Really bad idle, heavy fuel smell

[BimmerKris]

So my car has been parked for quite a while now, only being run once every couple weeks, to keep things fresh. But the last time i went to start it and drive it, it started acting up. It was chuggy in the low rpms and got worse and would stay chuggy, and now barly stays idling. it will start and just puh... puh... puh... and shakes the whole car. when i try and give it some throttle it just does the same thing but a little faster, then when i let go it will die if i don't feather it down. Plus it has a really strong smell of gas. I have another car i can swap parts with to test for probs but so far nothing.

I have tried replacing

the computer
icv
o2 sensor
and the green plug behind the comp, the fuel something or other i think
it picked up a little after the comp and the green plug went in but still barly runs

could something have caused the spark plugs to fault or anything thing else that would cause this

[Mike325]

MAybe your injector O-rings are leaking, causing the smell of gas as well as the poor idle.

[lordofthewaters]

Could be. Any black smoke? I suppose the gas smell sould be sticky injectors? Could also be water in the gas, or even dead gas, you said it sits for long periods, same gas is always in there going bad.

[BimmerKris]

if the o rings were leaking would any gas leak out though?

there is no leaks, there was black smoke when it first started running rough, but im not sure about now. I just put fresh fuel in it a couple weeks ago, but maybe some injector cleaner will help, i never thought of that

[lordofthewaters]

If it's black smoke I'd bet it's the injectors. They say alcohol in the tank'll help clean the water out. I've never tried that with these before. I think seafoam does a good job getting the water out, cleaning the injectors, plus it's a fuel stabilizer too, to keep it from going bad. Of course some say it'll kill your o2 sensor............

[Ablice]

Fuel injector o-ring leaks would be the same as vaccum leaks, but the ECU doesn't measure that kind of leakage.

Don't use fuel system cleaners.

What kind of car is this again?

[325inewbie]

If there is a way to test your cold start valve I would highly recommend that. If I'm understanding you correctly, the car putts like it is going to stop and then you give it throttle to try to pull it out of a stall, correct? That could certainly be causing the gas smell. I could be totally off base here, but I know I experienced almost the exact same thing and it was because the cold start valve wasn't activating. Good luck.

[BimmerKris]

I am still having this problem, i havent had a chance to work on it over the winter, but i got out today and tried again. still doing the same thing. i have to get some water remover to try that.

the car can barley stay idling and when i push on the gas pedal it just spudders louder and will backfire, then i have to baby it back down to idle so it doest stall. so i don't think it would be my CSV. i did try disconnecting it and reconnceting it various times though out the idle and nothing changed. should something have changed.

also, i don't think the battery is holding a charge, i boosted it to start the car and left the cables on for a bit to give the battery some juice, but once i shut off the car i get not even the clock on. i just replaced the battery before the winter cause it did the same thing, could something be causing it to short out? and would that relate to a problem causing the idle.

this is the first problem i have not been able to figure out yet

any help would be very appreciated

thanks

[Mike325]

Will the car run with the jumpers off?

[BimmerKris]

yeah it stays running untill i shut it off, or it stalls

[Mike325]

Are there any visable leaks on the ground? Do you know where the smell is coming from exactly?

[Mr Deagle]

cold start valve stuck open?

[mrsleeve]

OK for the fuel look right under the drivers side door. along the frame mine had rusted through at one of the frame clips. The shitty idle charge your battery an check you alternator to make sure you are getting enough voltage. My new 4 door idles like shit right after I coal start it for a few min till the voltage settles out at 12.8 volts or more. I know I have weak battery.

[jrabbit]

have you tried a fuel pressure regulator ?

[SchnellerVert]

Check the coolant temp resistance and the tps to see if they are withing limits.