question

[nghtrain88]

My car has been runnin a little rich lately, been gettin strong wiffs of fuel now and then, could that be oxygen sensors going bad? or a leak somewhere? any suggestions?

[Milo (San Antonio)]

Could be a number of things. The only way to check if you are running rich is by pulling the plugs and inspecting them. If they are heavily black then you are running rich, if they are closer to a white then you are running lean. If you are looking for a real time answer, then you would need to have some type of Air/Fuel meter to determine that.

Here is a link on how to pull the plugs - http://www.ttzd.com/tech/sparkplugstech.html

Check your fuel dampner and fuel pressure vacuum lines to make sure no fuel is dumping into the plenum via them. Sometimes when they fail they will dump fuel directly into the plenum causing a rich type of symptom. An easy check will rule this out.

If you think the O2 sensors are going bad simply just ran an ecu diagnostic and check for the codes on that. Here is the link

http://www.ttzd.com/tech/diagnostictech.html

Also check your timing, using a timing gun to make sure you are withing optimum range. Oh yeah, and check the coilpacks.

This is a good starting point.