truck died
 

middle of an intersection my 96 ram died...took forever to get started again and didnt want to stay running. it didnt want to idle at all and would die if i didnt keep my foot on the peddle. lift pump would be my guess but if u all have other ideas i am open to them. I need to have this truck dependable so I can drive 600 miles to see my kids.

Lift pump at worst maybe a clogged strainer or even draw straw could even be as simple as a bad fuel filter

I would check what davo said first.Then i would start to wonder if the lift pump went out and took out the fuel pump with it.

thing is...the truck was a bit hard starting but ran great once started...this morning it took quite a few tries but ran good once started. if i had a garage to work in i would pull the tank and start from there.

check the simple stuff first, like the filter. mine was runnin like crap a while back, i changed the filter and it ran like new

filter is new....one thing that sticks in my mind is that before i had any problems i put $20 in diesel fuel at a marathon..the pump was pumping extremely slow..like it was frozen. I wonder if i got some bottom of the storage tank fuel. I was going to put fuel in today but never made it that far.

Take the feed line off the lift pump blow some shop air back into the tank that will clear anything out of the draw straw then try and start it if that doesn't work check the bowl and strainer clean em real good and try again if it still don't start take the line of the injector pump and turn the truck ove that will tell you if the lift pump is good or bad

ok thanks i will try that...i need to take a couple days off...i have RSD (nerve malfunction) in my left hand so when the nerve gets agitated from to much use it feels like a slammed my fingers in a door all day long. I am racing against mother nature here in Michigan. I wont be able to work on it at all once the weather gets cold.

I put a draw straw I in and also fixed a hole in the filler tube. Truck starts better than it has in years. It does however have very low idle at start up and runs slightly rough...it idless at around 700 rpm once after a couple minutes. I still need to replace the prefilter/fuel heater elbow and put a kit in the fuel heater.
Any ideas what would cause the low idle at initial startup?

my trucks are the same way, its just cold, I'm almost sure 700 rpm is what you want your idle at, at least for an auto.