Mk7 Gti Gasoline Leak Problem

[anotero]

Ok, so we're finally squared away. The CEL was only for the fuel level sender which was clearly getting old/worn. I was likely going to have that CEL sometime soon anyway, but disturbing it while performing the other work probably caused it to have some intermittent issues now. You can see how worn it had gotten after 8.5 years:

View attachment 264214

Replaced the level sender (unfortunately not under the extended warranty the other work was covered under) and all is 100% back as it should be.

Glad this is all finally resolved lol. Hope my ramblings might help someone else in the future!

Where is this lever sender located and how difficult is it to replace?

 

[AdamSheikh]

Where is this lever sender located and how difficult is it to replace?

It is part of the fuel pump assembly in the tank. Its connected to the float that goes up or down based on fuel level. Here is the part itself: https://parts.vw.com/p/Volkswagen__...Assembly-GAUGE-Tank/67815115/5Q0919673AJ.html

Not that difficult, all things considered. Access to the fuel pump is pretty straight forward via the back seat.

 

[anotero]

It is part of the fuel pump assembly in the tank. Its connected to the float that goes up or down based on fuel level. Here is the part itself: https://parts.vw.com/p/Volkswagen__...Assembly-GAUGE-Tank/67815115/5Q0919673AJ.html

Not that difficult, all things considered. Access to the fuel pump is pretty straight forward via the back seat.

Part of the LPFP? I think i got a code once or twice related to the float or the sender.

 

[AdamSheikh]

Part of the LPFP? I think i got a code once or twice related to the float or the sender.

Yep - that's exactly what happened to me. As you can see in that prior post, the contacts were quite worn down in some spots causing an intermittent CEL for fuel level signal. Curiously enough, I never seem to have had any issues with the fuel gauge itself.

I had the dealer do mine, as it had just been under their care for the suction pump warranty work, but I ended up having to pay out of pocket. It worked out from a convenience/time standpoint but had I known in advance, I probably would have tackled it myself. Believe they charged me something like $500

 

[SuperFDuper]

2016 GTI here, same issue with suction pump. Called my local dealer, and 1st service advisor blew me off when I mentioned the safety recall code 20Y6. Called an old friend whose dad used to work in sales, and as luck would have it they have recently moved to Service Advisor role. When I came in to drop off the car, he struggled to find what I was talking about but a simple google search of “20Y6 recall” turned up the NHTSA pdf. At this point he called up the Service Manager who spoke to me about the issue (gas pouring out of rear passenger side, can’t fill fuel tank, studded under acceleration) and confirmed I wasn’t crazy. I received a call less than 24 hours later that suction valve, charcoal canister, and fuel tank are being replaced under warranty at zero cost. I have 105k miles on my odometer. This thread was a treasure to find. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, you saved me thousands from the look of it. If you ever see a graphite grey with a missing tow hook cover in south FL, I owe you a beer or two.

 

[AdamSheikh]

2016 GTI here, same issue with suction pump. Called my local dealer, and 1st service advisor blew me off when I mentioned the safety recall code 20Y6. Called an old friend whose dad used to work in sales, and as luck would have it they have recently moved to Service Advisor role. When I came in to drop off the car, he struggled to find what I was talking about but a simple google search of “20Y6 recall” turned up the NHTSA pdf. At this point he called up the Service Manager who spoke to me about the issue (gas pouring out of rear passenger side, can’t fill fuel tank, studded under acceleration) and confirmed I wasn’t crazy. I received a call less than 24 hours later that suction valve, charcoal canister, and fuel tank are being replaced under warranty at zero cost. I have 105k miles on my odometer. This thread was a treasure to find. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, you saved me thousands from the look of it. If you ever see a graphite grey with a missing tow hook cover in south FL, I owe you a beer or two.

