2001 4.0L Cranks but won't start
 

My 2001 ranger has been having issues lately. It has been stalling on me when i leave a stop signal or other stop occasionally. Normally i just throw it into neutral and it fires right back up. Well the other day i was just traveling down the road when it appeared to stall so i tried the normal and it wouldn't start. After pulling it over to the side of the road and continuing to try to start it it lay dormant. The only way it would even seem like it was going to start was if i held down the accelerator. When i did that i could smell fuel, i haven't listened for the pump yet to be certain but i do believe it's getting fuel. The other thing i still need to check is for spark. But i was afraid to see that my exhaust seemed to have white soot. Any ideas? Also i recently developed a coolant leak from the thermostat housing. Think they are related?
Thanks in advance!

Holding the accelerator to the floor while cranking the engine activates the "CLEAR FLOOD CONDITION" signal by the CPU, this keeps the injectors from injecting fuel while cranking the engine. You might have a failing fuel pressure regulator.

Ok. Thanks. Ya i got to looking at it some more today and decided it's definately something to do with fuel delivery and a faulty fuel pressure regulator would fit.

Try checking the fuel filter. I always change it first, they are relatively cheap and it could never hurt to change even if it's not the problem.

It's definately getting fuel and spark. So i've narrowed it down to a few different things i think it is. I'll list them in order of what i think is most likely. Timing chain is busted. Throttle position sensor is screwy. Or (highly unlikely) the lobes on the cam are worn out.
Not sure if i posted this before but its got about 175k miles on it. And i believe the timing chain has only been replaced once.

Maybe try crank position sensor.