Really Strong Fuel Smell

[spilamus]

Hello. I have a 96 318ti, and when I went to get in it yesterday, I opened the driver door, and damn near passed out from the overpowering fuel smell inside the car. I aired it out, and then when I went to drive it this morning, it was just as bad. It smells like your sitting in a gas tank. There is no smell outside the car, just in the passenger compartment. It's pretty much undriveable, as the smell is really overpowering.
Any ideas?

[Jeff Spooner]

sounds like one of the sending units or fuel pump unit is cracked or not tight. Or the fuel lines are bad at the tank. Take out the bottom of the rear seat, on each side there is an access panel w/ 4 screws. If one is wet you may get away w/ just new hoses but if it gets wet again replace the whole unit. One last thought, if you had any recent stereo work done they may have drilled a hole or ran a screw into the top of the tank. I have replaced several tanks for this reason.