Hi guys,

It's been awhile since I've been on this board. Shockingly, my 94 3.0, auto has been a pretty good vehicle for the last few months. It's getting ready for its 200k birthday in a few more weeks or 200k head gasket blow - time will tell. Unfortunately, it's reverting back to its old, problematic self.

I'm having an intermittent starting problem. I've searched around, but I'm only finding people with semi-similar problems.

What I do know:
1. It never acts up when cold.
2. It's hit or miss on hot starts. Sometimes it turns right over. Other times, it will crank like no tomorrow, but never go.
3. It has died while driving. No sputter, just engine off. Most of the time, it starts right back up if I throw it into neutral.
4. I had a friend sit and crank it when it pulled this in a parking lot the other day. The tail pipe didn't really smell like fuel. Should it? Also, it smelled very, very rich when it did finally start.
5. I can't remember how this coincides with the starting problem, but one day I went to fuel up and my gas cap didn't hiss at all. It always had before. Thought nothing of it at the time, and just bought a new cap. Still no hiss.
6. There is spark.
7. Also, if it matters, my truck got an extensive check and cleaning of the fuel lines and injectors a few months ago. Sort of a funny story. Started up one day with zero power and a shaky engine. I limped it over to the mechanic at 10 mph because I had no time for its shenanigans. Anyways, the mechanic spent two days thinking the entire fuel rail was clogged. KISS right? Darn thing skipped the timing belt and lost the passenger cylinder bank. He never thought to check the timing belt, because it was still in time according to the gun since that all runs off the driver's cam. Oops. To say the least, his boss was pissed. The 70 year old master, figured it out in about a half hour. Anyways, I'd have to highly doubt any sort of clogging or injector problem, since those were pulled, cleaned and tested

Anyways, I started thinking deeply about the gas cap thing and how weird it is that it would change sound so suddenly. And it has been hot, so I would think it should hiss right now.

So, is the gas cap related to the starting? I just need a starting point before I go barking up the wrong tree. I can replace parts all day long, but I've never been very good at identifying the problem.