[atfdmike]

Hi, I guess I will weigh in on this one. I wondered if you had checked the fuel pressure at the fuel rail on your vehicle? There is a fitting to do this on the rail somewhere. The factory has a bulletin out that describes the behavior of a faulty fuel pressure regulator that fits what you describe pretty well. The link supplied by amigo is a good one, but for clarification sake, a leaking regulator will not leak where you can see it. It means that it will not hold pressure after the fuel pump is off and allows bleed down of the fuel system. When you turn on the key, the fuel pump only turns on for a couple seconds, at which time you crank the engine. If it fails to start right away, the fuel pump will NOT turn on unless it sees the engine oil pressure rise over a few pounds which tell the pump it is OK to run because the engine is running (based on oil pressure being dependent on the engine running, a safety precaution in the event of rollover or accident). Problem is that you have to crank for a while to get the oil pressure up. An alternative is to turn the key off after trying, wait a while, then turn key back on to let the pump run again for a couple seconds. Of course, this is not fool proof, as the regulator may not hold pressure even for the brief pause, the fuel filter state can impede pressure build up, etc.
The bottom line here is diagnostics, ie: On the normal operating temp engine, when you know you have a hot start condition, you can jumper the fuel pump at the relay to be on, and then crank it to see if the engine catches right away ,and see if that cures the problem. If the pressure checks out OK, and the vehicle starts better, then chances are good that the regulator is the culprit. Changing the fuel filter and checking the pressure of the gas at the fuel rail with the pump jumpered on and then off can also tell you about the state of the pump, regulator, check valves, etc. My thinking is that the regulator is likely to be the cause based on probability once you are sure the rest of the fuel system is OK. Hope this helps, one owners non professional opinion.