Repacing the coolant temp sensor on waterpump has made no difference. Guess my next step is to pull fuel rail and check for leaks in injectors. Wonder if letting car set for the winter might have caused injectors to leak?

 

Today I put a full pressure gauge on the fuel rail. Pressure came up a little over 401 psi and instantly started to fall. Dropped over 15 lbs in about a minute or two. Looks like leaking injectors. Going to pull fuel rail off next and check to see which one's are leaking. Had injectors serviced and leak tested last year and had no problems. Car sat for most of winter, just started it occasionally. Could sitting have caused injectors to go bad? Car has not thown code's in over a week now, just hard warm start.

 

Rapidly dropping pressure after prime can also be the fuel pressure regulator or the check valve in the fuel pump.

 

As mentioned above, one of the causes of hard starting is the fuel pressure regulator leaking. This could account for your bad fuel smell from allowing fuel to dump into the intake manifold.

To test, apply vacuum manually to the hose going to the regulator. There should not be fuel present and it should hold vacuum.

But I ask you again, does your oil smell like fuel????????????

Do not continue to run the engine if you are souping a cylinder. Damage to the rings and cylinder wall can result.

 

Pulled vacuum line off fuel pressure reg. and found gas in the line. Replaced FRP and car starts right away! No more leak down when fuel pressure gauge is hooked up. Has not trown a code since. Don't know exactly why it threw a code 36. Opti seems to be fine. THANKS for all the help!!! This forum has been of great help and I hope to contribute some input!