I have a stock ’95 Dodge 2500 auto single cab long bed 2x4 with 190K miles on it. I have been having problems starting it with about 2/3 of a tank but once the tank is filled up it starts hard and coughs a bunch of white smoke but then smoothes out and is fine. If I kept the tank full everything would be ok. Recently it died on me as I was coming to a stop. I got it started again but it was running really rough and didn’t want to hold idle, if the rpms were up it was ok but as soon as I took my foot off the gas to slow down it would die. Later that day after sitting for 4 hours I tried starting it. It ran but put out billows of white smoke for about 15 minutes and I had to have my foot on the gas constantly, even at that it didn’t want to hold rpms and kept dropping like it was going to die even with the pedal all the way down. I'm planning to replace the fuel lines next week because I’m sure air is getting in somehow but I’m not sure what I else I might need to replace and in what order. There are also three distinct spots under the engine from drips after sitting for an hour or longer. Thanks for the help!

 

seems like an air leak. i have had to replace the rubber return hose that is behind injecter pump when i had hard starting issues.

 

air in the lines look for fuel leaks, you might have to drop the tank, check everything.

 

sounds like your draw straw in the tank is split about 2/3 the way up to me.

 

Sorry, forgot to mention. The later problem of stalling and not holding idle happened with a full tank of fuel.

 

check for a crack on top of the sending uint ... the j tube is metal ,, maybe rusted ...