bad spark plugs?

my friend told me all i need to do to fix my car is change the spark plugs. here are the symptoms:

check engine light is on.
engine sounds like it is misfiring
smells like gasoline when run.

is he right?

Its a good, inexpensive place to start. Depending on the year of your vehicle you can take it to a big chain auto parts store and they'll plug into it and read the codes for you. Then you'll know for sure what's wrong.

I personally don't think its plugs. They would slowly start exhibiting these symtoms getting worse over thousands of miles. Could be one plug, or some plug wires starting to fail. It could be a coil, ignition module, or any one of several EFI sensors (if so equipped.)

You could try your local Autozone and see if they will run your codes for free...but being that you have a 94 (obdI I believe) they may not have the proper tool there to do it (generally they only do 96+ cars). Check in the Sentra part of the forum...perhaps they can assist you in pulling the codes from teh ECU yourself...as I know this was possibly simply with a paperclip in my old Honda...

It could be plugs, but honestly my first thought was fuel related. Either you're running wayyy to rich, or you could have a clogged or leaking fuel injector(s) - which would have the same exact symptoms. An injector purge should solve this, if it were the problem.

would clogged injectors cause the check engine light to go on? i talked to a guy at a parts store, and he said it could be the wires(the plugs didnt do it) so i changed those too and still same problem. im gona brin gmy cap and rotor to a mechanic to see if theyre good, but if there not, any other possibilities? car is a 94 nissan sentra 1.6L

Could be Plugs or Spark plugs wires on on tight. Could also be an O2 Sensor.