before my car caught fire i took it to take the emissions test .. unfortunately i failed the emissions test .. but before it caught fire .. i noticed it smelled like gas really bad .. and the fire was a result of a gas leak .. but my question is .. could this leak cause me to fail my emissions test? like some how the gas wasnt being burned properly .. or something of that nature?

 

Your running rich.

Join the club. =)

 

In California when you take your car in for a smog test they will fail you if they smell gas in the engine compartment and this has nothing to do with the tail pipe emissions.

The reasoning is that there is a fuel leak somewhere resulting in evaporative HC emissions = automatic failure.

 

well the question is if it is leaking would that affect the exhaust output causing me to fail emissions?

 

Maybe. If you can smell it with your nose, the sensor can definitely sense it and at those levels you will fail. However, the sensor isn't in the engine bay its in the exhaust pipe, and with all the air rushing out the exhaust pipe I would think any external leak coming from the engine would have no way of making its way into the sensor.

 

It depends on the requirement of your state and city.

Go talk to someone at an inspection station and ask them about it. You'll get the answers you need much quicker.