97 Tahoe vortec,wife went to start this morning but wouldn't fire,cranking over fine.Ok,pull a couple a plugs,crank and nice bright fire,but I noticed plugs were wet with gas.Put back in,still wont fire.Spray some ether down the intake (I know,I shouldn't) nothing happens.I notice when cranking,after I release the key back to on,the engine tries to fire and slowly it chugs once or twice like the timing is way off.Finally after more cranking it backfires several times and finally starts.Ran rough for a few seconds and then it starts running perfect like nothing has been wrong.Took it for a short drive and it runs perfect.To me it acted like the timing was way off then finally fixed itself.Anyone have a clue what might be wrong with this thing,before I get the call from my wife at the shopping center,("The Damn Car Won't Start,Come Get Me")? Complete tuneup and new fuel pump and filter less than 10k miles ago. Thanks all.

Happened on my 97 was the fuel pressure regulator. I cant remember if that was on that spider thingy in the manifold or not. Mine cranked like it jumped on the timing gear.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-Fuel-Pressure-Regulator-21071-Chevy-Truck-96-99_W0QQitemZ180000479095QQihZ008QQcategoryZ33553QQ ssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638 Q2em118Q2el12

or this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/VORTEC-SPIDER-SCPI-FUEL-INJECTOR-1996-2003-CHEVROLET-TK_W0QQitemZ120329404681QQihZ002QQcategoryZ33554QQ ssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638 Q2em118Q2el1247

Why wouldn't it fire when I shot the ether down the intake?

I dont know. Are you getting spark to the plugs..? Also the stock dist cap hold down screws strip easy and causes problems because it works up. Thats all i can say.

They make an updated fuel injection spider for those that is a much better unit. But its not cheap. Has small injectors on each end instead of just a nozzle. The problem you describe sounds fuel related to me.

^

Has it been damp out? Took my wifes Yukon to the car wash once and It did the same thing you described! (crossfire) Kind of bucking at the srarter.
Those Distributor caps are junk design. Thats my experience...Go to Napa get the best one they offer! And as mentioned dont over tighten the screws that hold on the cap.That my experiance.

There is a fuel pump relay that also goes bad with no notice. In my old 95 Blazer there are 2 of them side by side in the back of the glove box. one is for the fuel pump. It would try to start - blubber a bit and nothing. It is worth checking.

I see a fuel pump relay in the fuse box under the hood.Do these relays sometimes work intermittently or do they conk out all together.Car is running fine now,but Im sure this will happen again.

A fuel pump relay would cause no fuel pressure. Your problem isnt fuel pressure related from the sounds of it. Otherwise it wouldnt start at all.

The relay can certainly be an intermittent problem - been there. If there there are 2 side by side - when the vehicle acts up again, just swap places with the 2 relays and see if it restarts. If so, then replace the one .

I would scan it before changing anything. It could be any of several things, and you may chase it with a bunch of parts if you don't scan it to start with. Autozone and advance should be able to scan it free.

Next time this problem occurs. Just cycle the key by turning it off and forward into the "run" position. But not all the way forward to engage the starter. Kind of like if you were to turn your key all the way forward to turn on the lights or the radio. Where all the dash lights come on. Cycle that off and then on and see if you can hear the fuel pump run, it should run for about 2 seconds and stop. GM pumps are loud enough to hear this way, but you may have to roll down the window and either from the drivers seat yourself or by reaching in from outside and doing this. Because if the door is open, the chime may be too loud over the pump.

Or you can just go back there and have someone inside the vehicle cycle the key.

sounds like a bad coil wire & or a corroded coil tower terminal

One other thing , if its a 4.3lt it could very well be the egr valve stuck open,valve open with a chunk of carbon. will clear up for a while but will come back & run like crap ,poor starting problem also.