I've been having an issue with my truck not restarting when it's heat soaked and it seems like its just not getting fuel in the engine. It starts up right away when it's cold but some times I have to crank the hell out of it when it's hot. It's even required a jump start a couple of times. I've checked the solenoid on the injection pump but I'm not convinced one way or the other that its good or bad yet. Should I be cranking it with the throttle open? I've tried that a couple of times and I'm not sure it made a difference.

 

That's the sign of a tired/dying injection pump.

 

Yup; dying injection pump.
Until you get it replaced, you can pour cool water on the IP head(the piece with all the lines coming out of it) slowly for a minute or two -- it shouldn't take more than a pint or so. Cool it down a bit and chances are it will start right up.

Note that it is simply a matter of leakage between the IP head and rotor, and you simply get no fuel. The solution is to replace it with a newer/less-worn pump which has closer tolerances.
If you're short on cash, you can get away with the water trick for a while, or simply figure out how to get more pressure at that spot.
The pressure is a direct function of RPM, so cranking faster helps.
As it's hot while it is doing this, you can't use ether to get it started -- it is way too volatile. I once got it working myself by pouring a little diesel down the intake, or, depending on temps, you might try a little bit of gasoline -- something that is much less volatile, but enough to fire once or twice and get the engine spinning fast enough to inject.

Obviously, the right thing to do is just get a good rebuilt IP, but that may or may not be an option to you depending on funds. http://www.idiperformance.com is a good, well-recommended re-builder, though they are obviously a bit more expensive than the cheapest 'rebuilds'... for good reason.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm trying to decide between http://www.idiperformance.com/ and rockauto. Rockauto being $100 less. Is the performance pump worth the extra $? I doubt I will be doing any mods to this thing, I would just like to keep it reliable.

 

Yes it is. Cheap rebuilders just grab an old pump, throw some new seals and cheap parts in it, do some basic testing and call it good. There's a reason it's $100 less.

Remember, you won't be limited by fuel flow but by timing. A sloppy pump can work OK in one RPM range, and then be horribly retarded or advanced outside of that range -- you could have a pump that works great from idle to 1800RPM, and then you just lose power.
Or, depending on adjustment, work great from 2000+, but have no power low in the revs.
Really, when you're already spending $500 on it, spend the extra money.
Oh, and IIRC, he will take Paypal. So you can use Paypal's new bill-me-later thing and get 6 months to pay it off if you need, interest free(The only downside is Paypal charges 3% for a card transaction of any sort, but all the transaction processors do, so unless you write a check/cash, someone is paying that 3%)

 

X2, spend the extra $100. $500 or $600 is a lot of money, but there is no point in throwing that $500 out which you'll be doing if you get stuck with a re-seal 'rebuild'. Lots of sad storied in these forums from guys who bought the cheap 'rebuilds'.