93 Aerostar having problems cold starting after not starting it for a few days or parked on an uphill (nose up). Once started and running for about 10 minutes gives no problems for the rest of the day.
When starting cold, gives lots of noise and kinda backfiring. (My mechanic called it hydraulicing-he's not sure what's causing the problem). After about 30 seconds of cranking, it will start with a cloud of smoke out the tailpipe.
First 5 or 10 minutes it usually drives rough and may stall at a light or stop sign followed by another rough start. This time when shifting from Park to Drive, and applying gas , van stalls again and this may happen a bunch of times.
If van is parked overnight on a uphill, it is much more difficult to start if it even starts at all.

This problems all started after a ran through a huge puddle about 8 months ago and the van immediately stalled and could not get it started. Got it towed to a shop and it's never run the same since. At that time all the vacuum lines blew out but I think that's all that really happened. Something else must of gotten damaged or some sensor shorted or whatever.

Any suggestions??

1993 Aerostar, 3.0 litre automatic, 215,000 KM

Thanks