# Burnt Out TT - Please read and respond!!



## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

It took 5 minutes for the TT to burn to this condition!!

I have posted one or two messages asking TT owners who have had problems with Fuel Leaks or fuel vapour leaks to please get in touch with me.

The leak is from one of two places!! The most common one is from faulty Fuel sender unit seals and the other is from the fuel tank seam splitting.

I have been told this is quite a common problem in the UK ( It is a common problem world wide!!)

I have had replies from 3 TT owners in the UK who have had this problem, and am led to believe there are many more!!

If you have had this problem or know of someone who has experienced this problem could you please contact me at [email protected]

The proximity of the leak to your exaust could result in the above!!

This happened whilst driving in rush hour traffic at 45Km/h

There have been suggestions from the US that this should be a recall as its becomming a common problem. Mine may be the first to catch fire , but i'm sure it wont be the last

I appreciate anyone taking the time to respond.

Thanks,

Frank


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

Dunno what else to add. :-/


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## SBJ (Jun 29, 2002)

[smiley=bigcry.gif] How terrible.

You were just driving along, and it exploded, or just started to burn from the exhaust area? Was it burning from the inside - out, or did another driver alert you? Must have been a very intense fire as the alloy wheels have melted, along with the aluminium bonnet.

SBJ


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## jonhaff (May 20, 2002)

so what and where should we be looking for a problem?


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

I was driving home from work with my wife, it was a 2001 TTR 225

Other drivers noticed it first and tried to alert me.

My wife mentioned a strong smell of petrol and then I
I noticed the fumes inside the car, pulled over and had a look...The fire started around the top of the petrol tank in the area of the FSU. The forensic report concluded that the fire was started by fuel dripping onto the hot exaust.

I have since found out that the TT has a common fuel leak in the area the fire started. I have details of about 24 people who have had the leak. I believe there are quite a few more...people have parked their cars and returned to find a fire truck and fire brigade cleaning up the leaking fuel. Others have been driving smelled a strong smell of fuel and pulled over to find fuel pouring out their cars fuel tanks.

I know the TT has a FSU problem. Audi had the same problem with the A6 a while back which eventually resulted in a recall.


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## purplett (Dec 9, 2002)

I was euphoric 10 minutes ago to read that Audi have announced a recall for coil packs, it seems to me they could kill 2 birds with one stone and sort out the fuel leaks too. These tales of cars spontaneously combusting are frightening. What an horrific experience to have happen to you SATT. Surely if this is a known fault Audi shouldn't hesitate to recall - failing to do so must be neglecting their responsibilities in the worst possible way.


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

There is no doubt there is a problem!!

I have have a list of contact details from owners in the USA (24) who have had the leak, They tell me there are plenty others. ( Information on Audi world Discussion forum)

I have heard from 3 people in the UK. One forum member even sent me pictures of his car leaking. Believe me you wont miss it...it literally pours out.

According to him when he had it repaired the dealer told him it was a common problem and that they had fixed a few leaks to other TT's in the area.

I must say it was a great car to drive but it definately had its problems.

For some reason the FSU seal fails!! Others have had their fuel tanks burst open whilst driving.

Audi are trying to ignore the problem at the moment.


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## Jac-in-a-Box (Nov 9, 2002)

SATT, you have our sympathy, the pictures are scary.

I can't help but wonder what sort of %age of cars have to manifest a safety related fault for Audi to open their eyes and initiate a recall, especially if it is a "known fault" 
Other manufacturers do it for "potential" problems - here's a real one

J & D


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## vlastan (May 6, 2002)

I have heard in this forum about some people complaining about the fuel sender and that they had smelled fuel.

I don't remember their names but I am sure they will come back to confirm this.

This appears like a safety recall and lets hope Audi will do something about it


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

Wouldn't a fule tank "bursting" imply that the fuel and vapours in the tank had expanded?

I'd have thought that the fuel tank vent would have stopped this... unless it was getting blocked. perhaps? Just a thought

PaulL


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## Monique (Jun 11, 2002)

Terrible m8,

I think you should talk to AUDI about replacing your car at a bargain price.

It is a known Audi fault which caused your baby to burn to the ground.
:-X


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

The fuel tank doesn't actually burst!! It starts weeping from the seam, this has happened to a couple of people.

