98 ls400 tailpipe gas smell
 

Hey I was wondering if you guys can give me some in put about my car. My tailpipe since I bought it has always had smoke come out of it but didn't smell. How ever recently it's been smelling a little like gas when I start it. I'm pretty sure it's not a blown head gasket. I also been told that the car might be running too rich. Any inputs on how to over come this. Thanks and I really appreciate it.

Is your check engine light on? If so scan for the codes and let us know what comes up. You can usually go to auto zone and they will pull the codes for free and give you a print out.

All cars will have a raw gas smell in the exhaust when you first fire them up, because they run very rich at first to assist with drive-ability before the system heats up to operating temperature and goes into open loop mode.

Even my 04 GX470 and my Girlfriends 08 4runner smell like gas for a bit when first fired up.

As far as the smoke goes, what color is it? and is it constant when the engine is running?

Black smoke would be an indication of an overly rich condition.

Blue is oil, (more common with older engines with worn out valve seals), white is antifreeze (blown gasket, very unlikely on a 1UZ-FE)

YoshiMan - Just to add to your table:
LScowboyLS, among others, previously posted that Power Steering fluid also produces white smoke and is, unfortunately, somewhat common on the early (perhaps up to 1997) LS400s.
You are quite correct in that there are very few postings related to head gasket failure.

I misquoted LScowboyLS. He said oil-type smoke.

No you are confused, I have never said it produces white smoke.

the smoke from burning PS fluid, which, is, in fact, automatic transmission fluid, which is, in turn, essentially 20W motor oil, looks basically exactly like...........you guessed it.........motor oil! - so it would be the blue-gray smoke!

Raw fuel smell out the tail pipe at start up is often a byproduct of leaking injectors, typically caused by low quality fuel or poorly maintained fuel systems.

Yes, you will get a minor fuel smell at ***COLD*** start, but if it's not that cold out, above say 55°F, then that is also an indication of overfueling at start which often a sign that you need to replace your Coolant temp sensor. When they fail, or begin to degrade, typically they start reading colder and colder and max out @ ~ -40°C/F and dump a metric ton of fuel at start up.

Now, there are a lot of other possibilities as to what your problem/solution is, you might want to start with some back ground on the car, it's service history, and some more details on the smoke you mentioned.