[speedygonzales]

The very first time I experienced slow/no starting, my "friend" came over and assumed I didn't know how to fire up an engine.

Not knowing what I know now, he jumps in and cranks it over and it backfires. Nothing like your friend experienced. It still didn't start.

After I looked at the plugs, I realized 3 on the right bank were black from having run rich. I immediately knew it was the cap. So I changed the plugs cap and rotor. It fired right up but the starter made a bad noise.

Well when it back fired, it blew the nose cone off the starter. So thanks to my smart friend, I had to buy a starter. So I got a Denso style with no nose cone. Incidentally, they are much easier to shim then nose cone starters.

After that incident, I experience a long cranking or no start condition every couple of years. All due to a cap and rotor that go bad about every 2 years or so.

Once on x-mas eve I parked it and it ran fine. Day after x-mas day try to drive to family and it won't fire up. I knew it was the cap and rotor and replaced it and fired right up.

While your example could be injector issues, the more likely problem is weak spark.

Remind your friend that it is recommended every 50-60K miles to tune up including plugs, cap, rotor, ignition coil, front O2's. Yes the last 2 items are tune up parts.