A little bit of advice needed

[vinnie07]

My recently purchased car (fairly low milage) has sporadically started smelling of petrol through the heater when turned on, this only seems to happen on about 50% of the drives. Petrol can also be smelt around the bonnet area when this happens.
Any idea's? Just seems so bizarre it isn't happening every time I run the car.
Thanks for reading

[stevieturbo]

you could look for a petrol leak.

[GreenV8S]

You have a fuel leak. Why it's intermittent is curious but not important. Petrol vapour can be very dangerous, especially in an enclosed space such as inside a car. The longer you leave it the greater the chance that one day the car will go 'woof'.

[E-bmw]

Another vote for a fuel leak quite simply, it needs to be found.

If nothing else you are throwing valuable petrol away, never mind the increased risk of fire.

[TorqueDirty]

Had this years ago on my Golf VR6.

It was always when cold, but when it was warmed up it went away.

Turned out to be a bad seal on the fuel return line from the fuel injection system (I think that's correct anyway).

When the rubber seal was cold it was not sealing correctly, but then the engine bay warmed up, the rubber got softer and then sealed.

Took a while to track down. I eventually found it one cold morning when I popped the bonnet shortly after starting the car. There was a lot of fuel getting chucked out!

[vinnie07]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Seems pretty unanimous as to what the issue. Having recently purchased the car the dealership agreed to take a lot at the car and sort it, I dropped it off today, hopefully it's rectified in good time. Thanks again