Espace petrol fumes

[Gillway]

Have just purchased 1999 2.0 RTX. I'm getting smell of petrol inside the car which seems to be prevailant when the aircon is activated. Cannot find any evidence of fuel leak.
Any suggestions?

[Will Falconer]

I can't think of any relationship between the fuel and aircon systems but aircon can smell pretty bad anyway:

This  isn't very technical because I don't claim to understand the way it works, but you can get mold growing in the system because of residual moisture. Aerosol flushes are available to clean the system but they may be for aircon specialist use only.