As is the case sometimes there may be several things going on simultaneously. Posted a thread a while back in Cars in General about electrical grounds that seems to have helped quite a bit although this problem rears its head occasionally on this vehicle.
After locating, cleaning and snugging up grounds on this van and two other vehicles my cold morning starts are definitely no longer a problem on a Chevy truck and Buick although the van problem shows up very rarely now and again.
I have since replaced all coils w/Motorcraft and the uphill misfire in high gear low rpm is now gone.Will check your suggestion.
Thanks