The more common leak is the faulty Fuel Sender Unit seal! In some cases some peopel have had both happen


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## Mayur (Jan 29, 2004)

Sorry about your toasted TT m8. Just glad that you and yours did not get hurt. what has Audi SA's response been so far?


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

Audi SA are trying to give me the run around...They say they are willing to talk then when we try set up meetings they say they need more information from us before we can meet. They originally tried to put their head in the sand and said we had to show them the exact componant that failed before they would talk to us. There wasn't enough left of the car to do that.

Forensic tests have shown it is a fuel based fire and we can identify where the fire started. Investigations have shown the TT has a common fuel leak in this area which is above the exaust.

Faulty Feul Sender units are linked to this leak in some cases.....I had plenty of FSU problems.

The car was great to drive but I had problems Audi SA insisted didn't exist..i.e. My windows would go down by themselves, The intertior lights would stay on the car jumped out of second gear, the fuel gage sporadically didn't work.... Shortly before the incident I had an argument with one of their service reps who insisted I was dreaming about the problems as there VAG machine didn't register any faults.

Since investigating the leak I have found out that my other complaints are well known TT faults.

Needless to say If they dont come to the party I am going to sue them..I dont spend 28 000 on a car for it to burn up on me.

The other issue is that the leak has happened to a lot of people and that it is above the exaust...A definate fire hazard.

I am busy compiling a Database of people with the problem to go back to Audi with...


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## Mayur (Jan 29, 2004)

If a similar problem has happened to TT's in the USA surely there must be litigation going on over there. Are you aware of any cases going through the courts now? We all know how quick the Americans are at suing car manufacturers over there. This would be a major problem for Audi.


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

I've heard there is a law company in Philladelphia investigating the leak....They took Audi to the cleaners over the A6 FSU!! That resulted in a world wide recall!!

Below is a portion of a link on the world wide forum i've copied..There are plenty more..

Called AoA and they told me the fuel tank had to be drained before they could sent a tow truck, the told me to call the FD and they would do it...yeah right.

When the FD got to the scene they said, we don't drain tanks"... now what?

Called AoA back and told them I was with a car leaking fuel and the FD could not help me. The woman at AoA said that the first person I spoke to made a mistake by telling me to have the tank drained and all that needed to be done was to have the area where the fuel was cleaned so the tow truck could work in a safe area. Boy was I pissed!!!

The spot where I put the car was about 300ft from my driveway, I wanted the fuel to spill in the streen not my driveway, so the FD told me I needed to have it towed to my driveway. I asked them to help me push it and they did! While they were pushing, and I was steering, I heard on firefighter say, "why is he driving?" I guess I should have helped push.

I will have it towed to CT on Monday for service. 
Look at pic 2 where the plastic pan is, what's in that general area? Maybe a broken fuel line?

Thread:
noticed a fuel smell today and look what happened... - acett2000 2002-08-11 15:12:26 (410 views) 
I had two fuel leakage problems...has got to be a recall.. - TTeetsil 2002-08-11 22:35:44 (37 views) 
oh my gawd... that brings back bad memories.... - juliem 2002-08-11 20:50:33 (15 views) 
Re: noticed a fuel smell today and look what happened... - cougs2002 2002-08-11 18:20:45 (43 views) 
This HAS to be a recall item by now... it has happened to SO many people - houTTni 2002-08-11 20:01:26 (16 views) 
For once, I agree with Leif... Jeez, what a scene. - VenTTed 2002-08-11 16:44:57 (20 views) 
jeez, what a scene. - tsltm 2002-08-11 16:29:43 (16 views) 
fuel filter is right there. - LarryTT 2002-08-11 15:27:21 (63 views) 
it's also where mis-installed fuel tank sensors leak!! - juliem 2002-08-11 20:52:13 (14 views) 
I would think a trip to the dealer service dept. is the only option. Oh the joy! - acett2000 2002-08-11 15:53:08 (25 views) 
Could be the seal on the FSU... others have had problems (TTigg, myself, etc) - houTTni 2002-08-11 15:21:33 (45 views) 
seems like alot of fuel leaks when she is running. - acett2000 2002-08-11 15:24:16 (25 views) 
because when the car is on, there's pressure in your lines... - AxeYrCat 2002-08-11 15:47:07 (16 views)


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## Andyman (May 6, 2002)

Having experienced this fuel leak myself I was astonished to see extent of the damage that it can cause in such a small space of time. This is very frightening. Like Frank says I have a photo of fuel literally pouring out of my car just inches away from the exhaust. The harsh reality was brought back to me when I remember that at the time the RAC Roadside Assistance engineer told me that there was nothing to worry about and that I should continue driving, and I did!

