kel

[Richardtr3a]

My garage smells very badly of petrol fumes and I am thinking of some form of breather valve on the tank overflow. i am not sure about the filler seal and wonder if anyone has an answer to all this.

[scotty]

Im with Kel on that , My first thought was oil on the exhaust . I also have a PI 6 which as you know are notoriously smelly but I do not get any issues in the house ( also integrated garage) unless I run the car with the exhaust pointing in the garage . I have not had any issues with my 2 although its never been hot enough really as its still not roadworthy.

[stuart]

Hi everyone

I tried once before with this/a similar posting, but nothing very helpful/or that worked came back, so I'm back again with a theory....

 

The Issue

when I park the TR3A in my garage, which is integral to the house, there is no problem if the car is "cold", but if I drive it straight in the garage after normal use, the house soon stinks of engine fumes, even if the hot car is pushed into the garage so no exhaust fumes, and it takes ages to disperse! Needless to say I'm not very popular when this happens. Naturally my solution is to leave the car on the drive for an hour or so to cool down before putting it in the garage.

 

Previous suggestions included fitting a petrol tap, but I'm struggling with that as a) the smell isnt petrol, and the fuel tank is vented anyway and the garage doesnt smell if the car is cold, even when I drive it straight in.

 

There doesnt appear to be any pressure build up in the rocker area when I hold/close my hand over the filler neck.

 

Theory, based on my previous ownership of a TR4a:-

My TR4a with exactly the same engine set up never ever manifested the problem, I could put the car away after hours of driving, no problem. The only difference between the cars I know about is the venting of the rocker cover, which on the 3A is via the large filler cap in the rocker cover, whereas the 4A had a PCV valve linked to the in inlet manifold, so producing a closed system. I cant quite remember what the crankase breather arrangements are but I'm asssuming they are the same on both engines.....

So, would putting a PCV valve in and closing the rocker venting system solve this problem (I have a rocker cover to suit anyway)?

Or, should I swap the PCV valve for an oil catch tank (as race cars), and if so, should it be closed or vented?

Or, I'm told some cars have carbon emmissions filters in their breather systems, would this do the trick if I adapted something to suit?

 

Its pretty frustrating, so if anyone has solved this problem I would very much like to hear from them.

Fingers crossed

Ian

The earlier engines i.e 2/3/3a/4 have a crankcase breather on the left side of the block which is directly venting to air and the top end breathes through the filler cap whereas the 4a doesnt have the crankcase breather and the oil filler cap is sealed with a small vent centally in the cap and the entire engine then breathes (in standard form) through the PCV valve back into the inlet manifold. So a hot earlier engine can be venting its fumes freely for sometime after switching off. Regular oil changes do help and get rid of as many oil leaks as you can

Richard have you checked the condition of the sealant ring in the fuel filler neck as most are brittle and not doing a lot by now. Also when was the last time the rubber hose between the filler neck and tank was changes as they too get brittle after many years

Stuart

[john.r.davies]

Ian,

Don't spend your time on the car (WHAT AM I SAYING?)

No, look at the house.

There is clearly some reason for the smell getting from garage into living area.

With no idea about your house, it's impossible to know what, but is it a built on garage to the side?

Is there a ventilation brick that used to air the wall cavity, that now admits the fumes?

Could you fit an extractor fan to redirect the air flow? One that stays on for a while after you put the garage light out, like those for a lavatory with no external window? Or else just have a switch for the fan in the house with a timer on it.

 

John

Edited April 24, 2009 by john.r.davies

[cvtrian]

The earlier engines i.e 2/3/3a/4 have a crankcase breather on the left side of the block which is directly venting to air and the top end breathes through the filler cap whereas the 4a doesnt have the crankcase breather and the oil filler cap is sealed with a small vent centally in the cap and the entire engine then breathes (in standard form) through the PCV valve back into the inlet manifold. So a hot earlier engine can be venting its fumes freely for sometime after switching off. Regular oil changes do help and get rid of as many oil leaks as you can

Stuart

 

Stuart

Thanks, I didnt appreciate that the 4A doesnt have the crankcase breather, so......

What would be the consequences of blocking off the crankcase vent on my engine? It would be pretty easy to do as a temporary measure, but I wouldnt want to cause other issues?

Thanks

Ian

[stuart]

Stuart

Thanks, I didnt appreciate that the 4A doesnt have the crankcase breather, so......

