The engine runs fine, except for a tendency to just plain stop a few minutes after starting, stays dead for a few seconds, and then will start back up. Started out doing it in damp/hot conditions, so i thought main relay, but I replaced it to no avail. Now doing it pretty much every time I fire up the vehicle.

At highway speeds, I leave the clutch engaged, so I know the engine is spun up, but the tachometer drops to zero. When the engine catches again, tach needle returns to normal behavior as well.

There's also usually some scent of hydrocarbons wafting into the cabin (I usually don't recirculate cabin air) - either improperly combusted or in a few instances, just plain gasoline odor.

Assuming the rpm is being read electronically, the best idea seems to be to focus on wherever the rpm sensor meets the ignition system. I'm just ***** at reading schematics.

Anybody got an idea where I should start looking? I'm doing the rotor, distributor cap and cables anyway, since it seemed like a good idea, not knowing the maintenance history of the previous 196k miles.