Q5inPDX

2 weeks ago I drove my Q5 TDI to the Shell station near my house and asked the attendant to fill it with diesel (I live in Oregon where you aren't allowed to pump your own gas - yes, strange I know for non-Oregonians). A few minutes later, the car behind me is honking at me and I look in my right-hand mirror to see fuel running all over the exterior of my car. The pump's auto shut-off didn't auto shut-off. Never seen or heard of that happening before, but I guess any mechanism can fail.

The manager apologized and refunded me for 2 gallons of over-fill and I drove straight to the car wash where I had it washed - twice. The next morning my garage reeked of diesel so clearly there was still fuel in the wheel wells, underbody, somewhere (luckily, the smell does not affect the interior in any way.) The next few days were pretty rainy so I figured it would continue to wash away - and clearly it did as the rear bumper on that side of the car looked a lot dirtier than the other side. Another car wash a few days later. Now I swear some of the paint is not as shiny on the rear bumper of that side...need to wax, stat.

Fast forward to 2 weeks later and it still smells of diesel. Not nearly as bad as the morning after the incident, but does anyone know if this smell ever going to go away? Do I just need to wait it out? Maybe once the weather gets warmer it will evaporate away? The wheel wells seem to have a heavy duty lining of some sort - perhaps some of the fuel is trapped in there?

Ugh.

AudiQ5sleeper

the smell will go away. no need to worry about it since you washed your car. some gas station pumps doesn't stop when its full. I believe they will be forced to change the nozzle to a newer model so it stops when the air pressure builds up when its getting full.

Mrchntmarine

I actually had this problem w/ my 2006 Porsche C4S. My problem was caused by a faulty fuel neck between the fuel door going towards the tank. Put up with it for awhile and tried to get it fixed just before my warranty went out. No luck until after my warranty expired. They Porsche offered to pay for part of the fix - very expensive. After replacing the fuel neck - no problem.

Jeff-AudiUSAParts

Wow! I'm sorry to here that. Oregon law is weird about that, huh?

DennisMitchell

You cannot pump yourself in New Jersey either.

MP4.2+6.0

In all seriousness, sorry to hear.

Even worse though, the first diesel spit up on either you or your clothes, or especially your wife or any other female friend, will not make you or a diesel a welcome house guest for long. Hard to get off even with a very long trip and a whole lot of soap to the who knows what condition fill station bathroom (if it exists) either, and the shoes, and... Bet that one won't be in the Audi TDI commercials trying to sell to more women!

Even with the miracles of AdBlue and turbos and all, the strength and persistency of the diesel fuel smell is not easily purged or forgotten. Really bad news if it ever gets into anything in an interior or trunk, or even stuff like felt fender lining. Been there smelled that with my sister's old VW diesel anywhere near the filler area. And if in fact it gets on your shoe soles, either get them quite clean and/or get something down on the floor/carpet temporarily, or take them off if needed/possible.

JBDinTX

Sorry to hear. But I bet the smell is from the diesel soaked felt in the inner wheel well. You might look into getting that replaced. Have them wash under the fender before they install the new one. I have diesel trucks and own a asphalt paving company so I am always smelling and covered in diesel. I thought about a TDI and my friend thought I was crazy for not getting anything else. But I so sick of the smell during the day I didn't want to smell diesel on my way out or to dinner. You never get use to that smell. I have had diesel truck since 2000!! So it was SQ5 V6T for me!! Lol.

Q5inPDX

Thanks - this is probably what I'm going to do. The car is too new to just live with it!

abacon09

So I didn't have a diesel spill, but another Oregon gas experience to add to the mix real quick. I was fortunate enough to get a 80-90% tank of quality H20 from a chevron gas station on the Oregon Coast. Needless to say, my car died within a few miles of the gas station. Thanks to Audi Roadside assistance I was towed about 230 miles to Sunset Audi in Beaverton, and $1200 later in repairs, my car now runs again. Still waiting for reimbursement from the gas company. Apparently water was coming into the tank during high tide at the gas station. Whoops. I guess this is why we pay professionals to pump our fuel here.

awryexperiment

depends on how you interpret that statement....