Lately I've been getting a long crank after my car has been sitting 20 or more minutes. The car is an 08 328i automatic with 149,000 miles, the charging system has been checked, the battery appox. 60 days old and was registered upon installI. When the car is hot it takes 2-3 cranks to start , after sitting a while anwhere between 12-30. It's almost as if it's not getting any fuel. Once started the car runs great.Yesterday I started getting a gasoline smell after parking. Any ideas?
It sounds like your fuel pump check valve has failed and is allowing residual fuel pressure to bleed back to the tank. When the vehicle shuts off and the pump stops pumping and check valve is closed keeping the fuel system pressurized for the next start. A bad check valve will allow fuel pressure to bleed back into the tank causing long cranks. In order to test for this issue you will need to do a residual pressure test hook up your fuel gauge and let the vehicle sit and see if the pressure drops dramatically. If it does you probably need fuel a fuel pump. But be aware there are other things that could cause a residual fuel pressure drop such as a leaking injector, but the pump is the most common especially with the mileage. Hope this helps.
What a nightmare. Found a crack in the fuel sending unit, that was leaking fuel, had it replaced. Got the car back restarted it twice, filled up then it wouldn't start at all. Towed in and it started intermittently, it was the fuel pump also. This one hurt.
