Narrative:

Early in boarding; ground air was unable to cool the plane; began using APU w/air conditioning packs. It began to drizzle; then outright downpour. Began smelling light oily fumes. I decided to call maintenance to have a mechanic check it out. I switched the left pack off; a little better; still smelled the oily fumes. Left pack back on; right pack off; worse. Tried to contact maintenance to consult about how long till mechanic would arrive & whether we should deplane; no answer; phone busy. Called dispatch to get through to maintenance; both maintenance & dispatch busy due to multiple broken planes and weather events. Consulted with my first officer (first officer) & flight attendants (flight attendant) and gate agents; then decided to deplane the passengers and crew.a mechanic arrived to run engines at idle at the gate in an effort to 'clean out' the ducts. First officer sat in his seat (used oxygen mask); mechanic sat in lh seat; and I went into the terminal. The fumes smell filled last 2/3rds of the jetway on the way back to the plane (or; put another way - first 2/3rds on the way up to the terminal). After the engine run; the smell was less; but still present with the APU bleed off; and air coming from engine bleed. Maintenance wanted to defer the APU bleed and have us take the aircraft; using the engine bleeds for air conditioning. Not only is it too hot in ZZZ to use ground air in a A321; the smell was still present. I wanted them to run the engines at high power at the runup block to see if they could clear the fumes odor. The mechanic thought this was a good idea (was actually his idea); maintenance did not want to do this. My first officer & I went downstairs to our domicile chief pilot's office to tell him yes; we were refusing an 'airworthy' airplane because we didn't think it was safe for passengers nor crew to breathe the fumes. At some point after the engine run at idle at the gate; we opened all the cabin doors; to discuss the situation with the mechanics. Despite sitting in a cabin seat row adjacent to open mid-cabin doors; my first officer and I felt lightheaded and had low-grade headaches.we later decided it would not be prudent to operate an aircraft and that we were no longer fit for duty. We informed our domicile chief pilot (who contacted scheduling). I talked to a few of our flight attendant's about the situation; then we went home.there is a backstory; which I only realized after going home and checking my own flight history.(1) same airplane - I flew this aircraft and wrote up an oily fumes smell.(2) same weather - I flew an A319 and got an oily fumes smell.it is my belief that [this aircrafts] APU has been leaking slowly for a long time; and that the oil has accumulated in the packs or filters in aerodynamically quiet areas. It is then released with power/thrust changes or; as in our case; with the introduction of lots of moisture/humidity from the heavy rain outside. I am not aware of rain prior to [this] event; but it was present for the [other] event.after we left; another crew was called to do the flight. Apparently; they refused it because of the fumes odor still present. A third crew took the plane the next day and wrote it up in because of the fumes odor. Maintenance actions in between those event included running the engines more; a finding that the APU was over serviced; and replacing cabin air filters.a discussion with the mechanic during our event revealed that he (and likely maintenance as well) believed that he thought it was difficult to find the fumes source; and uncertain on what the next steps should be; other than defer the APU bleed. I explained that the 'airbus technical magazine #52' explains very clearly exactly what to do. It is not a maintenance manual; nor is it for the A320 series alone. It outlines logical steps to follow on any airbus aircraft; to (1) find the source; (2) fix the problem; and (3) clean the ducts/packs to keep the fumes from reoccurring.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A321 Captain reported refusing an aircraft due to fumes and an oil smell in the cabin.

Narrative: Early in boarding; ground air was unable to cool the plane; began using APU w/air conditioning packs. It began to drizzle; then outright downpour. Began smelling light oily fumes. I decided to call maintenance to have a mechanic check it out. I switched the left pack off; a little better; still smelled the oily fumes. Left pack back on; right pack off; worse. Tried to contact maintenance to consult about how long till mechanic would arrive & whether we should deplane; no answer; phone busy. Called Dispatch to get through to maintenance; both maintenance & dispatch busy due to multiple broken planes and weather events. Consulted with my First Officer (FO) & Flight Attendants (FA) and gate agents; then decided to deplane the passengers and crew.A mechanic arrived to run engines at idle at the gate in an effort to 'clean out' the ducts. FO sat in his seat (used oxygen mask); mechanic sat in LH seat; and I went into the terminal. The fumes smell filled last 2/3rds of the jetway on the way back to the plane (or; put another way - first 2/3rds on the way up to the terminal). After the engine run; the smell was less; but still present with the APU bleed off; and air coming from engine bleed. Maintenance wanted to defer the APU bleed and have us take the aircraft; using the engine bleeds for air conditioning. Not only is it too hot in ZZZ to use ground air in a A321; the smell was still present. I wanted them to run the engines at high power at the runup block to see if they could clear the fumes odor. The mechanic thought this was a good idea (was actually his idea); maintenance did not want to do this. My FO & I went downstairs to our Domicile Chief Pilot's office to tell him yes; we were refusing an 'airworthy' airplane because we didn't think it was safe for passengers nor crew to breathe the fumes. At some point after the engine run at idle at the gate; we opened ALL the cabin doors; to discuss the situation with the mechanics. Despite sitting in a cabin seat row adjacent to open mid-cabin doors; my FO and I felt lightheaded and had low-grade headaches.We later decided it would not be prudent to operate an aircraft and that we were no longer fit for duty. We informed our Domicile Chief Pilot (who contacted scheduling). I talked to a few of our FA's about the situation; then we went home.There is a backstory; which I only realized after going home and checking my own flight history.(1) Same airplane - I flew this aircraft and wrote up an oily fumes smell.(2) Same weather - I flew an A319 and got an oily fumes smell.It is my belief that [this aircrafts] APU has been leaking slowly for a long time; and that the oil has accumulated in the packs or filters in aerodynamically quiet areas. It is then released with power/thrust changes or; as in our case; with the introduction of lots of moisture/humidity from the heavy rain outside. I am not aware of rain prior to [this] event; but it was present for the [other] event.After we left; another crew was called to do the flight. Apparently; they refused it because of the fumes odor still present. A third crew took the plane the next day and wrote it up in because of the fumes odor. Maintenance actions in between those event included running the engines more; a finding that the APU was over serviced; and replacing cabin air filters.A discussion with the mechanic during our event revealed that he (and likely maintenance as well) believed that he thought it was difficult to find the fumes source; and uncertain on what the next steps should be; other than defer the APU bleed. I explained that the 'Airbus technical magazine #52' explains very clearly EXACTLY what to do. It is not a maintenance manual; nor is it for the A320 series alone. It outlines logical steps to follow on ANY Airbus aircraft; to (1) find the source; (2) fix the problem; and (3) clean the ducts/packs to keep the fumes from reoccurring.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.