At the first start up in the morning, it starts fine then after about 30 -40 seconds , at idle, something happens then it dies. It then takes a few minutes(3-5) of cranking/starting again to get it started. After that it runs fine all day. It seems as though something "clicks" on or off during the initial 30-40 second period then somehow recovers after that. It's a '97 2500. Thank You

 

Lift pump is letting fuel drain back, replace it and the problem will go away.

 

Thanks mechmagcn. But why does it start fine the rest of the day after that first troublesome start up?

 

Unless I saw the lift pump leaking, I would check or replace the rubber fuel lines first, but that's just me. It may be that you are starting it more often during the day (versus the hours overnight undisturbed), and it doesn't have time to lose prime. The original set of rubber fuel lines on mine wouldn't leak fuel, but would lose prime overnight. Eventually, it did start to leak when it was running, once the dry rot cracks got big enough.