Like my user name says..I'm no mechanic...
 

I recently purchased a 1990 Maxima. It has run great for 2 weeks, and overnight it will randomly have a hard time starting, will run rough and you can smell gas. Start it again a few minutes later and everything is OK. Completely mind boggling to me. Any ideas as to what is wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Imnomechanic

2 of the most common things to check is one you either have a leaking injector in which case you need to pull the intake manifold and pull the fuel rail and inspect the injectors for broken pintle caps or bad o rings or the second would be to inspect the fuel hoses on either side of the fuel rail for leaks. If it's the hoses on the fuel rail put the hood up and when you start the car check for any wet spots or leaks. You have to be somewhat quick when doing that as fuel tends to evaporate fairly quickly hense why you only smell it for a certain period of time. If your having any fuel coming out of the tail pipe its probably a leaky injector for sure but a leaky injector doesnt always cause fuel to come out of the tail pipe so check your hoses first because if your not at all mechanically inclined then pulling the intake and fuel rail can be a little work but can be done if you get yourself a factory service manual. Hope this helps and welcome to the org. :)

Imnomechanic
 

Thank you very much for your timely and concise answer to my problem. This sight rocks so far, thanks to you. I'll check it out and give it a try. Thanks again.

No problem. I try to be helpful when possible. Funny coincidence is I managed to help another fairly new member with the user name "not a mechanic" with pretty much the same problem your having lol. My guess is an injector but check the fuel hoses 1st being they're pretty much visible. Are you getting a misfire? Listen at the back near the tail pipe and listen for random putt putt sounds but not so close as you dont want to be huffing those fumes lol.