So frustrating that we have to do all the legwork for these dealers, but really glad you got this sorted out! What dealer here in South FL did you deal with out of curiosity? Also, are you part of SFLMK7? We have a monthly meet out in Southwest Ranches - hope you can make it out if you haven't already!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SFLMK7
https://www.instagram.com/sflmk7/

 

[SuperFDuper]

So frustrating that we have to do all the legwork for these dealers, but really glad you got this sorted out! What dealer here in South FL did you deal with out of curiosity? Also, are you part of SFLMK7? We have a monthly meet out in Southwest Ranches - hope you can make it out if you haven't already!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SFLMK7
https://www.instagram.com/sflmk7/

Gunther off of 441. I work nearby. Speak to Tomas for service, Alessandro or Alex was intentionally useless, but everyone has a coworker like that. I’ll try to swing by a meet when I get in meet shape, right now it’s a kid hauler and definitely looks the part.

 

[AdamSheikh]

Gunther off of 441. I work nearby. Speak to Tomas for service, Alessandro or Alex was intentionally useless, but everyone has a coworker like that. I’ll try to swing by a meet when I get in meet shape, right now it’s a kid hauler and definitely looks the part.

I've been dealing with Gunther for many years now. Tomas is the one who sold me my car back in 2014 lol - he recently switched over to the service side. Ironically, he's the one I had to educate on the warranty extension lol. Glad to hear my struggles at the time made it somewhat easier for others with this issue haha. Top tip: if you ever need more assistance or escalation, ask for Joe - he's the general service manager for the whole Gunther group. Busy guy and sometimes a little hard to get a hold of, but incredibly knowledgable and helpful.

Come on out to a meet! We don't discriminate - it's more about the people and the hangs. Always a laid back and chill time.

 

[ahbib]

Toronto Canada


I got my 2018 GTI Autobahn back today.

VW is a little sly and shady.

Service manager said everything is done no charge.

I played dumb I said wow nice, but what exactly happened? Blah blah something something inside the fuel tank went bad, caused gas pressure to increase spill into EVAP and spill outside the car. Said the bad part is molded into the tank, which it is NOT!

No mention of any recall, extended warranty, just said no charge you have received a new fuel tank and EVAP canister.

The warranty on the new tank is until 2033 or 240,000KM whatever comes first, never mentioned anything about head office at all, I guess anything to protect the mothership?!?

I never mentioned once about my contact with Transport Canada.

Overall free is free, glad I wasn't given a hard time, other Canadians across the country haven't been so lucky, please read the below thread:

https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/fuel-f ... n.9510218/

https://www.vwvortex.com/threads/invest ... -115961657

 

[OBIEONE]

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out in case anyone might have insight on this particular problem. My car has 69,000 miles and has been perfect without any issues until now. At first, I was having issues at the gas pump because the car would not take any gas. It would just start fueling and at like $1.00 the pump would click indicating that’s it’s full, when I barely had any gas in the tank.

I was told that this could potentially be an evap system leak. I took my car to this reputable VW shop where I live and they replaced the gas canister, which had been filled up with gasoline. I drove my car to the gas station and had the same issue. I could not fill the car up with gasoline again.

It got worse. I was driving home and I smell this profound unburnt gasoline smell like at the gas station. I park my car and see gasoline leaking from my car. I slowly drove it home but was losing gas fast. As it stands, the car is safely stationary at home completely empty on gas.

The car will need to be towed to either a shop or the dealer. I don’t even know if going through my insurance is an option.

Has anyone had any similar experience or have any insight on what could possibly be going on?

I have a 2018 MK7.5 with 36K miles (still under warranty). My problem started with a slight miss when cruising at highway speed (traveling out of town for weekend). Shortly thereafter, I had a very strong gas smell in the cabin. When I stopped to get gas it took me about 20 minutes to put $40.00 worth of fuel in it (kept clicking off as if it were full). I had a couple of slight misses on my return trip, I parked the car in the garage when we returned home (was not leaking any fuel and never did); when I went into the garage the next morning the raw fuel smell in the garage was overwhelming, it was so strong I was concerned that a spark could cause an explosion.
For the sake of brevity, the following bullets are an attempt to provide a chronological description of events:

