Oldsmobile/Buick Repair: Engine wont turn over, car leaking gas, oldsmobile cutlass ciera, 1989 oldsmobile cutlass ciera

Question
My car: 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera 2.8L International

The problem: I first noticed a problem with my car the other night. I had gone to the gas station, then was running some errands. I was idling at a stop light, and the engine started surging- it felt like the car was going between cycles of trying to get away from me and almost dying. Like I was gently revving the engine every second or so.

After I parked the car and came back out to it, it had trouble turning over, but finally managed it. It died at one stoplight on the way home. The car would drive just fine so long as I was driving, not stopping.

The next day, I went out to the car, and it started just fine. I drove it around a little bit, and it was doing the same surging, it was idling in a *very* rough manner. I put some fuel injector cleaner in the car, just in case, and drove it around for awhile. I thought the fuel injector cleaner was helping it, or maybe it just was running better because the engine was hot. But when I got back to my parking spot, it died again. While out, I asked the guys at the oil change/auto parts store to listen to my engine. They said it could possibly be a fuel/air sensor gone bad, but did not really know.

Today I took the car out again, it was still surging. Died once at a stoplight again. About 15 miles into the trip, it started surging very badly as I was driving through a residential area with stop signs at every block. At the third or fouth stop sign, the engine died again. This time when I tried to restart it, it would crank but not turn over. I let it sit for a little while but it still would not do anything. I did notice when I was cranking it that there was a visible cloud coming out of the exhaust pipe.

We looked at the car. I had failed to notice this before, but there was a puddle of gas under the car, very close to the front. (About a 3ft diameter puddle, with the front of the puddle actually sticking out from under the car in the front.) Nothing visibly appeared to be wrong, but we didn't take much apart. We took the air filter out, and it was soaked with gas.

Now i'm perplexed. The car is still where it died. Does anyone have an idea what could be wrong with it? And if so, is it something my friends could do? (They're moderately experienced in car repair, assuming they know what the problem is. I am incompetent.) How much are parts?

And if it's something i'm going to have to go to a shop for, any ideas on what that would cost? Obviously, my car is old and I'm not willing to put inane amounts of money into it.

Thanks!

PS. I just found out, the gas was coming out of the intake manifold if that helps.

Answer
Hello Stephanie.
With raw gasoline dripping and running everywhere like that, it is a bad fire...waiting to happen.
Get a mechanic to look at it, prefferably where it is.
Any spark could set that gas on fire, and even if nobody gets burned, the car will likely go up in flames, so be careful of anything you do while the gas is leaking like that.

Now...for a reason for the gas to leak, would be a blown seal or gasket in the throttle body or fuel rail area, and the electric pump is just pumping it out.
Not necessarily an expensive repair, but something someone who knows something about the injection system should do.

Van