See my original post:
http://www.********.co.uk/forum/boards/ttoc/4388.shtml

I believe there is a serious fuel tank problem with the TT which Audi ought to be looking at very closely. Granted the percentage of failures is very small but given the relatively small number of TTs on the roads it is unacceptable.


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## SBJ (Jun 29, 2002)

maybe Audi know more than they are willing to let on. With the coil pack recall, they may replace other bits we won't know about.....Even during servicing, I know manufactures have 'fixes' they get their dealers undertake.

From the other owners you have spoken to, is this problem specific to a certain build date/model etc?

SBJ


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

It doesn't seem specific to any model...from the Database I am compiling I would say it seems to happen more to the Quattro both 180 HP and 225HP Coupe and Roadster alike.

I have found out that all TT's Left and Right hand drive come off the same assembly line in Gyor, Hungary. All parts also come from the same parts bin.


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## Guest (Feb 5, 2003)

i'm off to Newlands Cricket Ground.

I have some work to finish off before the world cup kicks off there this weekend.

I hope to hear from more of you who've had similar leaks. Thanks for all the input...

Cheers till later


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

Oh my God. That is horrific. Glad to hear you were not hurt.

I have a faulty fuel gauge / trip computer. Would this be a faulty FSU?? If so, apparently (according to Links Macclesfield) this is a very common fault - are you implying that there is some link between a faulty FSU and the fire?

This is frightening...! :-/


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## pgm (May 7, 2002)

Should we ALL contact Audi UK on masse to highlight this potential life threatening problem ???


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## russell2002 (May 27, 2002)

I have been contacted by two people who have had fule leaks audi have tried to fix several times and have failed,

both have been told by audi they are the ONLY person with this problem,

see, http://www.audi-tt-complaints.co.uk


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2003)

I would love to get the information on the Two people that had the leak...
I can tell you they are far from the only ones...

Audi told me there was no reciord of FSU problems on the TT. I have since found out that over 400 owners have had their FSU's replaced...some owners more than once and in one incredible case a person had theirs replced 11 (Eleven times)

I have a record of around 30 fuel leaks and counting.

I spoke to an Audi mechanic in SA who was scared of losing his job so he wont speak openly and he says he knows of 5 FSU leaks the've fixed at the dealership I bought my Vehicle from. He's heard of others up country as well.

In the US I mate of mine says conservatively there have been over a hundred. I have contact details of 24 of these and am working on getting more.

In the UK I know of 3 excluding the two you mention. Andyman mentioned his dealer said he had fixed a few of them...

Had I had the top of the car up when it caught fire I might not have been here today..it went up in flames very quickly!!


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2003)

The TT has two common faults regarding the fuel gage...(Doesn't work properly)

The one is with the actual gage cluster in the Dashboard the other is a Faulty Fuel sending unit.

In some cases the petrol leak has been linked to a faulty Fuel gage. In others the fuel gage has functioned normally and the leak has occured. The leak is mostly from the seal around the FSU..there have been other instances of leaks though, such as a seam on the fuel tank splitting!!


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2003)

Hmmm, 
3 more responses to my e mail address from people who have had a bad fuel leak. ....I think it is a bigger problem in the UK than Audi are letting on!!


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## nm_225 (May 6, 2002)

Imagine if it happened in your (integral) garage 

That would be an interesting battle of the insurances.


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## nm_225 (May 6, 2002)

A lot of people comment on a smell of petrol in my car, but I carry a 5 litre plastic tank in the boot and have always assumed that it was due to that.

I will drive around without it for a while to see if it dissappears!


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## scoop (May 8, 2002)

I am concerned, a patch of liquid was spotted by my back right wheel. Apparently it was petrol or oil. This has only happened once but it was after a long run. I was also convinced I smelt a fuel whilst in the car the other day.

Is there any specific way of identifying if I have this issue, other than waiting for a ball of flames...

Cheers

nick


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## Andyman (May 6, 2002)

> Is there any specific way of identifying if I have this issue, other than waiting for a ball of flames...


You might see something like this just in front of your *left rear* wheel.


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2003)

The leak could be in front of your left right wheel as the TT has two FSU's..

One on the right ..one on the left.

