Volvo L90D hard starting

hi guys i have a 2000 L90d that only wants to start when it is ice cold. but even then it takes about 8 seconds of cranking until u feel a "bump" in the throttle pedal.
once warn the machine will not start at all with out ether. if you crank with no ether then it will just crank forever, no smoke what so ever out of the pipe. I'm talking only a tiny blast and she goes right off. but once again you get that little bump in the throttle.
the machine has been doing this for actually about 5 years and i just can't take it any. we use it all day and never shut it off for 15 years straight now and we had never had a single problem besides this hard warm start problem. any ideas what can be going on. i always fix and maintain my own equipment but i went to the dealer for this one finally and the dealer is useless so far.
my gut feeling is the motor is getting no fuel because there is no smoke. i also feel like it has to be fuel pump related because i feel the bump in the throttle. its also most like the governor is holding back the rack and the ether spins the motor just fast enough to knock the rack open.

let me know what you guys think.
thanks in advance