What would be the consequences of blocking off the crankcase vent on my engine? It would be pretty easy to do as a temporary measure, but I wouldnt want to cause other issues?

Thanks

Ian

Without fitting the correct rocker cover and PCV valve and the manifold drilled to suit. You would have oil leaks everywhere as the crankcase compression needs to go somewhere.

Stuart

Edited April 25, 2009 by stuart

[Paul Down]

Stuarts suggestion that the engine fumes are continuing to vent via the breather seems logical (Stuart is generally 100%).

 

Perhaps when you drive the TR with a hot engine into the garage you could place a container of some solvent e.g. paraffin/gunk etc. around the breather so that it vents under the surface of the solvent. Be careful though, wouldnt want you to burn the house down!

[peterc]

Ian,

Don't spend your time on the car (WHAT AM I SAYING?)

No, look at the house.

There is clearly some reason for the smell getting from garage into living area.

With no idea about your house, it's impossible to know what, but is it a built on garage to the side?

Is there a ventilation brick that used to air the wall cavity, that now admits the fumes?

Could you fit an extractor fan to redirect the air flow? One that stays on for a while after you put the garage light out, like those for a lavatory with no external window? Or else just have a switch for the fan in the house with a timer on it.

 

John

Hi Ian, I am with John here. The fumes should not be entering the house. Either there is a direct connection between the house and garage (I do appreciate that there is a doorway but this will be shut and sealed) or the garage ventilation is blocked up. You should have at least 2 airbricks in the garage external wall.

I always wanted an integral garage but at present I have a wooden one about 30 yards from the house with a tiled floor, but not as we know it. The tiles are crumpled roof tiles, most uncomfortable to lie on.

Peter

[trfella]

Hi Ian, I am with John here. The fumes should not be entering the house. Either there is a direct connection between the house and garage (I do appreciate that there is a doorway but this will be shut and sealed) or the garage ventilation is blocked up. You should have at least 2 airbricks in the garage external wall.

I always wanted an integral garage but at present I have a wooden one about 30 yards from the house with a tiled floor, but not as we know it. The tiles are crumpled roof tiles, most uncomfortable to lie on.

Peter

 

And I'm with both on this too. You should look at the garage as something is wrong with its ventilation (if there is any).

 

Maybe leave the garage main door open for 1/2 hour or so after bringing the car back in for now? Just until you get the ventilation sorted.

[Menno van Rij]

I noticed that my smells after I've filled up the tank. I think it's the breather pipe on top of the tank that causes the smell. When the tank is half full or less, there's no smell at all, when -as said- the tank's filled up, there is a smell. I always leave my car in the open for about half an hour before I put the car inside. Mind you, I push the car inside, so that I do not have to start the engine again for just a few moments. (And pushing the car is easy: the drive is flush with the garage floor).

 

When I first noticed the smell, I tried to find the source: with help from a friend, we found that the smell was coming from behind of the car. We found it quite easily: I owned a Spitfire for years and that car had the same issue. Perhaps it's worthwhile having a look (sniff) near the back wheels?

 

Take care,

 

Menno

[cvtrian]

Hi, and thanks for the replies

 

from the feedback I have decided on two couses of action as below

 

1. Ventilate the garage to the outside, I couldnt find any air bricks or ventilation points anywhere, so I'll fit an extractor fan with a switch timer to run for 30 mins after activating.

 

2. Change to a closed breather set up as on later cars, using a later rocker cover, flame trap, and vent into the air filters to save drilling the manifold (twin webers fitted so two manifolds anyway). Looking at the Moss catalogue page 47 shows what is needed and explains the differences between early and later models.

 

On the "drive it day" today we were doing a charity event offering dream rides, so I had a chance to check out other cars, and the range of variants was surprising, from no crankcase vent and the rocker venting to the atmosphere via a pipe routed to the ground, to "standard" set ups.

 

I will let you know how I get on and the results when I've finished....................

 

Kind Regards

Ian

[Badfrog]

Hi all,

 

Quite funny, Lady Ann smells rather good (dust, old vinyl, oil, grease and slowly decaying whatnots ...).

None of that enters the house as my garage does not connect to the house (a good point for burglars too). I have to go outside to enter it. So this might explain.

 

Still, the garage does not smell of fumes and/or fuel. I never have the engine on when in the garage. May be you have a fuel leak or you don't turn the engine off fast enough.

 

Can't think of anything else.

 

badfrog