98 Honda Odyssey 4 cyl. when we go to crank the car and it does start it smells like gas. sometimes it hesitate s to start and sometimes it doesn't start but you can smell gaswhat could be causing this?

 

Check the Distributor. These engines had all three timing sensors within the unit. If you aren't getting the three pulses all the time then it will do things like only fire the injectors but never the spark, and flood the engine down. Also random no-start is common when they are on the way to failure. Sometimes they never fail completely just get flakey/weak.

If the sparks are not always firing then you will have raw fuel smell, running or not. Newer cars can toss a code for misfire while the older F22 did not have this capability (mostly because distributor but also because OBD1). It should store the code for one of the CKP/CYP/TDC sensors though, and you check codes with a paperclip in the blue 2P connector under the passenger dash. Ram it in, turn key on (not crank) and watch CEL blink off codes.

I got tired of the crap distributor design and swapped a 1999 F23 VTEC which has the updated location for two of those timing sensors down on the actual crank. Now I only use the TDC pulse from the distributor and the other two are connected down below where they belong on newer F series engines.