They have both been known to fail!!


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## Lisa. (May 7, 2002)

> The leak could be in front of your left right wheel as the TT has two FSU's..
> 
> One on the right ..one on the left.
> 
> They have both been known to fail!!


In front of your left right wheel??

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a fault with my fuel gauge and ran out of petrol when the tank was showing half full. Today, just as I have returned home, I had spotted a huge pool of petrol where my car was parked on the road earlier.

Can you verify again whether the two problems could be connected and which wheel the leak would be by.

Lisa


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## KevinST (May 6, 2002)

Lisa - if there's a pool of petrol where your car was... and it definaty is petrol... then don't drive it. 
Call Audi immediatly!


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## Lisa. (May 7, 2002)

There is defo a pool of petrol, but there is nothing dripping from the car, and I couldn't smell petrol inside the car when i was driving it earlier.

I have washed the petrol away and will wait and see if there is anything there in the morning. I can Â then be Â sure it came from my car and not the truck that made a delivery to me earlier and parked in "my" spot.

I won't be driving it in the meantime.

Lisa


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

OMG! Not nice reading.....

In summary then, the problem seem to be leaking fuel from either of the two fuel sender units fitted on the tank.

Does any body know, is it a seal 'failure' or just something that needs to be tightened up?

BTW - Never had any strange smells in mine but I will be extra wary now....


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

> I won't be driving it in the meantime.
> 
> Lisa


Sorry to hear about this, probably a good idea in the circumstances.

I guess that this 'leak' will depend on how much fuel is in the tank, has the car been used, i.e fuel sloshing around, how hot the weather is, and how it is parked.

You may find that if you leave it parked for a few days, no problems will be noticed.

As for contacting Audi, yes do it, they'll probably take bloody ages to do anything though. Surely any garage with a ramp could check it buy putting the car up on a hydraulic ramp and checking around the fuel tank area for leaks, or any evidence of 'old' leaks??

I am going to have a look underneath mine, and take some pics of where the sender units are.


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2003)

Lisa,

Sorry the comment should have read "in front of the left or right rear wheel"

There is a fuel sender unit on either side of the fuel tank in the Quattro. ( The leak happens in the FWD as well)

The seal around the FSU is defective!!

Fill the tank with Petrol, Drive around for a few minutes and park the car. Come back 5 to 10 minutes laterand if you have a leak there will be a puddle of Fuel around the area of your rear wheel.

The leak will stop once the fuel in the tank has dropped below a certain level

Frank

In some cases the FSU is defective in this case the leak is only while the car is started


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2003)

Jon contacted me yesterday from the UK.

I've pasted his story below!!

My TT developed a strong fuel smell in the first few miles from new. In and out it went to the garage and nothing was found. After about the sixth or seventh attempt the garage swapped every fuel part on the car and I was in a loan TT for four weeks. The excuses Audi came up with was that my car was in a heated garage or my garage was on a slope, all wrong no heating in there and the garage floor is perfectly level. Anyway after I got tithe TT returned I took it home, this is a 50 mile drive as I live in Sherwood Forest in England. I put my car in the garage and took the dog for a walk. I usually enter the house via the garage, complete with a cigarette in my mouth I opened the garage, walked inside and the dog would not follow. Shit, I realised I was by the rear wheel standing in fuel with my cigarette alight. I promptly turned around and walked about slowly, the fumes were so strong, much worse than ever before. 
I called Audi on call and they arrived along with the firebrigade who turned off all electricity and my gas heating. the garage was cleaned by the fire brigade, Audi said I must have overfilled the car, as was this excuse many times previously.I never overfill cars as I am aware of the fire risks living so close to the forest.
The next day I was on my way to work and the car started leaking again, out came Audi on Call and said sorry seal leak, fixed the problem and I was told all ok. By this time I was calling Audi Uk telling them what a lot of crap their car was. Anyway on my way home after a quick drive(130-145) through the forest roads near to where I live, I could smell fuel. I stopped turned around and drove to a local Audi dealership and demanded the looked at the car, they looked after a while and there was no smell of fuel inside of the car or from under the bonnet but then the car started dripping from underneath the rear plastic wind deflector under the drivers side rear and did this at random, near to the wheel.

I contacted the finance company and threatened them with court action, but because the firebrigade had attended my car a few days earlier and I had a report Audi cannot dispute my fuel problems. I also have three other reports from their garages and their Audi on Call engineers.