• I drove my GTI for a few days in hopes that (the problem would clear; It did not
• Symptoms changed, an example, driving home from work (about a seven mile drive) parking in the garage and returning to the vehicle within 30 minutes or less the vehicle would start up w/o issue but would stutter and would not accelerate and would sometimes stall completely (this was sometimes accompanied by the strong raw fuel smell).
• Vehicle taken to my local Dealer, Dealer advised that it was an evap. canister/filter problem. They would order part/parts and let me know when it was ready.
• Picked up vehicle from Dealer, drove the vehicle home (about a six mile distance), parked it for about twenty minutes, attempted to drive the vehicle but it stalled when I attempted to pull out of my side street. I also had problems putting fuel in the vehicle (kept clicking off as if it were full).
• Brought the vehicle back to the Dealer, they advised that they would look into the problem. The Dealer said that the fuel smell was coming from the differential (it was leaking fluid of some sort which was causing the fuel smell. I was skeptical but wasn't going to complain about a new differential. They also replaced the fuel pump.
• Picked up the vehicle, things were okay for a day or two but then the severity of the symptoms became worse. When I attempted to put fuel in the vehicle it would only take about 50 cents and was gurgling and hissing from the filler neck the entire time.
• Vehicle returned to Dealer, Dealer systematically replaced parts staring with cannister filter and filler vent. Once replaced, they attempted to add fuel but had the same issue, clicking off after a minimal amount of fuel accompanied by gurgling, etc. They then realized that the fuel tank itself was also vented (in addition to the filler neck). The Dealer then replaced the entire fuel tank, fuel pump, along with another cannister filter, etc.
• Since all of the replacements have been made I've had not further problems of any kind. My GTI is running great.

Kudos to my Dealer (Volkswagen of Little Rock, formerly Owens Murphy Volkswagen) and their service department for staying with this problem and getting everything approved under warranty. Hope this helps

 

[uberdot]

I have a 2018 MK7.5 with 36K miles (still under warranty). My problem started with a slight miss when cruising at highway speed (traveling out of town for weekend). Shortly thereafter, I had a very strong gas smell in the cabin. When I stopped to get gas it took me about 20 minutes to put $40.00 worth of fuel in it (kept clicking off as if it were full). I had a couple of slight misses on my return trip, I parked the car in the garage when we returned home (was not leaking any fuel and never did); when I went into the garage the next morning the raw fuel smell in the garage was overwhelming, it was so strong I was concerned that a spark could cause an explosion.
For the sake of brevity, the following bullets are an attempt to provide a chronological description of events:

• I drove my GTI for a few days in hopes that (the problem would clear; It did not
• Symptoms changed, an example, driving home from work (about a seven mile drive) parking in the garage and returning to the vehicle within 30 minutes or less the vehicle would start up w/o issue but would stutter and would not accelerate and would sometimes stall completely (this was sometimes accompanied by the strong raw fuel smell).
• Vehicle taken to my local Dealer, Dealer advised that it was an evap. canister/filter problem. They would order part/parts and let me know when it was ready.
• Picked up vehicle from Dealer, drove the vehicle home (about a six mile distance), parked it for about twenty minutes, attempted to drive the vehicle but it stalled when I attempted to pull out of my side street. I also had problems putting fuel in the vehicle (kept clicking off as if it were full).
• Brought the vehicle back to the Dealer, they advised that they would look into the problem. The Dealer said that the fuel smell was coming from the differential (it was leaking fluid of some sort which was causing the fuel smell. I was skeptical but wasn't going to complain about a new differential. They also replaced the fuel pump.
• Picked up the vehicle, things were okay for a day or two but then the severity of the symptoms became worse. When I attempted to put fuel in the vehicle it would only take about 50 cents and was gurgling and hissing from the filler neck the entire time.
• Vehicle returned to Dealer, Dealer systematically replaced parts staring with cannister filter and filler vent. Once replaced, they attempted to add fuel but had the same issue, clicking off after a minimal amount of fuel accompanied by gurgling, etc. They then realized that the fuel tank itself was also vented (in addition to the filler neck). The Dealer then replaced the entire fuel tank, fuel pump, along with another cannister filter, etc.
• Since all of the replacements have been made I've had not further problems of any kind. My GTI is running great.

Kudos to my Dealer (Volkswagen of Little Rock, formerly Owens Murphy Volkswagen) and their service department for staying with this problem and getting everything approved under warranty. Hope this helps

Dealers really, really don’t want to replace that suction pump for some reason. They’ll replace the entire car before admitting that’s the problem. Even with the soft recall by VW. It’s like a $20 part.

