2.2 4 cylander wont start unless i floor the gas pedal and leave it there while cranking the motor forever. slowly it gathers itself and starts but sounds very distorted. take off and starts to run better but still distorted. also, continues to get hot , especially through town. i hope the two are related. im thinking its the catalytic converter, ecm,pcm, itcs(ignition timing conrol system, or egr valve. how do i solve this problem

Sounds like you cold start injector may have gone bad. Pushing a gas pedal to the floor usually stops a fuel injected vehicle from allowing fuel into the cylinders, try pushing the pedal about half the way instead of to the floor and have the cold start injector checked or changed.

If you hold the pedal to the floor it puts the fuel system into Clear Flood Mode. This prevents the injectors from firing and lets the already present fuel burn out. Now if this has to be done on every short trip you probably have a leaking injector.

Does the vehicle seem to crank slowly or stop and then crank when this happens?

my truck starts right up if I hold the petal to the floor but wont start if I don't hold petal to floor

it is your carburetor the fuel float is set to high and probably leaks. If it older than 10yrs old and has never been rebuilt . do that if you want to save yourself a bunch of time and little more money make the investment of a Brand New not rebuilt. if you get the carb manufactor specs matched to your motor , Out of the box, it will be very close to being on the money .

I had the same problem and it was the throttle position sensor. have you replaced this? Very easy and solved everything.

Sounds like the timing is off. Check to see if you may be off a mark or two. Align all makes starting with the crank.

Possible vapor lock, try using some starter fluid, spray just a touch in carb. Another thing, is keep gas pedal to floor, and trying to start. Do not pump pedal, just keep to floor as you crank over motor.

You pinched the fuel line????
If you crank for too long to start the car, the engine will "flood", this is why the plug was wet. It had too much gas and wouldn't start.
Pull out ALL plugs and dry them off.
Install them.
HOLD your gas pedal to the floor and crank.
This will stop gas from entering the engine.
you need to get that extra gas out beofre it will start.
If you have so much gas in there you can do damage to your engine!!
Now after a few crnaking attempts with your foot to the floor, take your foot of the gas pedal and try to start it again.
But remember if it doesn't start in 3 tries, you need to do the pedal to the floor once or twice to remove the excess gas.
When you crank the car to start it sprays gas into the engine, even if it won't start. So it very easy to "flood" the engine, and then you'll have a hard time to get it going!

Too much gas won't make it hard to crank. To thick oil or not enough antifreeze will. If it's flooding, slowly pump the gas pedal to the floor 3 times and then with the pedal held tight against the floor, crank the engine. This will open the butterfly wide open and will blow the extra gas out.

1. hold gas pedal to floor while trying to start. do not pump pedal.
2. holding pedal to floor is how you start a flooded f.i. engine