Issue:
Car takes 3-4 long cranks to start, sometimes she will just fire right up other times it takes 3-4 cranks or one really long crank.

My idea of possible reason: I have an exhaust leak right at the junction of the y-pipe and manifold the flang only has two stud holding the y up, the stock y fyi. When it does start I have about 5 secs of good rich smelling fuel in the cabin. Could the leak be causing the poor starts and lopey idle?

Any ideas?
PLugs are pretty new, fuel filter is less then 6 months old, coil packs are about 1 year old.

 

sounds likes u have trouble keeping fuel pressure.....check ur injectors to make sure they are all injecting...i had that problem on my 3rd gen

 

Oh yep one other thing all the injectors were replaced about 6 months ago. OHM wise they all test out fine.

Perhaps running a good fuel system cleaner will help?

 

Might be your starter crapping out on you

 

How much fuel is in your tank when you have this problem?

 

fuel doesnt matter full, empty, half, all the same.
It turns over perfectly fine and fast so I know its not the starter.
So frustrating.

 

Try flipping the key to the On position before cranking the car each time. Listen for the fuel pump to pressurize the system (a slight buzzing sound). Leave it on On for a few seconds, then start it. See if the engine always fires up immediately when you do that. If it does, then you might be having a fuel pressure problem.

 

Like stated above, it might be something with your starter.
My bro works at a little dealership and just had to do this on a 99 i30 that just came in(same car).
Go to Motorvate.com and find the article about fixing starter noise. I don't know if this would eliminate your problems, but it would probably help. It makes the starter be able to start faster.
What you do basically is just replace the grease in the little gearbox inside of the starter with some newer grease. Then, everything is okay. That old grease turns kind of gummy and sticky.