I recently started having trouble starting my car. I have to pump the gas pedal to get it to start up, but once it was started it seems to idle normally. Then driving on the highway I notice it had a miss and notice a strong smell of gas inside and outside the car. Also, I dont have a CEL.

At first I was thinking I need to replace the plugs, but after searching this forum I thinking it might be a fuel pump issue. Does that sound right? I’m just trying to figure out what I should trouble shoot first.

My car is a 2004 MT with around 81000 miles. Motor and cat were replaced around 41,500 miles and I did the LS2 coil conversion (w/ MSD coils) at that time as well.

 

Please see the link in my signature regarding both hard starts and misfires.

Fuel pump is definitely something to consider in this situation, you could always test the fuel pressure (again, see threads for links on that)