Sometimes when I start my car, it sounds as if it is choking..it is kinda hesitant to start..it will take like 4-5 seconds instead of 2. Right after it starts up, I get a really strong smell of gasoline..does anybody know what might be the issue? On top of it, my gas mileage is horrible..I have never broke 300 miles on a tank. Thanks.

 

Could be you have a gas leak. The gas lines in the engine bay are high pressure. Get it to the dealer ASAP.
C.

 

anybody else with any ideas?

 

might sound werd but check ur battery.

 

hmm..ok i'll check that

 

It sounds like a potential fuel injector issue. I had something similiar on another vehicle. What happened in my case was one of the the injector's spring started to fail and it cracked open bleeding down the fuel rail into the cylinder. When I would start the car the fuel pump had to run to re-prime the fuel lines and rail and had to come up to pressure before the ECU would allow the car to fire up. The fuel that bled into the cylinder was then 'pumped' out as fumes as the motor turned over through the exhaust system....the cats are not hot enough to burn the vapors off so you smelled a strong smell of gas outside the car. Does this sound like your issue?

 

yea it sounds like it may be somethign along those lines..is there anyway I can confirm something liek that myself? would that also mess up gas mileage?

 

Do you notice this after you have been driving the car shut it off and start it the next day. Or did you start the car for a few seconds maybe the time before and shut it off while it was still cold. If you start you car and only run it for a short period eg: pulling it into the garage especially if it is cold out the next time you go to start you car it will normally blow black smoke out of the exhaust and run ruff for a minute or two. I am no saying that this is what you are doing just that running the engine for a short period will cause similar problems.

 

I once had a similiar problem with my J30 when pulling it hard into garage and immediatelly shutting the engine off. My car would not start at all the next day. It took me about 45 seconds to start the car.

Run the engine for about 10 seconds before turning it off. I bet you your problem will go away.

 

its never right after i have been driving my car..it is usually in the morning or after the car has been sitting in ym parking lot at work for a few hours..

 

if its cold and u start it up, you HAVE to let it warm up. let it run for 5 or 10 minutes. It is VERY bad to shut it off when its cold!

 

So the problem arises after the car has sat for a while but before it sat, you had driven it enough for the engine to be hot? This is what happened in my situation. The motor was hot before I parked it and the heat from the motor soaked the injectors causing one or more to crack open thus bleeding down the fuel rail. If I started my car in the drive way and just pulled it into the garage and the engine didn't run long enough to get hot, I had no problem because the injectors wouldn't open because there was no heat to cause the spring in them to expand. I tested mine by having a tech put a pressure gauge on the fuel rail and we could watch the fuel pressure drop and the fuel system bled down. As far as affecting mpg, the amount of fuel that bleeds down due to relieving pressure through the injector is probably small compared to the amount that you use when you drive aggressively.....so no, I don't think that your mileage will be a way to gauge what is going on. But then again, if a large amount is bleeding down, it could affect your mileage.....in fact, my problem affected my mileage. If a large amount is bleeding down, you probably are getting fuel wash in your cylinders which is where the gas that bleeds down will leak through the rings and get into your oil. As it does this, it washes the cylinders walls stripping them of lubricant and this is not good on start up. As the others have said, take it to your Dealer and have them check for a fuel leak for safety sake and if there is no external leak, have them hook up a pressure gauge when the engine is hot and watch the pressure drop indicating an internal leak, i.e., injector bleeding down.

 

I had the exact same problem you described with my old Ford. It was a gas leak. I would take it in ASAP; the problem will only get worse.... As for fixing it yourself; take it in and get a quote at least. In my case they had to take out the entire gas tank to get to the bad line. Not something you probably want to do yourself. You can't screw around with cars when you smell gas. Or you could be the "car fire" on the radio screwing up traffic

 

I think you should deff have it looked at......sounds like it could be a fuel injector or leak problem as stated above.

I don't think I have never NOT gotten at least 300 miles on a tank of gas....even driving the dog out of it.
Of course that is a mix of city and highway.

 

damn i swear...even if its all highway driving and i dont drive it hard, i still have the fuel light on by 260 miles..