 

[Diggs24]

Dealers really, really don’t want to replace that suction pump for some reason. They’ll replace the entire car before admitting that’s the problem. Even with the soft recall by VW. It’s like a $20 part.

Depends on the year, yeah the older ones have a separate part and is easy to swap out. The tank was redesigned at a later date where they integrated it into the tank. In that case the whole thing needs replaced which is neither cheap nor easy.

 

[thaseint]

This just happened to me. Thought I'd post my story in case someone experiences it when searching for the issue.

Saturday took my '17 (66k miles) to the gym noticed that my car had like a jerky motion almost like when you are first learning to drive manual. Didn't think much of it, thought maybe I was just tired that morning and put a pin in it.

After the gym drove to a PDR place to get a dent repaired, it mostly drove normal but noticed that it would occasionally "lose power" or stutter, at the point I was thinking maybe a transmission mount? No CEL.

Sunday pick my wife up from the airport and the jerkiness becomes a little more apparent when letting off the throttle but also at speed on the freeway you could feel it slightly. Still no CEL.

Wife and I get home and I notice a gas smell, thought maybe it was just the exhaust or something, I park the car start looking at the engine mounts and all look good. The fuel smell gets more apparent, I notice a huge pool of fuel all over my garage floor.

Have an appointment at the dealer tomorrow to take a look, downloaded the TSB documents if I need to use them.

The timing sucks because I'm actually in the process of looking at getting a Mazda CX-50 so hopefully I can get this taken care of no cost as it's pretty clear this is a known issue.

 

[AdamSheikh]

This just happened to me. Thought I'd post my story in case someone experiences it when searching for the issue.

Saturday took my '17 (66k miles) to the gym noticed that my car had like a jerky motion almost like when you are first learning to drive manual. Didn't think much of it, thought maybe I was just tired that morning and put a pin in it.

After the gym drove to a PDR place to get a dent repaired, it mostly drove normal but noticed that it would occasionally "lose power" or stutter, at the point I was thinking maybe a transmission mount? No CEL.

Sunday pick my wife up from the airport and the jerkiness becomes a little more apparent when letting off the throttle but also at speed on the freeway you could feel it slightly. Still no CEL.

Wife and I get home and I notice a gas smell, thought maybe it was just the exhaust or something, I park the car start looking at the engine mounts and all look good. The fuel smell gets more apparent, I notice a huge pool of fuel all over my garage floor.

Have an appointment at the dealer tomorrow to take a look, downloaded the TSB documents if I need to use them.

The timing sucks because I'm actually in the process of looking at getting a Mazda CX-50 so hopefully I can get this taken care of no cost as it's pretty clear this is a known issue.

Honestly wild how widespread and common this issue really is. Remember there's a warranty extension on this that is valid for 15 years/150k miles. If your dealer isn't finding it or giving you a runaround, have your adviser call their internal warranty support line - corporate will be able to find the warranty extension that is attached to your VIN. Godspeed and good luck!

 

[thaseint]

Honestly wild how widespread and common this issue really is. Remember there's a warranty extension on this that is valid for 15 years/150k miles. If your dealer isn't finding it or giving you a runaround, have your adviser call their internal warranty support line - corporate will be able to find the warranty extension that is attached to your VIN. Godspeed and good luck!

Yeah it's pretty crazy that it sounds like this issue is popping up more and more in these later models based on this thread and other places online. It's not even a minor issue but pretty major, my garage still smells like fuel so I've been airing that out and left the car outside just in case.

Seems like something that should have been ironed out years ago by VW and interestingly seems like VW made the problem worse by molding the parts into the fuel tank itself.

I was able to find the extended warranty document but it seems that it only includes the Golf 15-20; but no mention of the GTI. I know they are essentially identical in terms of the fuel system design so not sure if I'll have any issues there. Just trying to anticipate any pushback I may get.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10222201-0001.pdf

Not sure if there is some other documentation that may explicitly call out the GTI for date ranges over 2016 or would the above cover it?

Edit: Just to update, I contacted VW Customer Care and they confirmed that the above warranty extension would apply to my 2017 (assuming that this is the issue that the dealer finds) just in case anyone else has this issue. Will see what happens at the dealer tomorrow.