3800 engine hard starting

My car did this.

Timing chain and gear is in bad shape or out of the correct position.

What year Joseph? Timing gears have much improved on in 3.8's since the

80's. You can pretty much rule that out since this occurred recently after repairs. I say that you will need to go back over the fuel rail and the connections Ed. Other thoughts would be what type of fuel and oil are you using? Does it start up fine after its warm? How long do you crank it? Does it build oil pressure before it actually starts? Check the spark plug wires for correct resistance. Pull the plugs and inspect them as well.

The crank forever, smell of gas, and maybe it starts is usually timing related - either the camshaft sensor or something in the timing gear.

The other thing that would make it run very poorly might be the MAF or whatever functions as one on that year/engine.

  Ed wrote: I just had some work done on my '94 LaSabre. Intake, plentum and valve cover gaskets installed. Since then my car is hard to start. It cranks over for a longer period of time and sometimes you smell gasoline. Could this be a result of something not put back together right or some small thing related to the work done.  Thanks... if you can help me. snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com I don't know if your 3800 fuel system is the same as the 98.  I had hard starting, starting rich because of a bad(leaking) fuel pressure regulator.  Further clue is if it will restart normally immediately after shutting down or after long period of down time.  In my case (twice) the fuel pressure regulator developed a leak into the vacuum side which drains raw gas into the intake manifold.

  Bill wrote:   Ed wrote: I just had some work done on my '94 LaSabre. Intake, plentum and valve cover gaskets installed. Since then my car is hard to start. It cranks over for a longer period of time and sometimes you smell gasoline. Could this be a result of something not put back together right or some small thing related to the work done.  Thanks... if you can help me. snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com I don't know if your 3800 fuel system is the same as the 98.  I had hard starting, starting rich because of a bad(leaking) fuel pressure regulator.  Further clue is if it will restart normally immediately after shutting down or after long period of down time.  In my case (twice) the fuel pressure regulator developed a leak into the vacuum side which drains raw gas into the intake manifold. Forgot to mention that the sure diagnosis is  to pull the vacuum hose from the presure regultor while the engine is idling.  If gas come from the regulator vacuum port it is leaking.

It's probably not getting enough, actually. Q: does the fuel pump seem quite loud?

Ah. Then it's probably something in the fuel system. Check the fuel pump.