I just bought a used 2000 Ram 2500 CTD. The previous owner was an elderly man who pulled a camper some with it. It's got 191k miles on it now. At 180k miles he replaced the tank fuel pump as well as a lift pump. Both were dealer installs with receipts with mileage etc. The truck has every single thing he's ever had done to it. So I feel comfortable about the work being honest work. Anyway. I pulled my 24' trailer and Cuda home from SC where I got the truck. It was cooler that day and I left it running mostly. So I guess I didn't notice it. But after driving it here the last week or so, I've noticed hard hot starts. In the morning, be it 30 or 80 degrees, it jumps right to life. Extremely fast cold starts. If I drive it, get it up to temp, stop and go in a store, fuel , etc... I'm on the starter maybe 2-3 seconds and it fires. It doesn't stumble to life, it comes to life pretty snappy. It just takes an embarrassing 2-4 seconds of cranking. I've tried touching the throttle to wide open just trying to diagnose it. Of course it's never fired wide open, I have more mechanic sympathy than that. But during that long cranking processi tried various throttle position. It has never NOT cranked hot, just takes a few seconds.
I read all kinds of " oh your VP-44 pump is out, get ready to drop $1500" all over various searches. Could it be something simpler?
Also, please note, if it's been running a while, and I shut it off.... It will fire right back up. Seems the hard to starts are after it has sat for 5 minutes up to even 1 hour tonight at dinner. Thoughts? Thanks!!!!