A friend of mine has a 2004 WRX with 57K miles. Lately he says he smells gas around the car, and thinks his mileage has been poor. He took it to the dealer, they checked it over, and said they couldn't find anything wrong. One of the service people said he has the same car, and when the spark plugs begin wearing that the car has these symptoms. Something to do with fuel not burning completely...?

Sounds odd to me, but I'm a Pontiac guy. Anyone have experience with this?

There's no documented issue with the '04, there was an issue with the '02 which was rectified under a TSB. Has your friend checked all the fuel lines for cracks brought on by the cold weather?

We are in northeast PA, there has been some bitter cold weather, that's for sure. However, since he had the car at the dealer, and they supposedly gave it a "full diagnostic check", I'd think they'd look for that. I haven't looked at the car, but I'm going to take a peak for him.

They need to check the fuel line pressure to check for leaks. An electronic diagnostic check isn't going to turn up something related to a hairline crack, even those grease-monkeys should know that.

Follow this link to some info on where the problem is on the '02 and it may help:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=446810&highlight=gas+smell