Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) 98 12 valve ?

[6BT-Dakota]

Im posting this for a friend :-laf that isnt a member here and I figured you all would be up to the challenge



BTW he bought this truck sight unseen for $500.



The truck has around 128,000 miles, The trouble is when I go to start the truck in the a. m. , it will crank for about 15-20 seconds before starting then it runs rough as hell until it begins to warm up (occasional white smoke as well). This doesn't happen if I give it a just enough throttle(800-1000 rpm) for a few minutes. Once on the road it runs fine with one exception. If I bump the throttle to manuever in tight places (i. e. parking lots) the engine stalls. Any help would be much appreciated.



Thanks!



Rob

 

[DavidGardner]

Had same problem with my 95 12 valve. It turned out to be the fuel return lines leaking. Couldnt even tell they were leaking but replacing them cured the problem. Other things to ck. are change the fuel filter, and ck. the throttle cable for wear or stretching. Also there was a recall years ago to replace the throttle cable with a new style or something. You can take your vin number to any Dodge dealer and they can tell you if this has been done.



That was a great buy especialy if the trk is overall good shape.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Yeah you might crawl up around the rear wheelwell on the driver's side and look around under there for leaking fuel. . . there's been a number of posts recently about fuel lines rusting. It sounds like it's sucking air.



Also strongly recommend servicing the prefilter and checking the fuel heater to be sure it doesn't leak. Read more here



Fuel Pre-Filter Cleaning on Ram/Cummins

 

[PRattenbury]

Check the idle setting, too. It's a 10 mm screw with a jam nut on the bottom, aft end of the pump. Sounds like maybe the idle is just a bit low.

 

[chuckwilson]

I second the check the idle speed I have to set mine up once a year!!!!

 

[GOlsen]

Check the idle setting, too. It's a 10 mm screw with a jam nut on the bottom, aft end of the pump. Sounds like maybe the idle is just a bit low.

I had the same problem... this helped a lot.