Need Help on Hard Start Situation

[William 39466]

I have a 1996 Grand Caravan 3.3L. It has 135000 miles and runs great. I have had several problems with it in the past. I would like to list them as they may have something to do with what's going on now. When you first crank it in the morning it would not pull in Drive or Reverse until the engine had been running for 10 minutes or so. We had the transmission flushed and refilled and that problem seems to have been eliminated. At times the trans would not shift out of 2nd gear no matter how fast you drove (up to 4000 RPM). We would have to pull over on the side of the road and kill the engine and restart it and then it would shift normally. Also the wipers do not work properly in the morning. At times they will not turn off and at other times they would park in any position on the windsheild. After the vehicle warms up, the wipers and transmission operate fine.

My problem I am having now is that when the engine is hot you have to really grind on the starter before the engine will crank. It has always started as soon as you spin it over in the past. It began when we parked at Blockbuster for about 15 minutes. When we came back out, I didn't think it was going to start. It had never done that before. The next morning, it cranked right up without any problem at all. It seems to only have the hard start problem when the engine is hot. I have changed the coil and it did not help at all. I am thinking fuel pump now, but the van will accelerate perfectly at full throttle. The fuel filter has been recently changed and the fuel tank stays full most of the time to avoid condensation.

One more thing, when the van finally does start, it emits a strange odor but I have not seen any black (flood) smoke.

I could really use some advise on this problem.
Thanks,
William

[GTP Dad]

You could have several issues. The first thing I would check is the fuel pressure regulator. It seems like it allowing fuel pressure to leak off when the engine is hot and thus it is not holding enough pressure to allow the injectors to work properly. The second issue is that the injectors could be leaking down. That could be the reason you are getting the black smoke from the exhaust when it finally starts. Finally, the problem could be with the O2 sensor sending false readings to the computer. If they are original might be a good time to change them. I hope the suggestions help.