I have a 1991 D150, 5.2L TBI, all stock, 120k miles. Often when I try to start it, it cranks really fast, for as long as I want to crank it, but won't start. Do this 3 or 4 times and it finally starts. I can hear to fuel pump run for a few seconds when I turn on the key. Power to everything when I turn on the key. A few weeks ago, I started checking the 2 relays on the driver side inner-fender. They seem to work properly when connected to 12 volts so I plugged them back in. Pulled the coil wire off to check for spark there, and with it resting on top of the distributor, the truck started (with it arcing from the wire to the distributor. Put it back on and everything seemed to be fine. Yesterday it went back to its old trick of not starting until I crank it 4 or 5 times with 10 or 15 seconds between tries. My question is, when I was messing with the relays, could I have temporarily 'fixed' something there by giving it an extra 'jolt' or resetting them something? Any idea?
thanks

 

You have to check and see if it is not getting fuel or spark when it acks up??? Then you know what to chase

 

yeah, you gotta figure out which one it is. it's easy to eliminate fuel, luckily. that said, it sounds elec to me.