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## SBJ (Jun 29, 2002)

Audi cannot use the excuse about over filling the car. If its so critical, there should either be a redesign, or a massive warning notice inside the filler cap.

As for the heated garage, on a slope. What do they think might happen in warmer weather, say in Spain or else where, parked on a hill?

Sounds very wrong to me 

SBJ


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## Guest (Feb 8, 2003)

Audi are trying to play the problem down...

A recall would cost them millions. They lost a lawsuite on a similar problem with the A6 a year or two ago!!

One wonders what in their minds constitutes a recall?? What percentage of cars need to have the failure before something is done?
Or do Audi wait for something serious to happen and then deal with the law suite.

In South Africa specifically its a case of the entity with the biggest bank account wins. Audi can afford to keep this in court for years.

WE are trying to reach a settlement with them.

If not I have a couple of international newspapers that are interested in the story!!

And to top it all off, Audi's national Sales manager gets a friend to e mail me a copy of the wat car magazine showing the TT as car of the year again!!

A little bit childish.

The fact is the TT is a good looking, fantastic car to drive!! It does have its faults though which are well documented.

At some stage Audi will have to face the problem...More owners need to put pressure on them as opposed to accepting all their excuses for the Faults.

Since inception there have been 3 recalls

1. Rear Suspenstion and ESP had to be fitted due to instability at high speeds.

2. Faulty Suspension parts that rust and corrode

3. Faulty Coil Packs

4. " Faulty Fuel sender unit seals"????(Will this be the next one


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## Mayur (Jan 29, 2004)

SATT, thanks for this post as it has made many of us aware of a potential problem that could be life threatening. I pick up my next TT in March and am going to ask the dealer to carry out a bunch of checks before taking delivery, the fuel leak is one of them.
I do hope you get a fair settlement from Audi.


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## Guest (Feb 10, 2003)

Thanks,
I posted the article looking for people with similar leaks..

There has been a great response from the UK. Both from people concerned as well as people with leaks..

I am hoping to get a fair settlement from Audi. Through the legal system or otherwise.

I must say besides all the faults I thoroughly enjoyed driving my TT. I would like to buy another one. In order for this to happen though their service as well as their attitude towards accepting and dealing with inherent factory faults would need to change drastically..

Maybe the new V6 will have less problems

Cheers,

Frank


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## richard_tricky (Jul 24, 2002)

Hi guys just to let you all know that my fathers TT has this problem..

there was lots of petrol leaking around the rear offside wheel area..

further investigation revealed a big leak around the fuel sender unit. also noticed that the sealing ring was loose. tightened it up half a turn and i am monitoring.. however a residue has reappeared its not as bad as before. wether thats from the remaining fuel left in the thread from the seal. i dont know..

however this has left my father very worried as it was dripping very near the exhaust

will check back tomorrow

in the meantime in going to order a new seal for the fuel sender unit.. are there any how 2's on this or part numbers

thanks

Rich


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Shocking pictures  .

There is another potential leak I came across on mine from the fuel filter. This also leaks near the offside wheel. I had smelt it a few times but couldn't trace it at first - then a patch on the garage floor about a foot in diameter and a strong smell of petrol alerted me into action.

The leak comes from pin holes in the aluminium canister caused by electrolytic corrosion of the dissimilar metals of the can and the steel jubilee clip securing the filter body. Because the holes are small they can become blocked and the leaking stops - some time and vibration later and it leaks again.

Luckily it's a cheap and easy fix - providing you catch it in time! See my sig strip.


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## ivandrago24 (Jul 18, 2008)

Richard tricky, did you solve your problem? was it fuel sender seal/ think mine has the same you see. Your information would be welsome and very useful. Thanks.


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## wayside (Apr 22, 2007)

never heard of this problem with TTs, but you have my sympathry


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## richard_tricky (Jul 24, 2002)

yes i appear to have sorted the problem.. it was a simple of fix of removing the the sender unit slightly with the pipes still attached. and the resitting the unit and tightening it up..

the fault appears to be a simple case of a loose fitting tightening ring (threaded ring) which in turn if not tightened up correctly causes the seal to leak..

i suspect all tt's might have this problem. as when i first inspected the rig it was loose. i could move it with my fingertips..

now its nicely torqued up and all is fine so far..

i still have spare rubber gasket on site just in case anything else happens in that area...


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